A Better Balance

Today, like yesterday, was a nice blend of walking and eating. After a leisurely cup of coffee at our NE Portland home-away-from-home, we walked a few blocks to the Bakery Bar for their even better coffee and egg sandwiches on their black pepper buttermilk biscuits. Mine had a fried egg, cheddar cheese, bacon, and savory tomato jam; Phil's had a fried egg, Black Forest ham, Swiss cheese, and red onion marmalade. We're already planning a return visit.

With a visit to Belmont Station, a superb beer store and bier cafe with 16 taps of constantly changing, carefully chosen beers on our list for today, we decided to walk off a bit of our breakfast by sauntering the 1.5 miles to that location. Our route was not direct, as we were constantly distracted by magnificent trees, the glorious sky, a trio of friendly motorcyclists who asked us to take their photo, endless lovely flower gardens in front of local homes, and the beauty of Laurelhurst Park.

Phil's blip gives you a view of Belmont Station (and me). Not many people were there in early afternoon; we enjoyed our leisurely beers, then walked the first half of our journey home, stopping often to exclaim at much the same range of delights as on our earlier walk. The excellent bus service here made the last half of our trip quick and easy.

This evening, we walked to Pix Patisserie, mentioned in my Tuesday blip, and enjoyed several tapas and a glass each of a pleasant Spanish white wine, followed by a decadent French pastry -- not the one you see here, which I considered the most photogenic, but the Amélie, described as follows: "orange vanilla creme brûlée sits atop a glazed chocolate mousse with caramelized hazelnuts, praline crisp, and Cointreau genoise."

We'd better triple our mileage tomorrow!