On December 7, 2008, lizzy, Dick and I headed over to the Arbor Lodge neighborhood. Donned in our rain gear, we parked the car a block off of Portland Blvd. on Denver and began walking west and north heading towards Chief Joseph Elementary school. The school appeared to be built in the early '50's and there are nice mosaics on the outside of the school. Also out front was an impressive vegetable garden with mosaic birdfeeders built by the students. Next to the school is Arbor Lodge Park. The park has a very nice feel-very open and airy. There were lots of deciduous trees and a great looking playground. Next to the wading pool is a small bronze statue of two animal characters called Alligator and Otter by artist Peter Helzer. A plaque on the statue read: "This sculpture is for all who enjoy the simple pleasures of a beautiful Oregon day. May it serve to remind us of good friends, good times, and good memories. This certainly describer our day! Just a block away we found a small one block park with lots of firs that were extremely old, but as yet, I can find no name for this park.
From there we weaved our way west up and down streets with many cute homes. Eventually we hit Willamette Blvd. and saw some incredible homes! Besides the homes, what intrigued us most was that so many of the homes on the street had palm trees and several even had cacti. It was if some landscape designer had the neighborhood sewn up and convinced everyone to go for a more tropical look! I loved it. You certainly see a whole lot more walking! As we followed the curve of Willamette and turned up Ainsworth, we found the Madrona Hill Coffee House. It was not only charming, but they served great Stumptown coffee and yummy pastries. What fun. back to the car. Only 92 more neighborhoods to explore.
