Portland part 1.
It's taken me a while to sit down and post these so here's the first portion of my Portland/Seattle adventure w/Courtney and Michelle.
The drive to Portland began early in the morning, though not as early as originally intended but still pretty damn early, on Tuesday, June 27th. I woke up and packed like I was supposed to have completed the night before. I hung out with my cat, Dignan while waiting for Court and so the story begins:
Courtney packed up the truck and made a sleeping bag section through the middle. There's a campershell and it protected our travel buddy, Christopher, who was hitching a ride up to Portland with us.
We pulled over and took a picture of this gigantic tractor. It reminds me of a dinosaur. Growing up in a city of dirt has caused my upbringing to be completetly devoid of seeing things like this frequently and by default, amazed by them. Anyway, this was somewhere in Utah. On the drive home from Portland, Courtney and I saw a cowboy (horse, hat, lasso and all) rope a cow. Gross. I don't like Utah very much.
We arrived sometime on Tuesday. I can't remember when because I slept an abnormal amount of time from Monday until our arrival. At Manny's house, his roommate... Die Rule? That's his name though I am not sure if that is how it is spelled... cooked up some food. We feasted in the backyard and I departed from my awkward obsession against eating outside and enjoyed the weather, food & company. (the rule against eating outside has since been reinstated)
This is the doorway to Manny's house. His place was so comfortable and welcoming. This picture is of Michelle telling our friend Jen on the phone that Manny's house is owned by the singer of the Shins. Later that week, Manny had a party and it was so much fun! We were reunited with a bunch of our vegas friends and our buddies from flaspar moved up there and just arrived that night. Good times at Manny's house.
After our feast (and parting ways with travel buddy, Christopher... he introduced us to his friend Laser, I've never met anyone named Laser before... American Gladiators doesn't count.) we headed downtown to check out this vintage store, The Red Light. I bought a polka dot dress, flower button up, a t-shirt and a ring. Big spender, eh?
In the downtown area of Portland lies this bicycle rack filled with children's small bikes. Evidently, the story goes something like a group of bike people ride these bikes down a hill and crash them. Afterwards, they pile and lock them up until next time.
We visited an awesome comic/ toy/ book/ vintage porn store called Counter Media. I bought a Japanese edition Mark Ryden book, some postcards, and a toy for Ryan. Courtney and Michelle bought some of that good ol' vintage porn. Above is Michelle enjoying her purchase.
On Alberta Street, Portland hosts an event comparable to our First Friday but it is held/called "Last Thursday." We had a lot of fun and saw what we would see here in Vegas times 3... meaning, we saw some good, bad and ok art. I wish I had more $$ to buy some cool paintings... oh well. I did end up with some cards with deers on them.
Once I move to Portland and you fast forward 25 years, this is what Courtney and I will be doing. Anyway, this band was playing some cool stuff on the street next to where Courtney bought some new earrings.
This band is awesome. They are called Sassparilla and are from Boulder, CO. They play this mix of dated ragtime, jazzy-bluegrass. All members are insanely talented and put on a good show. We saw them later that same night at a bar a few blocks down.
Seattle and more Portland pictures to come>>>>