oh-sweet-pea
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May 10, 2004 - 9:48 am
i'm back and what a wonderful four days we had! i love portland! and it's strange cuz we didn't do the normal portland activities. we didn't go to a rep movie house and see a $2 movie and drink beer while watching it. we didn't go to a single record store. we didn't go to the red, white and blue or even a goodwill. we didn't even have a bad meal! portland is full of surprises.
we set out early on thursday morning and stopped off in bellingham for some good breakfast and then we didn't stop until we got to olympia where we checked out my favorite vintage store/record store and had an ice cream sundae at the spar cafe. we then just booted it to portland, checked into our hotel and rode our bikes to dots for beers and a burger. afterwards, we wandered around the hawthorne and spent time in powells before we headed back to the hotel for some good loving that involved my body as portland divided into quadrants. too much information perhaps? too bad for you.
the next day we headed to juniors for an amazing breakfast and then we rode across the hawthorne bridge and into nob hill. after we checked out my favorite shoe store (didn't purchase a thing!) and deeked into urban outfitters, we headed back into downtown and spent hours at powells, the best bookstore in the world. i ended up buying 4 books and could have bought so much more. we then went into reading frenzy and i bought even more stuff. back to our hotel again where we met up with dan and pam and then we headed out to the mcmemamin's farm for beer and a walk around the grounds. we chatted about our dreams for building our own home and buying cheap vacation land together where we could live as kind of a co-op. hippy dreams about building with cob that don't really seem so far off. we then drove back into portland and had the most delicous desserts at the pied cow. such a wonderful night!
the next day (my 34th birthday!!) we rode our bikes to alberta street which fucking killed me on my bike. portland is pretty much flat compared to vancouver, but "the ridge" was hell to bike up. i ended up walking my bike up 2 blocks. we checked out lots of pretty dress shops (i'm sure c was loving it as much as i was!) and then had a coffee on an outdoor patio. riding our bikes back down was much better. we then hitched up our bikes and walked around the residential neighbourhood around belmont. c then took me out for a birthday dinner at the delta for some yummy bbq and fried chicken.
we also checked out the sellwood area and visited the very very cool share-it square. it is places like that which make portland so friendly and yet so naive at the same time....and i like that combination. people on bikes would wave to us when we rode around (huh? that would never happen in vancouver), we saw wide open apartment windows with good stuff ready for the taking in arms reach (never in vancouver!), we also checked out and had a tour of 'dignity village' a homeless tent city that sits on public land, has public approval and has been given a campground status (again, not in vancouver). portland just seems so positive. can it really be so??
sunday we had breakfast at the biways cafe and checked out some cool shops in old town before we figured it was time to go. it was a great birthday trip. and now, i'm back in the 'couv and it's dreary, i'm not working, and i've got a bit of a sore throat. but i'm not going to let that stop me. i'm finally going to have a birthday cake, even if i have to make it myself. happy belated birthday to me!