We've arrived!

Ahhh, I have finally found an airport with a sense of decency. Portland International comes complete with free wi-fi connections on the main terminal. Leave it to the left-wing hippie types to get it right! Wifey and I have arrived without incident and are about to sample Portland’s supposedly super-efficient light rail system, the MAX. I will be curious to find out how it stacks up against MARTA and the other light rails I have been on. We should be on it for about 45 minutes, so I should get a chance to see a little bit of Portland as well. During the last leg of our journey we were fortunate enough to sit with an interesting passenger who was headed to the Cascades to do some hiking and camping over the weekend. She lives in L.A. and is a chiropractor by trade. We barely noticed the flight because we were enjoying chatting with her so much. She told us that the term “shanghaied” was originally coined in Portland. Seems that in the Victorian era the sea captains who were short on crews would purchase deck hands from the locals here for about $50 per head. The locals, wanting to maximize profits I’m sure, would spike the drinks of bar patrons and after they were good and snookered, would open trap doors in the saloon floors and drop them into a system of underground tunnels called the “Shanghai Tunnels”. The unconscious men were then carried through the tunnels to the port (which is quite large by the way) and put on a ship bound for the Orient. When they awoke at sea, they were told they would have to work off their passage in order to return to Portland (usually about 6 years). They now offer tours of the tunnel system and Dr. Kronski and Janet tell me they even have a tavern set up inside the tunnel itself. If I have some time I will definitely try to make it a stop on our journey and take plenty of pictures. I don’t think I’ll be drinking much, though, as I am sure you would all be devastated to lose your Wizard for even a few days, much less the better part of a decade. Have a great night and don’t drink on top of trap doors.