November 2020 Check-In's

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ilani casino, 1 Cowlitz Way, Ridgefield, Washington
Sunday, November 1, 2020

7-11 Near Clydes Prime Rib
Sunday, November 1, 2020

Ron Steen Jazz Jam at
Clydes Prime Rib, Portland, Oregon
Sunday, November 1, 2020

Vancouver Waterfront Pier
Sunday, November 1, 2020

Replacing 2016 Tesla Model X P90DL Cracked Windshield
at Tesla Service Center, 4330 S Macadam Ave, Portland, OR 97239
Monday, November 2, 2020

Randy, Barbara and Stephen
First Time Having Dinner Near Our New Vancouver Home
at Billygan's Roadhouse www.billygansroadhouse.com
13200 NE Highway 99, Vancouver, WA 98686, 360-573-2711
Monday, November 2, 2020

Live Jazz & Dinner at
Arrivederci Wine & Jazz, Milwaukie, Oregon
Shelli, Barbara & Stephen
Thursday, November 5, 2020

ParkStone Wood Kitchen & Taps
Portland, Oregon
Shelli, Barbara & Stephen
Friday, November 6, 2020

Blue Diamond
Portland, Oregon
Friday, November 6, 2020

STERNWHEELER ADVENTURE CRUISE
Cascade Locks To Portland, Oregon
Autumn Repositioning Cruise
Shelli, Barbara and Stephen
Saturday, November 7, 2020

Ron Steen Jazz Jam
Shelli, Barbara and Stephen
Clydes Prime Rib, Portland, Oregon
Sunday, November 8, 2020

Tom Grant & Ron Steen Live Jazz & Dinner at
Arrivederci Wine & Jazz, Milwaukie, Oregon
Shelli, Barbara & Stephen
Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Cooper Mountain Ale Works, Tigard, Oregon
Live Music Every Other Thursday
Barbara and Stephen
Thursday, November 12, 2020

Johnny Wheels and the Swamp Donkeys
Live Blues at Blue Diamond, Portland, Oregon
Barbara and Stephen
Friday, November 13, 2020

Here we go again! About 5 hours ago the governor of Oregon announced new lockdowns starting next Wednesday. As of Wednesday, restaurants will go back to "Take-Out" only. No more live music in Portland. Thus, we decided to enjoy our last opportunities for live music. We have made plans to attend live music tonight, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. That will probably be our last chance to enjoy live music for at least two weeks, except at the Indian Casino, which is its own nation and sets its own Covid rules.

Attended A Trump "Stop The Steal" Rally
At The Oregon State Capital In Salem
Barbara and Stephen
Saturday, November 14, 2020

We would like to have gone to the big "Million MAGA March" in Washington, DC, but things have been too busy for us this month to go to the nation's capital. Instead we went to a smaller rally at the Oregon State Capital in Salem, about an hour drive from our home in Vancouver, Washington.

Kevin Selfe Duo Performing at the
Ilani Casino Line & Lure Restaurant
Saturday, November 14, 2020

Robbie Laws Live Blues Music at
Blue Diamond, Sandy Blvd, Portland, Oregon
Saturday, November 14, 2020

23rd Annual NW Women Rhythm & Blues Christmas Concert
Blue Diamond, Sandy Blvd, Portland, Oregon
Sunday, November 15, 2020

Sonny Hess Musicians For The Cure Presents: Sonny Hess, Lisa Mann, Rae Gordon, Angel James, Kelly Pierce, Myrtle Brown, Lady True Blue, Kathryn Grimm, LaRhonda Steele. Benefiting Children with Cancer. CandleLightersOregon.org and Struggling Local Musicians.

The Silent Auction Prizes We Won At The Blue Diamond Event:

Kohl's Items I Was Tempted To Purchase But Didn't.
If it's "Made In China" then I don't buy it unless
it is an essential item that I can't find "Made In USA".
Portland, Oregon
Sunday, November 15, 2020

Open Mic at Pizzario
Hillsboro, Oregon
Sunday, November 15, 2020

Dinner At Billigan's Roadhouse
Vancouver, Washington
Monday, November 16, 2020

Live Jazz & Dinner at
Arrivederci Wine & Jazz, Milwaukie, Oregon
Tuesday, November 17, 2020

This is the final day before Oregon Governor's 2 Week Re-Lockdown Order goes into effect. This is the last day for indoor dining and live entertainment in Oregon. After today, Oregon restaurants will be restricted to Take-Out and Delivery ONLY until at least December 3, 2020. Washington State is still in a partial lockdown. Live music in Washington has not been allowed for months. Indoor and outdoor dining with social distancing has been allowed in both Oregon and Washington until the end of today. After today indoor dining in Washington is prohibited but outdoor dining with social distancing will continue to be allowed. However, with the weather getting colder and wetter as the Pacific Northwest heads into winter, many restaurants have decided to not offer outdoor dining. So, we decided to go out for a final indoor dining and live entertainment experience before we will be limited to delivery, take-out, or preparing food at home.

