News flash… It rained in Portland during our trip. What I found strange was that I saw very few umbrellas! Everyone just went about their business, in the rain. This scenario reminded me of a quote from one of my hiking guides. When it rained, she would say, “Are you made of sugar?” We would say, “No,” and then she would say, “You are not going to melt….keep going!” My hairstylist would have cringed if he saw me walking in the rain without an umbrella after a fantastic hair blow out! Having grown up in Portland I knew to plan for rain during our short two day trip to the Portland, Oregon area in the Spring. That was important when researching where we could book our tennis excursion!
Originally, we weren’t sure if we were going to play tennis, since we wanted to travel lightly on this two day trip. On our flight to Portland, we took my tennis racquets out of the carry on, and put them in the bulkhead storage (tip: see photo, the racquets fit perfectly against the wall in the bulkhead storage. Most of the time the tennis bag fits perfectly, too.). On one of our last trips to the Portland, Oregon area, we played at the Japanese Rose Garden, Washington Park tennis courts. For this trip, I researched where to play tennis indoors and made sure I booked a court at the Portland Athletic Club for one of our days.
Luckily, we had indoor tennis court time, because of the rain. We had selected the Portland Athletic Club for tennis because we could book court time as non-members (cost to book a court for one hour for non-members $20 per person). The Portland Athletic Club was located in Beaverton, Oregon (home of Nike headquarters). We checked in and bought a can of tennis balls ($4 per can). The fast hard tennis courts were perfect for our singles match. On the other courts, there was an active tennis clinic going on, everyone looked like they were having fun! According to the person who checked us in, the Portland Athletic Club has been in business for 40 years. The club had a nice lounge with plenty of seating areas, which was great for viewing courts 2 and 3, through the big picture windows. In addition, there was a small fitness room, with exercise equipment. I could imagine throwing a tennis party at this quaint tennis club. Overall, we were super happy to find such a nice tennis facility to play tennis, when we visit the Portland area!
After we finished playing tennis, as we walked out, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. Everything was green, the flowers were blooming. Portland was such a beautiful and friendly place to visit and play tennis! People often comment on the airplane, when we remove the tennis racquets from the bulkhead storage, that they never think to bring their tennis racquets on their trip. Big smile! I love it when others share our ideas and realize how much fun we have had, traveling and playing tennis, together!
Tennis facility:
Portland Athletic Club, 5803 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Highway, Beaverton, Oregon. 503-292-2649. info@Portlandathleticclub.net
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