Land of Port, Here I Come!

[evilhippo]

Hey guys, guess who plans vacations on like, two weeks notice? (I can dissect my motivations for this, but you probably don't want me to. The ones that aren't versions of insanity are: "I have been telling look_alive and zolac_no_miko that I was going to come visit for about two years and now they're going to scatter and if I don't come visit soon I will have been a liar." Which may, in a certain light, also be a version of insanity.) So yeah...

I AM GOING TO PORTLAND AT THE END OF THE MONTH!* Where I will get kidnapped by gangs of kids on fixies and visit the ocean and grow an epic beard and attempt to instigate fisticuffs between restaurant owners over whose foods are more hyper-local and make everyone's week as awkward as possible by not actually being there on any weekend days. Plus or minus a few of those, (except the last, which is a certainty). I dunno guys, anything is possible! Actually, since it looks like I'll be poking my nose around the city in the afternoons, anyone have any suggestions?

* You may have used a larger font and the blink tag, but you are not more excited than me, Ms No_Miko!

Comments

[shichahn.livejournal.com]

Yaaaaay!!~

Also since I probably (no guarantees though) won't have any work while you're here, I'd be totally cool with hanging out and doing stuff during the day while those lame-os do have to work. And if you want, you can come hunting with me and Napoleon and we will have a jolly good time. :) ...Assuming it isn't a ridiculous downpour the whole time you are here, which is entirely possible in March in Portland.

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Provided I don't somehow unsettle Napoleon or something I would love to come hunting. Barring that, if you're not working, you've just volunteered yourself to be my guide one of the afternoons, you know... to keep me out of trouble. (-:

I'm pretty much expecting rain. It's spring. It's soggy. I'll just have to bring a waterproof coat and shoes I don't mind destroying.

[shichahn.livejournal.com]

He's been doing really well with new people lately. We went out with two people he didn't know last weekend and he didn't really care at all about them and even tried to sit on someone's head, haha. So I don't think that'll be an issue. ;) And I can certainly be your guide, depending on what you want to see. Downtown is good, obviously, but there are lots of other places to go, and I know Angela is trying to arrange for a trip to the beach on Friday which will be awesome.

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

I'm picturing an unannounced head-sitting as kind of painful... but it's a risk I'm willing to take.

I think I can probably navigate downtown well enough to stumble across interesting things (it looks like everything is more or less divided up into blocks, which makes it harder for a city to defeat me)... so if there's anything off the beaten path you can think of that you'd like to lead me to, I'd much prefer that.

I am super looking forward to the beach trip if that works out. Even if it's 30-something and raining, I don't care, because I've never seen the Pacific, and I don't even really remember the last time I saw an ocean at all.

[shichahn.livejournal.com]

Wear a hat? Hehe. His feet are pretty small but it can be prickly. He likes to jump on my head all the time when we're outside so I try to wear a hat. Makes it easier on him, too, so he doesn't get tangled in my hair.

Off the beaten path stuff... hm. Most of the cool stuff to do outside of downtown proper (and even in downtown) involves hiking, which is probably just going to be really muddy. I'll see if I can come up with non-muddy things that don't require driving over the Cascades because I don't know if I have chains for my car anywhere and kind of don't want to mess with that. The desert side of the state is awesome though.

I think the current beach plan is to go to the north side of Cape Kiwanda, which is one of my favorite places anywhere ever. But it'll involve a lot of walking and could be kind of miserable if it's really wet and windy, so if that's the case we can probably stick to someplace more sheltered. We'll just have to see what the weather does. But Cape Kiwanda is basically this huge steep dune that juts out into the ocean and it's fun to climb and the view from the top is awesome and then sliding alllll the way back down is the best thing ever.

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Good thing I rarely travel without a hat!

Man, you get hiking within the city itself out west? Impossible! But really, I'm up for anything. I'm not going to make you find chains to put on your car or anything. (-:

I've been looking at pictures of Cape Kiwanda, and it looks awesome. And considering it's snowing here today when we were told our Saturday was meant to be good cook-out weather, and it's 50-something over there, I choose to believe that the weather will be okay. (-;

[shichahn.livejournal.com]

Urban hiking is pretty big here. Forest Park is the largest park within city limits in the US, I believe, with something like 30-40 miles of hiking trails, and then there are the esplanade walks and stair hikes and that sort of stuff in downtown. It's not really a west thing... it's a Portland thing. We're special like that.

I went and looked, too, because I had a suspicion about the photos I would find, and I was right. All of those photos are from the south side of the cape, aka the overpopulated loser hotel and restaurant side. We will be on the north side. The way more awesome side that isn't just a sandstone cliff. But as I figured, there aren't any pictures of that side since you can't just drive to it, you have to do some walking. You will see. It is awesome.

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

See, this is why I'm glad I have you guys as my guides. (-:

[shichahn.livejournal.com]

:D Hey look it's Cory Doctorow!

Well, we could go to Crystal Springs... I don't think the rhododendrons will be in bloom yet, though I could be wrong. Those gardens are spectacular when they're blooming. But spring migration is this month, and there will be tons of ducks of all different species, and they let you get pretty close because they know it's safe there. So I don't know how much you like ducks but I enjoy it. XD; Or we could go to Sauvie Island and try and spot eagles and generally enjoy how pretty it is up there. Um, I don't know. I'll try to keep thinking of things, especially things that are not exclusively bird-related because that's just what I'm good at. :D;

[rainbowgirl28.livejournal.com]

I live just across the bridge from Astoria :) Of course I am having a baby sometime soon, so not sure if I'll be up for visitors, but do let me know if you think you'll be up that way.

Are we Facebook friends? I think you're one of my only LJ friends I am not also facebook friends with... I have two Facebooks, the non pole vaulting one is rainbowgirl28@hotmail.com

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, you're almost due! I can't believe it's been nine months already.

It looks like the closest I'm going to be to you is our little day trip over to Cape Kiwanda, but my travel outside Portland is going to be at the whim of my friends with cars. Plus it looks like you'll have just had the baby when I'm out your way (or will be overdue), and I doubt you'll want visitors that soon. (-:

[rainbowgirl28.livejournal.com]

Yeah true, I will probably be all wrapped up in new mommy land and probably won't want visitors yet...

You definitely have to visit Powell's while you are in Portland: http://www.powells.com/ :)

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Next time I'm in the neighborhood, then. (-:

Powell's is definitely near the top of my list for things to visit while in Portland.