Judy and I went on an adventure today. Judy had a 10 am appointment at the Eye Clinic in the “Pearl District” in downtown Portland. We decided to leave the car parked and ride the light rail line, Max, downtown. We got started about 8:30 and walked the 0.8 miles to the Max station. The first challenge was to buy two tickets. I tried to buy “Honored Citizen” tickets that are only $0.85 each. The machine seemed to insist on my entering some kind of senior pass or Medicaid card to complete the transaction. After about three tries I punched up a full price fare. Then the machine wouldn’t take my credit card. I briefly thought about feeding it my $20.00 bill but the screen flashed that it would not give change. We searched out another machine and as I got the first ticket printed the train rolled into the station. I gave Judy the ticket and started on the second. By the time it was printed the doors had closed. I ran to the side of the car and punched the “open door” button and the driver let us on. Whew!
We arrived downtown at 9:37 am and were just in time to see the tail lights of our trolley moving away from us a block away. We were now faced with a 1.4 mile walk in 22 minutes. That was not a particularly difficult challenge for us, that is …if the walk signals would cooperate a little. No such luck. Every block we would trot up just as the signal changed. We made it in time, however.
We spent a couple hours at the clinic and Judy got several photos and scans of her eyeballs. The good news is this is a very early stage of dry macular and will most likely never progress to a serious stage. We will continue to monitor the condition as the years roll along, but for now there is no cause for alarm.
We were able to wait for the trolley back to the downtown Max corridor and then we wandered around for a time. We checked out the Pioneer Plaza for lunch and then Pioneer Courthouse Square. We looked up the Tri-Met office there and got some hands-on help at dealing with the ticket machines. Then to make amends the young lady presented us with a pair of complementary all day passes on Tri Met. With that we were able to hop on and off Max and do a little shopping in Beaverton on our way home. If only we weren’t so pooped we could go ride the Max Light Rail from end to end today.
Portland is making up for all the cold weather and we are actually approaching 90 degrees this afternoon. What a beautiful day it is.
In the end, we conquered a new mode of transportation today. It was fun and challenging. Perhaps trying to learn the ropes when you have an appointment is not the wisest plan, but we did make it and we were on time .barely.
Love to all from Hillsboro Oregon