Portland Trip

In August I spent over 3 weeks traveling to Portland, staying, and driving back. I went up alone, tearing up the 5, stayed with 2 different friends, and came down the circuitous route of the 101 and 1. Photos up on Flickr.

Highlights included-

- Picking insanely good blackberries behind buildings

-Daily swimming at a really nice 24 hour fitness

- The Montage Restaurant
a loud and stupid good place to eat. I loved the crawfish etouffee and the drinks were fun

- Making and eating many blackberry pies


- Cooking for my hosts

- Tour of a glass factory

- Making an airplane for Red Bull's Flugtag


- Watching our Flugtag vehicle fly off the end of the 'runway'. We didn't win anything, but ours was the only one with a perfect water landing, where our pilot stayed completely dry

- Wandering around Arcata (and my old University) for the first time in 17 years

- Having a great travel partner for the trip down the coast

- spending hours picking through ocean worn pebbles on Moonstone Beach

- The best lamb I've ever had in my life in Sonoma

- A fun and pleasurable evening tasting wine and eating lobster bisque in Cambria

- Sleeping in my van. No really, it was great to have my own bed in my own space night after night, not having to get use to sounds, smells and schedules of others

Low points included-

- 300 miles of smoky driving in northern CA while over a million acres of hills and trees burned. It saddened my heart
- A dog peeing on the futon the one time I did decide to bring it in the house.
- endless stress of applying for jobs and housing
- fruitless job interviews

In all, it was a great trip, and I learned a lot from it. It was a recon trip to see if Portland was right for me. It was, and I want to live there for a while, but currently I'll be in LA a bit longer. Probably until the heat and dry winds of next summer chase me away again.