Hi. This is Les, your guest blogger for today. We're here in Portland this week, staying at the condo of Arlyn's friend. Arlyn will post a summary of our trip in a few days, but I want to write about an experience we had today that may prove to be my fondest memory of the whole trip.
The weather has been generally sunny since we arrived in Portland, but there was rain in the forecast for today. We planned to do a walking tour of downtown, and one of our destinations was the Chinese garden.
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| Portland's Chinese Garden |
While we were there, a heavy rainstorm passed overhead. We quickly found shelter from the rain under a nearby pagoda. The garden, which had been full of visitors before the rain, suddenly was almost empty.
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| Taking shelter from the rain |
It was very pleasant to hear the rain on the roof of the pagoda and see the patterns the drops made on the surface of the pond. I took advantage of the opportunity for twenty minutes of sublime meditation while we waited for the rain to let up.
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| Raindrops on the pond |
We had our rain jackets and light-weight travel umbrellas with us, so we continued on to Powell's. It made us feel confident that we're well prepared for the unpredictable weather we might run into in Scotland two months from now.