A (Portland) Bridge Too Far

By chance we discovered a one-woman show soon after our move here in Fall 2009.  Print junkie that I am, a promotional postcard, "The Bridge Lady: inspired by a true story,"  intrigued me.  This city is alive with bridges--eleven of them criss-crossing the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.

Sharon Wood Wortman, whose one- woman performance was the card's subject, has been leading school tours and writing about Portland bridges for a number of years.  But a note on the card indicated this one was not for kids. 

Hardly. Announcing that she'd never done anything like this before, Sharon told her life story of growing up harshly in the city.  Not a pretty story but a strong sense of survivorship and delving into the history of the bridges--plus a few good supportive friends--had led her beyond that to her current self at 65 years.  Joined in celebrating with her.

In connection with the 100-year birthday of the Hawthorne Bridge, she was giving her final tours for the general public, as part of  an incredible extravaganza for the bridge planned with the guy pictured next to her.  The bridge's calendar is gorgeous with artists' views of it.  It has been on our wall but I stopped turning to the next month when the drawn image to the right appeared.

As part of Sharon's tour,  we trekked to the bridge traffic control room with 70 other bridge enthusiasts to see how it all worked.  But it began so late that Ron and I  left partway through--before actually crossing the Morrison Bridge, being on it when it lifted.  It was the end of an exhausting couple of weeks.

Back to regular pedometer use, I'd racked up two days over 7,000 steps.  Walked every day to a Portland State summer class, "The Sociology of the Bicycle," which was terrific and met 8 afternoons over two weeks.  We managed a full week on foot:  no car!  Toward the end, Portland became summery and the air-conditioning in the classroom was a killer.

And so, I came down with another cold--several of these and/or allergy stuff since our move.  And I've been low energy.  It was a message:  having fun, moving fast is swell, but old ladies need to chill out a bit more than some of us are ready to accept.

Here's  the Hawthorne, oldest vertical lift bridge in U.S. and maybe the world, draped with fabric that gets lighted at night (Willamette Week ran great photos)...keeping missing that and only three days left to see it.  Oops, slow down, I tell self once again.

At the top of this post a view from an early evening walk toward the Morrison Bridge.  You cannot see us and our friends dodging the bicycle riders whizzing as we tried to take a leisurely walk  along the Willamette.

Though it seems I've been a blogging dropout, it is not the case.  Many wonderful adventures to relate in future posts--bike culture as religion, meeting Vincenza Scarpaci and reading her book  about Italians in America plus discovering an unexpected PDX gem, diPrimo Bakery and Restaurant. 

And a well known blogger is coming to town!

Comments

[Lydia]

I saw a good report from the Hawthorne Bridge the other night, so was able to get a sense of the lighted festivities. I love that bridge. LOVE it! It was my bridge connecting me from work downtown to home a couple blocks from Hawthorne & 36th the one year I lived there.

Your logged steps are impressive but it does sound like you went a bit overboard in activity.

Interesting to see "Portland, Oregon" gaining in font size there in your Categories cloud. I wonder if it will ever grow larger than the font for "New York City."

Who's coming to town?

[pdxknitterati]

I love the Portland bridges. I remember doing my 3rd grade bridge report (all Portland Public Schools students to this) on the St. Johns Bridge. The Fremont is my favorite now, but it didn't exist when I was a third grader.

If you can ride a bike, you should do Bridge Pedal (tomorrow!). It's your annual chance to bike/walk/stand on the two freeway bridges.

Glad you're liking Portland.

[Hattie]

For all the years I lived there, I never paid that much attention to the bridges. I thought the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge were prettier.
But I'm reconsidering after coming into Portland and really seeing the bridges for the fascinating structures they are.