Life Is What Happens While You Are Busy Making Other Plans

I am supposed to be in Japan. I should have left earlier this week. But here I am in Portland. 

We usually spend September in Portland but this year we planned to see autumn leaves in Japan instead. We found one of those amazing deals you read about online but can never find when you want one. A $350 upgrade to first class. We spent a month researching our destination and planning our trip. But then we decided to postpone the trip (losing the upgrade) until spring and come back to Portland instead for reasons unrelated to this post. 

Ok. On to plan B. Now we are supposed to be on a houseboat on the Willamette River in Portland. I posted photos of the river and/or houseboat on this blog a few months back. But when we arrived there, surprise! The owner was sitting there watching tv. She got the dates mixed up.  However, her other property is available, a townhouse across the river. It was for sale but the sale fell through last week so we could move in right away. We stayed there for several years and know that neighborhood well so this was not a problem.

Ok. On to plan C.  We shifted gears and moved across town. Fine. In some ways more than fine. At this time of year, the water level in the river is low and the ramp down to the river is steep. However, the townhouse is in a part of town I have sworn never to drive in again. Too much traffic- nonstop cars, pedestrians looking at their cellphones while they cross the street, electric scooters, bicycles. So now I am a pedestrian. Or user of Uber. Or a bicyclist. 

Anyway, I am supposed to be here in Portland only for 10 days until I go to France. I am traveling by myself. First, there is a week in Alsace-Lorraine, next to the border with Germany with lots of cute architecture, and timbered houses. Then a week on a barge on a small river near Dijon, Burgundy. I must say, for a spontaneous trip this is looking pretty exciting to me. 

At least that’s the plan... Stay tuned to this station to see if that plan works out or not.