Above: A view from the eastern end of Beacon Rock. To see this photo a bit larger, and for more photos from my trip, including the promised photos from Tuesday’s trip to Tacoma, please click here.
Okay, so Wednesday was a pretty chill day. Pretty simple in fact, with only two things on the agenda. Hike Beacon Rock and head to the Portland Timbers match against the Seattle Sounders.
The day did not start well, as I found out through multiple means that the company that owns the paper I work for, Gannett, is on the fast track to laying off 1,400 people come July 8. I find it extremely disconcerting that I found out by reading it on the New York Times before the letter from corporate ever arrived in my email box. I won’t comment more other than to say that Corporate telling the media before they told their own employees is pretty backhanded, if you ask me.
However, I was not going to let that news deter the good times this day had in store. Joel and I headed up to Beacon Rock, only about a 25-minute drive from Washougal, and hiked the dang thing. I got some good photos, he got light-headed. He admitted that he didn’t eat before our excursion. We made it up and down in an hour and ten minutes.
Above: The view looking west from Beacon Rock. The scenery in the Columbia River Gorge is quite wonderful.
I dropped Joel off and headed into Portland for the Timbers match against the Sounders in the U.S. Open Cup. I arrived an hour prior to match time, where I met up with Brian Taylor at the Cheerful Bullpen just down the street. No, I did not drink any alcohol, but they did have $2 fries.
Onto the match, where PGE Park was sold out to the tune of 16,500 people. We heard it was the fourth-biggest crowd in US Open Cup history and the largest Timbers crowd to date. Eat that, everyone that thinks MLS won’t succeed in Portland.
After a rousing pre-game shindig that involved a tifo of Timber Jim cutting down the Space Needle, the action started and not even a minute in, Seattle scored. They would add another in the 27th, then Portland would add one in the 43rd. That would be it as the teams ran up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down in the second half and nothing materialized. 2-1, Sounders win, but Portland fans were treated to a good match.
Above: I think this was the first soccer match ever for the guy on the right. “It’s Wednesday night and this guy would rather be at the club,” said Brian.
Funniest thing I’ve ever seen at a sporting event: around the 75th minute or so, a Seattle forward faked an injury after missing horribly on a pass to the corner. He rolled over on his back and, being close to the Timbers Army, heard a cascade of boos. Not soon after he started writhing did someone throw a full bottle at him and hit him nearly square in the junk. Totally unsportsmanlike but totally worth the price of admission.
After the match was over, Brian and I headed over to the Agency, a sports bar just across the street. We indulged in some cheeseburger sliders and while talking about the match, lo and behold, our good friend Noel from our Rainier days joined us for a bit, along with Brian’s friend Jonah from college. We all condensed the last seven years of our lives into a half hour, which as anyone who has ever tried it would know doesn’t work too well with the time constraint.
We all said our goodbyes and I headed back to Cris’s place in Camas, where Cris, his brother Daniel, Joel and I all watched the movie S.W.A.T.
After seeing a dude get decapitated by a train, it was time for bed.
Hasta luego.
Oh, here’s that tifo from the Timbers game last night, courtesy SoccerCityUSA.com.
Soccer? I thought you were a sports fan. ;)