northwest adventure

I got back from my trip through the northwest late Wednesday night. Since then, life has been a mix of insanities both good and bad, so I'm just now getting around to blogging my travels.

My trip started with a visit to friends and family out in Portland, OR. On Friday, my grandfather and I traveled out to Silver Falls State Park, where we took a five mile hike past numerous beautiful waterfalls. It was great spending the day with my grandfather, a most impressive man. It's a rare 82 year old who can take a five mile hike with plenty of elevation changes, polish off a nice beer afterward, and then drive over an hour back home.

I also got to sample some of the local Portland nightlife. I spent one night over in the southeast side of town, hanging out in the Hawthorne and Belmont street areas. There are some fun bars (though be cautious of anal-retentive bouncers) that have a distinctively northwest feeling to them... among other things, I was treated to plenty of classic Soundgarden in the jukebox. The Hawthorne area also has some cool book and record stores that kept me busy (and weighted down my backpack) during the day. Scored a couple nice discs, plus a pile of books ranging from aikido and eastern religion to chronicles of the automobile's influence on the evolution of the American city. The Powell's book store has an impressive collection, but is not nearly as overwhelming as the time-vortex, multi-block city of books they have in the downtown area.

Other highlights from the trip include lunch with my family at the Portland brewing company, and partying in downtown, lounging at Shanghai Tunnel and clubbing at Berbati's. (btw portlanders, prefuse 73 is playing there this week, so don't miss it...)

The best part about Portland, however, was just the chance to catch up with my family and friends. It never ceases to amaze me when I reunite with long lost friends to discover that we're more alike in thought and outlook now than we were back in the days we saw each other constantly.