Chris Walsh (chris_walsh) wrote,
Chris Walsh
chris_walsh

Hillsboro. There's SPACE out there!

Today I got more suburb time, after last getting some (some suburban time; I didn't Get Some) two weeks ago in the closer-in Beaverton. Today Heather G. had invited me to her apartment to watch the Talladega race. Spoiler: GLAD NO ONE GOT HURT. (Kurt Busch's car flew. Cars are not supposed to fly.) Hillsboro's well-known as a mix of rural and cutting-edge tech, both of which need lots of room; Intel has a couple giant campuses, sometimes within sight of horses. Plus Hillsboro Airport needs plenty of room, too. Plus-plus, unlike Beaverton, it's a lot flatter; it's easy to see past the trees and meadows and construction cranes towards the east side of the Coast Range, a decent distance away but clearly there. I can get better views of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens from there than I can get from several parts of Portland.

It was a driving day. I headed west fairly early, and had to get as close as I get to being a racecar driver to avoid some people driving dumbly. Once I was over the Sylvan Hill and could see west almost to the edge of Washington County, I got thinking of what's just an hour farther west: COAST. Which I need to get to again. But for today, racing.

Also Sonic. Not only does Hillsboro have one, Cornelius has another one. The Cornelius one actually is closer to Heather's place than the Hillsboro one, and she treated the both of us to hot dogs, tots, and limeaids there. (I spilled a bit of mine as we drove back. I said "It's OK, most of the drink went into my crotch." She said it was fine, she has toddlers sit in that same seat. I said "I can act like a toddler? All right!") And on the way to Sonic, while driving there, we were treated to the sight of a World War II B-17 bomber flying low. This one, apparently. And I have a soft spot for the B-17.

I also kind of miss living near an airport, like I did in Northern Virginia, but that's another entry.

I made two stops heading home: first, dinner with another friend (cook and former PDX Yar member Sonia) who'd announced on Facebook that she was going to dinner at a restaurant I knew the general neighborhood of, so I found it with only a little bit of help. (I luckily stopped right next to cooks for the restaurant, and looked into a closed annex of the restaurant I wanted. They steered me to the open place.) Second, grocery shopping. Let me feel good about using coupons and my quarterly Fred Meyer rebate to turn a $56.69 grocery bill into a $43.62 grocery bill.

And during all this? WARMTH. NEEDED WARMTH. A gorgeous, cloudless day. I've been cold a lot this last half-year-plus -- I know, time for my now-standard disclaimer that it's not nearly as bad here as it is in some other places, like the Midwest getting snow in May -- and I soaked it in. My goal: not to complain about heat again. Unless it's humid heat. I lived in Virginia for years; I think I've earned the right to kvetch about humidity.
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