Well, I went somewhere and then came back. Amazing.

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.