OC Wine Mart Virtual Wine Tasting
With Mark Pighini & Andrew Delos From Far Niente
and Julie Lim from OC Wine Mart
Thursday, November 19, 2020

Far Niente Chardonnay, EnRoute Pinot Noir, Post & Beam Cabernet, and Far Niente Napa Valley Cabernet Set of 4 for $250 (Retail Value $290). All of the wines were excellent, even the Chardonnay and we are not fans of Chardonnay. We haven't been doing any virtual wine tastings lately even though we have been purchasing the bottles of wine for them. Since for the last several months there has been live music in Portland, going out for dinner and live music has been conflicting with the scheduled virtual wine tastings. But now that almost everywhere is closed for indoor / outdoor dining, we'll probably go back to doing more of these virtual wine tastings.

Salmon Creek Regional Park / Klineline Pond
A Short 1.4 Mile Drive Or Bicycle Ride From
Our New Home in Vancouver, Washington
Friday, November 20, 2020

There is a huge parking lot here along with sheltered picnic tables, children's playground, restrooms, fishing, and is one end of the Salmon Creek Greenway Trail. There were many people fishing here today as we explored this park. The Salmon Creek Greenway Trail is a 3 mile paved trail that follows the Salmon Creek and wetlands. Deer, rabbits, raccoons, beavers and many kinds of birds can be seen along this trail. This trail is excellent for walking, jogging and bicycle riding.

Live Music at Ilani Casino
Line & Lure Restaurant
Shelli, Barbara & Stephen
Ridgefield, Washington
Friday, November 20, 2020

With Oregon and Washington States back into Covid lockdown for another two weeks, no indoor dining or live music is allowed. In Oregon, not even outdoor dining is allowed, just delivery and pick-up permitted. Outdoor dining is allowed in Washington State, but this region is into the cold and wet rainy Pacific Northwest winter season. Few restaurants have opted to offer outdoor dining. Those few that have stayed open are mostly breweries and tap rooms that have sheltered outdoor seating with some heaters. But they are still not allowed to have live music. The one exception is the Ilani Casino which is on Indian Territory and not directly subject to the edicts of the Washington State government. Ilani has chosen to keep their indoor dining restaurants open and continue to offer live music. Being the only place open for indoor dining and live music, this is where we decided to spend our Friday evening.

Live Music at Ilani Casino
Line & Lure Restaurant
Ridgefield, Washington
Saturday, November 21, 2020

We went back to the Line & Lure Restaurant at the Ilani Casino as that is still the only place anywhere near Vancouver or Portland that allows indoor dining and live music. That is because its rules are set by the Indian Tribe Governing Board and not by the State of Washington. The Ilani Casino just recently opened up their indoor garage and this is the first time I ever parked in the garage. It is a 6 floor free parking garage with many parking spaces near the casino entrance unlike the huge parking lot. The surface parking lot is so huge that they have a couple of shuttles running around to bring guests from their cars to the casino entrance.

The first garage level is reserved for VIP guests. I drove into the garage entrance not reserved for VIP guests and that led me to the 3rd Floor of the parking garage. I was amazed to find a huge number of electric vehicle (EV) charging spaces included many Tesla Destination Chargers! I parked in a Tesla Destination Charging spot and plugged in. It appears the Tesla Destination Chargers are free but the other Level II EV chargers looked like you'd have to pay to use to charge. I checked every level of the parking garage and only found EV chargers on Level 3 and on VIP Level 1. But, as you can see from these photos, there are a LOT of EV chargers on these levels! Unfortunately most of the EV charging spaces were marked as for either EV charging or for handicapped parking. I'm a little concerned that as more people start using the garage that most of the EV charging spaces might get taken up by non-EV cars using handicapped placards. As you can see from the below photos there was already one non-EV handicapped vehicles parked in a EV charging space. When checking all the other garage levels I saw that every level has many handicapped parking spaces right near the elevators and entrance to the casino. So there are plenty of spaces for handicapped parking without parking in the only spaces where Electric Vehicles can charge.

