West Coasting Part III
II had envisioned a long drive to Portland, an almost 10 hour drive to Portland. I had envisioned the road ahead and the landscape changing while driving into the Pacific Northwest, I had envisioned… / car rentals were crazy expensive, and I was forced to fly.
Staying at one of my former flatmate’s apartment!
D: “Hey man, just landed.”
J: “Nice!!, I’ll be leaving in 5.”
D: “Ok dude, no worries. So happy to see you!!
J: “Be there in 20”
Jovan pulled over in his white VW; he looked exactly the same. It was wonderful to see him after 4 long years. Not many people can lift me up, except for Jovan. He can easily lift me and shake me. Usual driving style, usual energy, all smiles! We stopped at Trader Joe’s on our way to his place. Grabbed some groceries and cooked dinner. After we catch up, it was time for me to get some rest. The next day Jovan suggested checking out the Sterling Coffee Roasters and gave me some other suggestions: Walking down 23rd st., TILT for food and sightseeing around Pioneer Square and the Harbor Side. I walked down 23rd and check most of the places, starting with Pioneer Square:
Pioneer Square
I sat down for people watching and it was at that point when I realized how exhausted I was from all the walking I did in SF. I ended up staying longer than expected. Jovan and his girlfriend joined a little later and we walked some more around downtown.
The next day I did a little more walking and decided to go to the Oregon museum of Science and Industry or OMSI. There was a Pixar exhibit and I was very curious to check it out. On my way there I spotted cool graffiti all over the city:
I reached the Morrison Bridge and crossed the Willamette River. I stopped midway and turned around to check the city’s view from there. I was not disappointed.
I kept walking and finally reached the OMSI. The nice lady at the ticket counter informed me that the movie Dark Universe was starting soon and that it was narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Sold! “How cool is that!” - I thought. I went into the movie theater and 2 minutes into the movie a fell asleep. I passed out haaaaard, dreams and everything included! I may or may not have been woken up by my own snoring. At that point the movie was almost over, oh well. I picked up my backpack and went to check the Pixar exhibition. It was not what I expected but it was pretty awesome. Soon after that, I headed back to Jovan’s place where we had dinner and hang out with some of his friends.
Cannon Beach
It was Friday, and when I told Jovan I was renting a car to go to Cannon Beach, he was all like: “Bro, I’ll take you, I love that place, I’ll take Friday off”. So, we headed in his VW towards Cannon Beach. Traffic wasn’t too terrible, and after one wrong turn, I was able to spot the Haystack Rock:
It was low tide, so we were able to get closer to the rock. Puffins can be seen here, but apparently the best season for Puffin watching is between March and April (it was late June at that point). We walked around the beach for some time and then went up the road and grabbed lunch at the Seashore Bagel Deli and walked back to enjoy our lunch at the beach, Jovan even took a nap after. While he was napping, I walked around a bit more:
What can I say, this beach was gorgeous!
Nike Store
Jovan is an incredible designer that works for Nike and took me to a store where he gets a major discount. Needless to say, my New Balance shoes were worn off from this and other trips so my feet could definitely benefit from new walking shoes. I ended up buying 2 pairs: 1 for walking and 1 for running. With these goods, we headed home to get changed and meet Jovan’s girlfriend for dinner. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant where they both are regulars, to the point that the staff sees them and already know what they’re going to order! The food was amazing! “Ah! I can see why you 2come here so often!”. They both smiled and nodded. That night we met with his friends for a drink. We ended up at “dive bar”,… a hipster dive bar that is, playing pool and having fun. “No man, no tequila shots pleeeeease”…. “Ok ok, I’ll have 1 I guess”…… ugh… not bad!
Right before I left…
My time in Portland was short but great. Before I left, we went to grab some lunch at a Mexican restaurant close to Pioneer Square. After lunch, I told them I wanted to walk for a little. We reached Pioneer Square and we noticed a congregation of odd characters
“Are they protesting?” I asked. “No idea Bro. Let’s not get too close to them”. We moved away from them and as we were walking down the street, the Riot Police started to flock the streets flanking the Square. “Hey man, do you know what’s going on?” I asked some dude on the street. “Yeah, the Proud Boys are gathering on Pioneer Square”. He looked at me and said; “it’s better if you stay away from there”. “I see, thanks for the info man”. We kept walking down the street when all of a sudden, the Antifa group and supporters came marching up. They were heading, or at least trying to head, to Pioneer Square but the riot police cut them off. “Ok, we’re getting the hell out of here”. Jovan called an Uber and off we went back to his place.
Bye Portland by train, by train!
Considering that this whole trip was partly meant to be done by train, I bought a train ticket to Seattle. Incredibly comfy seats at a very reasonable price. Jovan dropped me at the train station, and I thank him repeatedly for letting me crash at his place! I went into the train station and got my ticket. “All aboard!”
Next Blog entry: Seattle!
