Greetings and hello from someone who is
spinning his wheels! Lemme check my backlog, yep, it's been damn
near a six months since my last post. And by that I mean over six
months since my last dropping of wordage. Here's a longish one. And
if you're lucky, I might even write some of this while imbibing.
Now? Now you get nonsense and
gibberish. Worth waiting for huh? Pull up a chair and listen to the tale of something I did back in June.
I visited Portland Oregon in June(over
the solstice to be precise). I figured that I had been wingeing on
about the North West, now was the time to actually pick up and visit.
First, buying airline tickets is a pain and rather different than
any of my previous life experiences. This was my first solo visit, I
say this as a man in is early 30s, who has graduated from college
with a degree in useless. I have proven myself to be a maker of poor
choices.
Now let me enlighten you!
Potland is a city known for food and
hipsters. A city that is cool and progressive. I wanted to sample
the fare and experience the culture. I invited a couple of friends
along, but that fell through. So I was off to do so myself. I have
a mild case of the travel bug, but the infection is suppressed by my
burning desire to save money and pay down debt.
First of all, buying airfare is not at
all like buying a ticket on the train. I've purchased train tix in
the past, and all you do is say “this is when I want to leave, here
is my money.” Bam, you got yourself a ticket to ride. Not so with
the airlined arts. There is a good deal more security, for obvious
reasons. Not to mention the greater number of decisions.
Train? Get on and find a seat. Any
seat. Plane? None of that sir, you sit in your assigned place like
a peon! Oh, you are first class? Step this way your majesty, and
sit in your assigned seat!
I went the Google route when purchasing
my tickets. As I thought at the time, why not, it's google, google
knows all. I am no longer sure that this is true, and wonder if it
would have been easier to use a different site. Something more
specialized. We live we learn, or we fail to keep living. I think
I'm of the second group.
I went with a big no-no and split
airlines, Delta out and American back, but the purchases were made
through the site of the former. Hah! Crown me king stupid!
My shopping experience ended up with an
angst-filled call to American Airline's help center – what must
have been their version of the classic “which one is the any key?”
exchange that haunts the IT world's nightmares. As the poor lady on
the other end tried to tell me that this was a lot like purchasing
train tickets(in Europe). Lady, I am a loser and a shut-in, I have
not been to Europe for the riding of their rail system.
We eventually got it cleared up and
they gleefully took my money with a good chuckle about the dupe that
they just rolled. But I had my seats and was ready to go. And so I
did. Wednesday evening, after a full day on the job, I boarded the
plane that would take me across the enormous stretches of the midwest
all the way to the coast.
With my backpack(you can travel light
when you accept that you're only going to wear one pair of cargo
shorts[yes, I am the type of dork who wears overly be-pocketed
legware – I am wearing cargo pants now, ladies calm yourselves as
you think of my pale legs being clad in the seductive sway of the
baggy practical garment] all weekend) In hand I left my city behind.
Swoosh! At least until I landed for my lay-over in Minneapolis.
Then there was more of a flump, but only after the less describable
sounds that one makes while devouring some rather disappointing
airport Kiosk pizza.
All along the way, severe thunderstorms
were forecast all across the planes, and we actually re-routed over
the Dakotas in order to avoid the worst of the maelstrom. Actually I
was excited about this. Thunderstorms are a blast to watch(from a
distance) and I was itching to see some from 35,000 feet. The awesome
power as the lightning cuts through the clouds and then stabs the
earth, all from Zeus' throne.
Well, fate, thanks for the giant
steaming crap on my chest you German hussy. I got the middle-seat,
and a neighbor with a giant head. I only caught glimpses of the
light show, but the images are still rather strong in my mind.
I don't sleep well when I'm nervous,
and new experiences leave me feeling nervous. So I had been
operating on around 4 hours of sleep(if I was lucky). Oddly enough I
didn't feel tired. I was just going forward, not quite on
auto-pilot. Maybe I was wired on adrenaline. We landed in Portland
around 11pm local time. I had been awake since around 3am Portland
time. I just wanted to check into my hotel – nix that, get to my
hotel.
My first hour in Portland involved
waiting for a hotel taxi that never came. Followed by Another first.
I took a cab to the hotel. Whee! Shit that expensive, for the
amount of distance covered. I paid less for my bus ticket between
Portland and Eugene, a trip that was around 24 times longer. Do I
sound like your dad yet? Close the door, we're not heating/cooling
the neighborhood! Yeah, I didn't climb into bed until around 1am.
