In late Nov. we hit a milestone when our group visited its first coffee shop outside the City limits – Spring Creek Coffee House in Milwaukie – and this week there was another milestone when five of us climbed Terwilliger Hill in challenging weather to revisit Baker and Spice in Hillsdale.  Two of us had visited Baker/Spice via the steep Terwilliger Hill on a dry day three years ago.  This year it might have been foolhardy when the weather called for snow at higher elevations, and rain for the lower ones.  Suffice it to say that we arrived at Baker Spice chilly but dry, and returned to NE Portland wet and quite chilled.

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And the trudge was worth it in that Baker Space is an iconic shop that began baking tasty pastries  at outdoor markets,  then moved into a commercial spot in the strip mall in Hillsdale, and then opened a second spot in the same mall for cakes.  Thus, the coffee cakes and other goodies tasted sublime,  though like most popular bakeries it isn’t ideal for hanging out due there not being enough seats for the demand.   (And it was also worth the effort in that except for some frozen fingers and toes, there were no bike accidents, and no one’s immune system was so weakened that they picked up the flu thereafter.)

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Discussion topics included D’s and B’s adoring tales of their electric bikes; T catching us up on his family’s comings and goings since he’s not been with us for a long while, and our applauding his courage since he’s not been biking that much; H relating his family’s Thanksgiving extravaganza of 33 for dinner, with 2 gatherings of family prior to Thursday’s dinner, and 2 more in the following days;  and what we think about the City Council: who is effective, and who ought to be challenged.

6330 SW Capitol Hill Hwy                                               bakerandspicepdx.com