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Portlandia and the Maker's Flat


Last week we headed down to Portland, but not before preparing ourselves with a weeklong marathon of Portlandia episodes.  We arrived on Columbus Indigenous People's Day at Hayden Island, which is technically Portland.  This island was first encroached-upon by European-Americans in the early 1800's when Lewis and Clark came here.

It was okay out on Hayden Island (Jantzen Beach RV park) but the whole place is overcome with big-box stores catering to Washingtonians looking to make large, tax-exempt, purchases.  Not quite the Portland we were hoping for.

We made several forays, each round trip drive taking 45-60 minutes, to visit stuff like OMSI, Hopworks Urban Brewery, and Pier Park.  We even went to a ping pong bar (yes) called Pips and Bounce to celebrate my college friend Jen's birthday.  It turns out Portland is rad. Driving from Northernmost Portland in a giant truck is not very rad.

For this and other more complex reasons, we have checked the fifth wheel into a local storage facility and have acquired a two month sublet in SE Portland.  Axel, who was sick of homeschool, is going to spend two months at Abernethy Elementary.  As a matter of fact, we are meeting his teacher when I am finished writing this post.

The kitties have taken to the sublet quite nicely and I have taken to it as well.  There is a bathroom as big as our whole fifth wheel, and it has a jetted tub.  Pooks' Dream Bathroom. Axel gets his own room (but I still put my office in there) and there is a dining room large enough for a Thanksgiving feast.

The sublet has a name.  It is called "Maker Flat." Yes, hello Portlandia, we know you are only partly satire. It is furnished and decorated entirely with local, maker furnishings and accessories available for purchase.  Let's just say Jon's new desk has a 2 inch well of potting soil (with some rocks and shells) and our coffee table is constructed of wood, metal, and woven ropes.

I did give Maker Flat's owners (hi Jen and Bryan) a link to my blog as a reference so I hope they do not mind me poking fun.  It really is the perfect Portlandia pad.  We are walking to everything now.  Giant truck is just sitting in the driveway and I hope to not get inside of it for a good long time.  As for the fifth wheel, we will get back to trailer-livin' December 17th with a visit to Chico as the first stop.

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