Salmon Creek Greenway Trail
A Short 1.4 Mile Drive Or Bicycle Ride From
Our New Home in Vancouver, Washington
Sunday, November 22, 2020

We parked at the Salmon Creek Regional Park and walked the Salmon Creek Greenway Trail until we got to the next parking lot along the trail, about a one-half mile walk. We hope to walk a little further each time we come so that we can eventually work up to walking 3 miles per day. There were a lot of cars in both parking lots but not that many people in sight. I guess they were all somewhere along the trail. The park is open until dusk and costs $3 for all day parking. They also offer an annual pass for $30 but that won't be available for purchase until closer to 2021.

Zoo Lights
Oregon Zoo
Tuesday, November 24, 2020

We closed on our new home in Vancouver today. We'd love to go out to celebrate, but because of the new lockdowns in Oregon and Washington, everything is closed except for delivery and take-out. We could have gone to the Ilani Indian Casino, but we prefer to go there on weekends when they have live music. Instead, as members of the Oregon Zoo, we drove through the Zoo Lights, just a 20 minute drive from our home in Vancouver.

And then we each topped off our celebration with a shot of Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon. We just purchased this bottle a little earlier in the day at the State Line Liquor Store just over the border in Portland, Oregon. Since Washington State does not have an income tax, they tax just about everything else to death. Liquor prices are about 23% higher in Washington State due to the high taxes so almost everyone in Vancouver comes just over the border to here for the better lower tax prices. Why Four Roses? I like Bourbon with a high rye content which I think gives it more of a bite than the sweetness of bourbon with a higher percentage of corn and lower percentage of rye.

Salmon Creek Greenway Trail
A Short 1.4 Mile Drive Or Bicycle Ride From
Our New Home in Vancouver, Washington
Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Rose & Thorn Restaurant at Ilani Casino
Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Thanksgiving Dinner At Shelli's House
Thursday, November 26, 2020

Live Music at Line & Lure Restaurant
at Ilani Casino
Friday, November 27, 2020

Live Music at Line & Lure Restaurant
at Ilani Casino
Saturday, November 28, 2020

Dinner at Line & Lure Restaurant
at Ilani Casino
Sunday, November 29, 2020

Christmas Light Displays
NW 42nd Street, Vancouver, Washington
Sunday, November 29, 2020

Exploring Two Macy's Stores in Malls:
Lloyd Center, Portland, Oregon and
Washington Square, Tigard, Oregon
Monday, November 30, 2020

In the late 1990's when I lived in Anaheim, California, my family would often take the Amtrak Coast Starlight from Southern California to Portland. While staying in Portland we'd often take the TriMet Light Rail from our hotel to the Lloyd Center Shopping Mall. It was a very active shopping mall with a good selection of stores. Today it is a ghost town. I was surprised it was even open. Over the last few years Lloyd Center has lost all of their major anchor stores. The last one remaining is Macy's, and they are in the process of closing. When we were there, everything was on clearance sale, even the store displays and equipment! Most of the other stores in the mall were already vacant and the few remaining stores looked like they were getting ready to clear out their merchandise and close down. I was curious what caused this mall to be abandoned by all of its anchor stores. The mall is located in an area with a concentrated population in high rise apartments and condos with easy access by light rail and from nearby freeways with plenty of free parking. A search of news sources did not explain why anchor stores have abandoned this shopping mall or what will become of this huge shopping facility. The selection of the Macy's at this mall was so sparse that we decided to leave and try a different Macy's.

Our next stop was the Macy's at the Washington Square Shopping Center in Tigard, Oregon. That shopping mall is huge with plenty of stores and plenty of shoppers. It has major anchor stores including JCPenny, Macy's, Nordstrom plus dozens of others stores including Abercrombie & Fitch, Amazon Books, American Eagle Outfitters, Ann Taylor, Apple Store, Dick's Sporting Goods, Express, Foot Locker, GameStop, GNC, H&M, Hickory Farms, Hot Topic, J.Crew, Kay Jewelers, LensCrafters, Pottery Barn, Sephora, Spencer's, Vans, Victoria's Secret, Williams-Sonoma, Forever 21, and more. There is even a Tesla Store and a number of restaurants, both food court and sit down restaurants (Though indoor dining is currently banned to the Covid lockdown). We were happy that this shopping mall is alive with shoppers. We felt like we were walking around at the end of the world at Lloyd Center. This is a much more enjoyable shopping center that is even open until 11pm even during Covid.

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