oh-sweet-pea
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April 24, 2003 - 4:24 pm
my weekend away was wonderful. i love portland! i do! i do!! it's the best city in the world for biking around in and me and cornelius sure did lots of it. it was sunny and warm and i was sad that i didn't bring any skirts with me.
after we picked up kyla early friday morning, we headed straight to the border with no pee stops. sadly there was a huge line up and boy was i ever thankful for the blaine gas station washroom! we stopped off in bellingham to have a lovely breakfast at the old town cafe and do some value village shopping -- it's a record, but i was the only one who didn't buy something there! we then sped off down the highway where we found a krispy kreme and man-o-man, the stories do not lie.
the best donuts ever. they even gave out free donuts to us standing in line....we felt too guilty to quickly leave, so we bought a box for the road. we dropped off kyla in seattle and carried on our way to...
PORTLAND!!
we found a cheap motel on burnside across from a strip joint, unpacked, quickly put our bikes together, and headed to dots for lots of beer and burgers. afterwards, we rode about the belmont and hawthorne districts and felt good about the cool night air. the next morning we headed to the cup and saucer for breakfast and we each bought a pair of shoes at a vintage shop. my lovely new shoes are PINK and BROWN (!!) sneaker/mary-janes and too damn cute for words. 
we then headed downtown to check out the book and zine stores and drink more beer. then more beer called us to nob hill where we bought even more shoes and drank even more beer. even with the shitty exchange, the shoes (we each bought red chuck taylors) were a deal at $12 a pair! wandering around the residential neighbourhoods felt great. it was actually sunny and warm (bordering on hot, even) and we daydreamed about sneaking into the states just to live in portland. all the houses seem cute and actually affordable, more so when compared to vancouver. 
after midnight, after way more beers, we headed to check out a local band, but we were pretty tired and only stayed a few minutes before heading back on our bikes to the comforts of cheap motel heaven.
on sunday, we spent the morning in portland and tried to find a cheap breakfast. it didn't happen. sadly, the worst thing about portland is the lack of good food. i've heard the rumors before, but it really is true. everything is expensive and mediocre. it made me miss the plentiful, delicious and cheap cheap cheap foods of vancouver. i know, food is on my brain ALL of the time.
in the afternoon we headed to canon beach, seaside and astoria. canon beach was dramatic and beautiful, seaside was tacky with bumper cars and flashing lights and video games galore, and astoria was the prettiest little town ever. but we drove on. we decided that we would find a cheap motel in olympia and crash for the night. sadly the cheapest place we found was a $40/night DUMP. ewwww. it was pretty scary with unfinished clapboard walls and we counted 3 air fresheners!! 
needless to say, i had a pretty nasty opinion about olympia. however in the morning, we found a great cheap breakfast (we split our very first found-in-america-only breakfast: biscuits and gravy. and yes, it was damn good!) at the starks cafe. we also found a nice record store/vintage clothing store. but, i certainly don't get the hubbub about olympia. 
dullsville for sure.
the next afternoon, we headed to seattle. i'm always a bit bored by seattle cuz i feel like i've done everything there is to do there....which i know is totally not true. we met up with kyla and sergio at mamas kitchen for gigantic burritos and then we headed for home.
it was a fantastic trip. and can i mention that i am so fucking in love with cornelius that i just can't stand it??!!?? well, too bad, i just did.