The rest of Sunday found me doing as few things as possible. The day had started overcast, but by noon the sun had come out mostly and providing a nice radiant cover for a day of lazy explorations around the Portland area.
Downtown was dead---I didn't want to stay there anymore anyway, so I paid for the parking (twenty-four bucks) and de-garaged my car, heading onto the 405 south. I wasn't even sure where I was going to go. I wound up getting off at a suburban exit on I-5 and meandering through the suburban areas.
The church parking lots were brimming were cars and trucks. The parks were beginning to fill with families with children playing in fountains. I found a nice shady parking spot in one city and walked down an overgrown hill behind a century-old preserved barn, where I found a trio of fir trees. Beside one I lay back among talls obscuring weeds and looked up through the trees into the blue sky. No one could see me and I could see no one else, which is exactly what I wanted. Thoughts drifted in my head like floating sticks in a winding river. I felt at great peace as if letting go the weight of the world. It was the perfect meditation I was looking for.
After that I went to Fred Meyer to restock some food camping supplies I'd used in Montana, then got on the Interstate and 217 and headed up to Forest Grove, which I had already decided was going to be one my bases during this stay in the Portland area.
No comments:
Post a Comment