Getting to St Johns on transit from my house is a bit awkward. You either take one of the few 15's that goes past Montgomery Park to the end of the line, then get off and wait for 40 minutes for a 16 to pick you up for the rest of the way, or you go the other way and cross the Steel or Morrison bridges, and then transfer to a bus that makes the long trek up into the peninsula. But I decided to be clever and concocted a direct route without a long layover. It involved riding an orange bike to the hub outside of Schoolhouse Electric, then crossing the railroad tracks to catch a 16 on Front.
That being a freight train parked on the crossing. And extending as far as I could see in both directions. I settled in to wait, to see if by chance it would get out of the way before my bus arrived. And sketched until I heard it go by on the other side of the train.
Then I checked the bus schedule, and decided that taking the bus in an hour wouldn't make me too late, and decided to try the new coffee shop in Schoolhouse Electric. Had a latte and a croissant and read the Willamette Week from cover to cover. And, eventually, the train started up and rolled away, and I was able to get to Front and catch my bus.
I'd missed the pre-sketching gathering, so I headed straight down into Cathedral Park and worked my way down the hill until I found a spot in the shade with a good view up at the bridge.
And then headed down to the river, where a stern-wheeler was passing. I watched it go by downriver, and spied a mysterious ship off in the distance. So I worked my way along the river to find a better view of it.
