Following a long, lonely dry spell off the trails, I reunited with my treasured hiking friends at a 2016 kickoff walk through Happy Valley suburbia. Too early to break trail through the holiday snowpack we opted for a brisk January neighborhood stroll to a newly developed food cart plaza positioned along Sunnyside Road at S.E. 145th.
This is no downtown parking-lot-turned-dirty dining-destination accompanied by hand-made signs, questionable power and water linkups, and loitering street people. The food cart metamorphosis here resembles the one that happened to VooDoo Donuts some years back. Once a grungy hole-in-the-wall zany donut shop open only during the late night and early morning hours, it moved one half a block up town, cleaned up its ambiance and is now a very successful international chain of pink-boxed sugary absurdities.
Happy Valley Station is a well-designed, upscale transplanted version of the scattered hodgepodge of food carts found throughout Portland
neighborhoods. Anchored on a cement pad with a central eating area closed to the elements in winter and rolled open in summer, the carts are specifically and equally spaced around the perimeter, each cart individual in offerings but uniform in size and structure. Professionally installed electric and plumbing hook-ups sit at the edges of the cement pad. Ethnic specialties are hawked out of sliding glass windows by cheery independent business owners. They do a brisk business through lunchtime. Prices are similar to other cart establishments.
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| Drew at the bar |
Inside the eating arena is a beer counter with micros listed on a white board, a gelato cart and a coffee cart. A colorful play area is provided for children and large screen TVs run the latest sports news. Long polished wood picnic-style tables and benches fill the center like ribs of corduroy. Community seating at its finest.
Wandering through the varied culinary offerings we each made an appealing selection and gathered at one of the long tables to share bites, tales and topics ranging from traveling adventures and recent medical issues
to modern baby diapers. Playing musical chairs in order to connect with each other we swirled around the table to share pictures and examine a wine glass-fronted iPhone cover. You had to be there!
Exchanging ideas for more winter walks and gatherings we found synergistic energy to buoy our hopes for another wonderful year of adventures around town and into the woods. Welcome to 2016 and ladies afoot seeking new horizons!
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| Water and electricity |
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| Gelato cart |
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| Play area and coffee cart |
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| Interior eating area |
You should send this to the owner. We went back with friends and met the owner. She is a charming young lady
ReplyDeleteI know she would love this.
Do you have any contact information for her Karen?
DeleteYou should send this to the owner. We went back with friends and met the owner. She is a charming young lady
ReplyDeleteI know she would love this.
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