We love the weirdness of Portland, but the weather is crazy weird. Summers are dry and sunny, and temps are usually in the low 80’s with really low humidity. Step into the shade and it feels like a 10 degree drop.

But, every once in awhile we get a “heat dome” that drives the temps to 100 or above. It usually only lasts a day or 2 but this week we’re getting hit with several days in a row in the upper 90’s and triple digits.

Most houses, including our condo, were built without AC and managed quite well, when they were built. However, the summers are getting hit with these high temp anomalies more often and AC mini-splits are now all the rage.

Since the humidity is so low, and our condo is on the ground floor, with lots of shade, we have managed to go without, leaning on fans to keep the temps manageable.

We do our exploring in the morning but have missed some afternoon outdoor events, as it’s just too hot to sit in the sun and bake. One such event was a Garden Party in Washington Park yesterday, next to the rose garden.

It looked like it was going to be the ultimate tea party, but it was just too hot for us to attend. The local weather reporters treat anything above 95 degrees like the Florida meteorologists do for a hurricane. “Weather Impact Alert”!!!

We walked through the park this morning and passed by this fancy, air-conditioned porta potty, still set up for Sunday visitors. Genius concept!

On a cooler weekend we ventured over to Cathedral Park, on the Willamette River, under the St. John’s Bridge. This is one of the most beautiful bridges in the city and takes my breath away every time we cross it. One of these days we’ll get around to walking over and back.

In just a few weeks Autumn will arrive, we’ll be back to sweater weather and the parks will be bursting with the colors of Fall. More later…