Days 81-84: Days Off in Portland

The next 4 days were spent in Portland mostly resting, so I am consolidating them into one entry.

Day 81:

I managed to walk 17k steps today despite it being a rest day. Kylee and I met up for coffee in the morning, and then I picked her up after work to check into a hotel and go for a date night. Dinner was this incredible Japanese restaurant.
I weighed myself this morning — I’ve lost 11 lbs in the last month! Yoikes.

Day 82:

My criteria to start the day was that the coffee shop we went to be within .2 miles of the hotel. Today’s goal was to truly rest my body. The only plans were to get dinner with Tate and then meet up with Kylee’s Portland friends for drinks afterwards. We got drinks at a rooftop bar that presented a beautiful view of Mt. Hood in the distance, and then the harvest full moon later in the night.

Day 83:

The highlight of today was headin’ out to a winery near the Hood River. Today was the start of a 4 day extreme heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, where temperatures would be 20°+ their normal averages. Today would be near 100° in Portland.
The winery was a lot of fun despite the heat. On the way back, we stopped at the Bridge of the Gods, which is where I’ll be hiking across in a few days to enter the state of Washington.
Lastly, we stopped at a state park for a quick swim to cool down.

Bridge of the Gods when I’m showered and clean

Day 84:

Today’s high is a whopping 115° so we escaped to the Clackamas River for a float. We weren’t the only ones with the idea! The river was packed and so much fun! We floated for around 4 hours.

I wore my shirt all day. I can’t imagine anything worse than backpacking with sunburnt shoulders.