Portlandia

For the last four days, I've been spending my time across the country in Portland, Oregon. My best friend for 12 years invited me to visit her so I jumped at the opportunity to GTFO of Philly for a few days. This is the first time I've been out west and I have loved every second of it. Sadly it has rained every day, except for today, but the rain is definitely manageable here.


Let's recap how the last few days have gone...

Saturday: I arrived in Portland around 7:30pm and was ready to party. Kimberly picked me up from the airport and we headed to her apartment. After a quick makeover and a change of clothes, we headed to one of the country bars in Milwaukie. The bar was fairly dead, but one of her friends was playing in the band so we hung out there for an hour or so. People out west have a very particular image of what country is, but it seems to me there is a disconnect between their idea and the reality. After a while, we decided that this bar was not the place for us to stay, mostly because of some weird sugar daddy situations we watched unfold.

Around 11, we headed to McQuillans, a local dive bar that had karaoke. As soon as we sat down, we ran into one of Kimberly's friends, who seemed to know almost everyone in the bar. The seat I grabbed was next to a cute guy who Kimberly swears looks like Edward Cullen. (Fitting of course because the scenery looks damn near identical to the Twilight movies.) Any way, it wasn't long before I got a free drink and I was sweet talking the locals about hockey and soccer. Since it was karaoke night, I decided to rock out to What's My Age Again with the cute guy I was sitting next to. Before I knew it, I was pretty drunk and was dancing with everyone. It was awesome.

Saturday into Sunday marked the end of Daylight Savings Time, which was incredibly disorienting for me coming from the East Coast, three hours ahead of the Pacific North West. After bar hopping again, we wound up at a house party. When all was said and done, I crashed on Kimberly's couch around 6AM. As exhausted as I was, I think I was more drunk so it didn't bother me in the slightest.

Tyron Creek Park

Sunday: After sleeping in until about noon, we headed to Tyron Creek Park to take some pictures. It rained the entire time, but the view was gorgeous. Everything is so green in Oregon... something you don't see very often in Philly.

Later in the evening, we headed to a dispensary. In Oregon, medicinal and recreational use of marijuana is legal, if you are over 21. Coming from a state where weed is illegal, I wanted to see what it was like to purchase weed. Basically, the dispensary is like a giant vape shop, but instead of juice for your vape, there is a TON of different strains of weed. I couldn't take any pictures of the dispensary, but I was able to take a picture of the container the weed comes in. (Super exciting, I know.) That's about all I will be sharing about this experience, but if you're a close friend, I don't mind sharing more with you privately.

(Side note: for any of my fellow reslifers, I am curious on how you think the legalization of recreational marijuana would impact our role on campus, but that's a conversation for another day...)

Cannon Beach

Monday: Another rainy day, but we visited Cannon Beach. This beach is where the ending scene of the Goonies was filmed and the town right next to it, Astoria, was where the rest of the movie was filmed. Obviously, I had to take a picture with the rocks in the water before departing. (Just in the nick of time too because it started to torrential downpour not soon after the picture was taken.)

It was weird how normal it felt to be at Cannon Beach. Even though I had never been there before, it felt almost like home. The beach town was so similar to Camps Bay in Cape Town that I had such a feeling of nostalgia the moment we arrived. It was so surreal, but comforting.

After nearly missing the rain, we made it back to Milwaukie to drink some wine and watch movies.

Tuesday: We headed into the city of Portland for the day. Again it was rainy, but I didn't mind it much. We couldn't decide what to do so we settled for a beer tasting at Hair of the Dog brewery. We had to walk across the Morrison Bridge to get there, but the view of the city was wonderful. After our beer tasting, we headed to a dive bar called Embers across town. I was meeting up with the Edward Cullen looking fellow around 5:30 to go out to dinner. (Who knew I'd score a date while traveling?)
 
Kimberly and I parted ways around 4:30 so I had about an hour to kill before my date. I decided to just stay at the dive bar and continue to drink before meeting up with 'Edward'. It was probably not the best idea, but it wasn't the worst. By the time we met up, I wasn't really hungry, but instead a bit tipsy... maybe even borderline drunk. I was no longer nervous so it worked out, but I probably was a giant goofball (more so than usual).


After grabbing a drink at a local hipster bar called Momo's, we headed to Shigaze, a Japanese restaurant, for dinner. Anyone who knows me will be surprised to hear that I tried a few things I've never eaten before including seaweed salad and real ramen, both delicious! Aside from trying out new cuisine, I also was introduced to the usage of chopsticks and sitting on the floor to eat. It was a great experience and I hope to try out a Japanese restaurant in Philly when I get back. (If anyone is interested in tagging along or has recommendations, let me know.)

My night ended at another karaoke bar where I made friends with a young woman named April. She was super awesome and we wound up singing Cee-Lo Green's Fuck You together. It was a blast!

Multnomah Falls

Enjoying the view

Wednesday: My last day in Portland was beautiful. I was sad that the weather had been kind of awful the whole time, but it paid off for today. We went to Multnomah Falls, Oregon's largest waterfall, and I was able to take some lovely pictures. We also checked out Vista House where you can see Washington from the top. Aside from that adventure, the day has been fairly chill. Kimberly and I are heading to another dive bar tonight so wish me luck in waking up for my 7AM flight tomorrow. 

This trip to Portland has been wonderful. I am so thankful that I have such an amazing friend who put up with me on her couch for 5 nights and has taken me all around. I'm looking forward to heading back out this way after I finish my grad program, hopefully to stay. 

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much easier things would be if I could lose some of my memories, mainly those consisting of the wolf. I find myself remembering the good times together, which is incredibly frustrating. If only life were like Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. I could go and have all memories of the wolf removed and it would be as if it never happened. I could sleep at night without remembering his touch, his sweet voice, and the wonderful lies he told me. But it's not and I'm stuck with the memories, as much as I wish I could forget. The worst part is that as badly as I want to hate him, I don't. I can't. I find myself becoming more and more frustrated with myself because I was the one who believed that things would be different and that everything was going to be okay. I was the one who fell, hard, and let myself tell him things I never wanted to share with anyone else. He made everything so easy and I loved it, until now. I know one day things will get easier, but until then I'll continue to wrack my brain for all the reasons why I wasn't good enough.