Long day.
I was awakened the next morning by a
rousing call of “Fuck you mother-fucker!” and a door slamming.
Just kidding, I barely slept. Largely due to the door not quite
closing and letting in the traffic sounds, combined with my being in
a strange room, and worrying constantly about missing my bus the next
morning. Yay stress!
On the upside, I was awake early enough
to go out and enjoy that fine Portland cuisine! I hit up the free
continental breakfast. Oh yeah, I'm living large!
I grew up in Alaska, and the first
thing I noticed was the scent of the city. Pine trees, It smelled
right. Like home. That was my first impression of Portland, that it
just smelled and felt right that morning. The weather was gorgeous
and sunny, and the forecasts had promised temps in the mid 70s all
weekend. I lucked out with that.
All that was left was to catch a train
downtown to find my bus to Eugene? Why am I going to Eugene instead
of staying in Portland? Well, a friend from college offered me a
place to crash for free. And to be honest I was more excited to see
her than the cities/countryside. All I needed to do was get there.
I really liked the Portland train
system. Buy a ticket, get on and sit down. How traveling should be.
Ahem. But I got to sit back and get a quick tour of the train
tracks of the city and get a feel for the place. I loved the
geography, but the city itself was much larger than I had imagined.
Honestly, I need to stop imagining the future, as I ALWAYS get it
wrong. I came away from Portland wondering if I would ever actually
want to live there.
Using the
netifiationsuperhighwayoftubes back home I worked out about where I
needed to be to catch by bus. Mind you, that 'about' isn't really
even a kissing cousin to 'exactly'. An equation which lead to my
walking around in circles as I waited for the crapptappular GPS in my
phone to pick up a signal. More wandering as my phone decided that
signals are overrated. All of which killed my further plans of
visiting the famed Voodoo Donuts. On the upside I got to see
Hipsters and hippies. I think.
Spoiler, I went to Voodoo Donuts down
in Eugene. Alas, I only tried the Voodoo Doll. It was good, but
like just about any other jelly donut. You go for the experience I
suppose. Maybe I could have gotten something wilder, but there were
too many choices and I was getting cash-poor at the time.
The Willamette valley reminds me a bit
of East Michigan that has been penned in by mountains. I expected
more rolling hills I suppose. Maybe I was in the wrong part of the
state for that.
Eugene is a good sized college town
that sits on the southern edge of the Willamette valley. It has
about everything that anyone would need. All of the modern amenities
of shopping, plus a small town feel. I liked it immediately. I
spent the next couple days sleeping on a futon in my friend's
basement as she showed me the ins and outs of her adopted town. And
as she did chores. Man, that was so like our friendship of years
past, down to the visiting of the local thrift stores. I flirted and
she laughed and told me nothing would ever come of that.
The city seemed to be speckled with
mountains and trees and held a laid-back vibe that kind of gave me
the creeps. Maybe I'm just too midwest.
I spent solstice wandering around
downtown Portland and ineffectively(the only kind I do) flirting with
my friend. Can't help it(or didn't want to), her company brings that
side of me out. She teased me some, and I deserved that. We hit up
the science museum(was free day) and then the foodtrucks, all while
popping in and out of shops. All in all it was my favorite and most
cherished part of the trip. Even the part where the grungy hippie in
the grungier blanket tried to sell us (grungiest?) granola.
The trip back? Well that involved a 5
hour delay out of Portland. To combat the boredom I considered
buying, and then consuming, a bottle of wine as I wandered Portland's
airport. Only the certainty that I would have broken out in a rather
poor rendition of Sexy and I know it – possibally one without my
beloved cargo shorts. I was already late enough on my return trip,
without further contemplating a well earned night in the klink and no
doubt some worldwide youtube fueled kleos.
Instead I just walked around in
circles, cursing American. Then there was more disappointing pizza
in Chicago(Really Chicago, Pizza Mecca of the universe, you should be
ashamed), as I got myself switched over to an earlier flight.
Finally walking into a wall of humid air and getting hailed by a
local police officer who was wondering what I was doing walking away
from the airport at 10pm.
Don't quite know how I feel about
Western Oregon, but I would like to go back. Next time I'd like to
take charge and get a car so that I could wander at my own pleasure.
