Obbie was nauseous this morning, and we both woke up with headaches. We would have suspected hangovers, but we’d only shared one beer between us last night. It may have been altitude sickness, exacerbated by the beer. We had been close to sea level for several days, and then we suddenly spent a night at seven thousand feet without having a chance to get acclimated first.

Hiking on the volcano was not going to be on today’s agenda. We are wiped out, and in no mood to do much of anything. So we rolled down the mountain with our tails between our legs, embarrassed at our failure to respect the mountain. Between the flat tire at Crater Lake and getting altitude sickness on Mt. Hood, our experiences with volcanoes have been less than optimal.

Tomorrow we plan to spend the day in Portland, so today we need to rest and recover. We’ve been hearing about an innovative light rail system called MAX, so we’d like to check it out. Driving in a big city is usually a nightmare, so for tomorrow’s visit to Portland we plan to park in the suburbs and ride the MAX downtown.

We came armed with a Portland street map that showed the MAX routes and stations. As we approached the city, the first suburb with a MAX station is Gresham, so that’s where we stopped. We found a room and relaxed, saving our strength for tomorrow’s day in Portland.