Ride #5 (Wash. County Edition) Beaverton @ Murray Scholls Library to Beaverton City Library

A perfect day for a bike ride, right? Not too cool, not too warm, and no rain in the forecast:



I could ride part of the way up there via Fanno Creek Trail, and then a straight shot down Murray Boulevard on the way back. Simple.



Before I left the Murray-Scholls branch, I took another look at the sign. It was then I noticed that the thick red "line" under "Beaverton" wasn't actually meant to be sloped but that the metal was just dropping a bit. Oh well, sometimes a functional problem can be an aesthetic win.



In the same parking lot, I stopped at a Starbucks to fuel up for the journey, while a melancholy dog looked on.



Not long into the ride, I noticed a "Welcome to Beaverton" sign, population 93,000-plus. Let me think...it was around 18,000 maybe when I was a kid? It's grown quite a lot but is still quite small compared to neighboring Portland.



As I headed into the Fanno Creek Trail in Greenway Park, it suddenly started raining, not too hard but enough to make me remember that I should've brought protection for the iPhone in my pocket.





So, at the other end of the Fanno trail I ducked into a nearby Haggen's market to get a bag for my phone. What's this? A large cow blocking the entrance? But of course, doesn't every grocery have one of these?



Thus equipped, I rode on to Beaverton City Library, where I saw some of the largest planters I've ever seen.





Inside the dry confines of the library, I came upon a music lover's heaven, large aisles of CDs. A huge selection!



I picked out something "known," an album by Goldfrapp (which is actually a duo: singer Allison Goldfrapp and keyboard whiz Will Gregory, Seventh Tree (mesmerizing, beautiful!), and something "unknown," Leon Russell's Live In Japan, which was just released for American audiences in any format for the first time in 2011 (and thus nicely remastered to boot!). This CD really captures Leon at his live performance peak, with a big sound, great backup singers, tight band, and enthusiastic audience. Beyond his hit "Tightrope," I had yet to hear his live act from the 70's. Great stuff!



With CDs in pockets, I rode away from the library and headed down 6th Street, appreciating the large fountain where many kids and parents frolic in the hot summer months.





I passed another two churches on the way back (every ride seems to have at least two): The Baha'i, which expresses a very nice sentiment on its sign, and the Seventh-day Adventist, which is humorous, but I've heard that joke before.





Along Murray, there are many banners hanging from the light poles honoring Beaverton's active military members (at the time I thought maybe it honored the dead but no). It occurred to me that some names are long and some are short...maybe they should hang some of those banners "landscape" style instead of "portrait."





I paused briefly at a hilly section of Murray, at the Sexton Mountain Park, to catch a nice view of Beaverton:



And finally ended up at Murrayhill near the Murray Scholls branch again, with its lovely fountain, benches upon which to rest, and a crane hiding in the man-made pond. All in all, quite a nice little spot.





Next ride: Beaverton City Library to the Shute Park Branch in Hillsboro, at least 11.5 miles each way. Phew. Might be a few weeks before I tackle that!

Ride #4 (Wash. County Edition) Sherwood to Beaverton @ Murray Scholls Library

This longer ride looked promising, as the map indicated I would pass through the Tualatin River Wildlife Refuge. At seven miles each way, it also promised to be one of the longer rides in Washington County.



I pedaled out of small-town-feel Sherwood...



...and quickly rode into rural backroads, with interesting flora growing in the ditches, and the prerequisite old-style farmhouse barns.







As I headed up BUSY Roy Rogers Road (love an alliterative road name!), I passed another large barn, this one fairly well known Baggenstos Farm:



Baggenstos is rather famous around here for their seasonal pumpkin patch, and particularly their artistic corn mazes. Gotta remember to check it out this fall!

Proceeding along the several miles of this road, I noted that I was on the "Vineyard and Valley Scenic Route." I guess it's scenic if you're in a car, but on a bike it's just a long, noisy slog along a very busy and noisy road with not much to look at but dried out fields of rather indistinct former crops of something. I'm sure it looks much nicer in the spring when things start to grow again.



And then there's Friendly Lane...which is a dead end. How friendly is that?



Just after this, I turned right onto also-busy-but-much-more-bike-friendly Murray (and more honestly named) Boulevard, with double-striped bike lane and plenty of space.



There was just a bit of detritus in the lane along the way, thanks to a very blustery previous night and that morning, but nothing too difficult to negotiate:



Just past some Dr. Seuss-like arborist creations, I arrived the library, and noted that the sign is a little different than other libraries. I like the vibrant red coloring and modern sleekness to the type font.





Inside, the familiar local library scene, kids with books on the floor, adults meandering, taking occasional drinks from a faucet, etc.



And in the CD section, and great find: FOUR Talking Heads CDs in the rack! I'm stating it here, this is a cool library! I picked out one of those, as well as one of my old favorites by the Alan Parsons Project, and for something new, a 6-track CD by Jake Shimabukuro, the ukulele wiz kid who achieved some YouTube internet fame a few years back. This guy is good! A very pleasant listen.
[Note: As I was getting ready to post this blog, I got an email from the Aladdin Theater here in Portland announcing that Jake is playing there this October 25th. Isn't synchronicity amazing?]





Next week, the Beaverton City Library (the main one, not the Scholls one), about 5 miles north on relatively flat roads. Should be pleasant.

Ride #3 (Wash. County Edition) Tualatin to Sherwood Library

Another sunny weekend, another pleasant bike ride to a new library...this one about 6 miles each way, on relatively flat roads.



This nice statue of bronze geese greets you as you enter Tualatin, about one block from the library. Here's a better image taken by someone with a nicer camera. It is award winning, and really quite a nice way to welcome visitors.



Pausing to look at the mural at the entrance to the Tualatin Library, I headed out to ride on the dreaded Tualatin-Sherwood Road; aptly named, as it joins the two towns within the 6 mile span.







Why do I call it dreaded? Well, mainly because I have renamed it "road of 1000 trucks" which rumble by as you pedal away. Then there's the industrial-strength company names located along it: Chem-Dry, Plasti-Fab, etc...





A welcome sight is the sign for Sherwood Old Town, where I turned off to a much quieter, and soon very country-ish road, albeit quite steep.





After much peddling and huffing and puffing, I was rewarded with some very nice landscape views, before I paused to realize I'd overshot the turnoff to the library and had to double back, thus lengthening my ride by a few hundred feet in elevation and about 2 miles in distance. Oh well, all good exercise!





Near the library, I passed a park with a soccer field, adorned by a freakishly large ball...



...and soon arrived at the library, noticing immediately that a Sesame Donut shop was right next to it. Happy day! And unlike the Tigard Library, this one was open for business. Did I get a donut? No I did not. But I did get a little ice cream. Hey, a guy's gotta cool down, right?



Stepping inside, I quickly located the CD section, and appreciated the stool left thoughtfully there for browsers like me.





I made my selections: For something new, The Vivian Girls' Share The Joy, which Allmusic gave a much better review than I would've. The playing's okay, I guess, but the singing...well, it's a challenging listen to these ears. For something familiar, Canada's New Pornographers' Challengers, one of their most excellent offerings. This, friends, is pop music at its most sublime. Hooks you can chew on for hours, quirky but beautiful lyrics and melodic twists that keep things interesting. Give 'em a listen!



Time for the ride back to the car, this time taking a side route off the main thoroughfare, called Herman Road. The highlight here, aside from mercifully lighter traffic for several miles, was this interesting collection of rusty cars and trucks. One might say "white trash" but if you do it right, in the right location (which this is), it becomes a form of folk art. Well done!