Floating Around NW Portland

Portland, Day 2: In which I float in a space ship, taste a tree, and get "lost" in one of the most well-manicured arboretum trail systems and end up walking down a small mountain at dusk (don't worry, Mom - I had things well under control).

This is a float tank.

Flotarium at The Float Shoppe

It's filled with water seasoned by 800 pounds of Epsom salts. Kinda like the Dead Sea. But not. And yes, you're supposed to get in there, in your birthday suit, shut the lid, and float on your back. For 90 minutes. It is amazing. But probably not for everyone. As The Float Shoppe's website will tell you, sensory deprivation can be an extremely freeing state of being. The water is just as warm as your skin, you have ear plugs and an insulated space ship to keep sound and light out of your little womb-like world, and plenty of time to acclimate yourself to the weird comfort that is being enclosed in a dark pod filled with salt water. For me, I ended up reaching that state of pre-sleep, where your body might involuntarily twitch as it relaxes and your mind is no longer spinning with thoughts, nor is it exactly sleeping and dreaming. And once you get into that state, time disappears, water and air become the same, and the music that alerts you to the end of your session comes much too soon.

Post-floating, I made my way to Clear Creek Distillery (conveniently just a quick walk) and saw a pear grown in a bottle, tasted the best cranberry liqueur I've ever had, and sampled the bottle I ended up purchasing, the unique Douglas Fir Eau de Vie. Now, if this doesn't sound tasty to you - and it did not sound tasty to me, an avid gin fan - let me reassure you: it's not. It's not horrid either, and actually, like many spirits I've sampled, I determined right away that I wouldn't ever sip this on its own, but I was dying to figure out what kind of cocktails I could make with it. So I'm bringing some back to play around with and perhaps tap my mixologist friends for some inspiration.

And then, because it was the nicest, sunniest day I believe Portland will see all winter, I finally made my way to Washington Park, Hoyt Arboretum, to do a little hiking, maybe find a nice vista to view before the sun went down. Here's the vista I happened to view before deciding to hike a little down the mountain. This is looking out over Portland toward Mt. Rainier and Mt. Saint Helens. Mt. Hood is off to the right behind some trees.

View from somewhere on the Overlook Trail in Hoyt Arboretum

And then as will happen when I am hiking by myself on a multiple-trail system... I took too many turns onto too many different paths such that as the sun was going down, I realized that I didn't want to walk back up the hill to my original starting point to conveniently catch the MAX and head home. I'd rather just "hike down the mountain" because, seriously, how much time could that take? An hour. That's how much time. And a good 3 miles or so. And some stupid winding roads. And several blocks downhill to the MAX once I did finally get out of this damn park. And no, the 63 bus was not at any point running by me to take me anywhere any faster. Let me tell you: No matter how lazy your are, sometimes it may just be a better choice to hike back up the hill. But, thanks to my not-dead-yet smart phone, I was never actually lost.