A week in pictures.

With a little hiccup in my journey this week, a detour of sorts, I have found myself exploring Portland for a bit, job hunting and selling my car, learning the ins and outs of Portland via bike, bus and foot, seeing the city from a new perspective. I have been writing things down in piecemeal, haphazardly, so here are some photos from the last week, some of which speak for themselves, reminding me of friends and the interesting things I am finding along the way. Keep Portland weird.

A picture for Preston... a little Cowboy counterpart I drove past before getting into Portland.

Mt. Tabor sunrise.

Sunset walks.

Portland's recycling extravaganza.

Tea at Pieper Cafe on Foster. 80's music always playing.

Trust the process.

Sunset on my drive from Logan to Portland.

Siblings.

A book I first came across at a b&b in Mt. Shasta when I was ten or so, came across it at Powell's.

Food Pods.

Vietnamese bakery. Banh mi.

Bike Portland.

Powell's on Hawthorne.

Thai food cart.

Toto in downtown.

Sunset on a walk by my brother's place.

Tom Yum Soup.

Cozy cafe on Division and 60th: mason jar water cups, mismatched furniture, Thursday night readings, darling gals slinging coffee.

Coffee at Powell's downtown, which takes up two blocks of Burnside... books, books, books.

Food pods all over Portland.

Cathedral Bridge.

Eva's cookin'... traditional Chinese food.

Cheese and crack! A little alley stand tucked along shops on Hawthorne.

"A self-observation-operation".

How can we know what freedom feels like unless we've been unshackled from our own devices?

Brother and Eva at the Cathedral Bridge along the Colombia River.

Lebanese food! Yum!

Stimulation Ova-Ova-ovaload.

Got Multnomah County library card, found humor in the man allowing me one if I didn't mind signing my life away, learning the Trimet, getting lost on bike on the backstreets behind Hawthorne, nausea, ass wet without fenders, (who doesn't have fenders in Portland?, this girl), learning Portland's recycling system, composting, sleeping 9 hours straight to wake exhausted, drinking more water, herbal tea, Eva's humor, the thought of a spider going for a stroll,(why wouldn't spiders go for walks as well?), blindsided humility. Eclectic coffee shop on SE Division. Rain or Shine.

Stimulation Overload

Powell books on Hawthorne, a drive through Old Town, on up to northwest heights, Forest Park, moss covered trees, or as Eva calls it, "green body hair", on around skyline peering in at million dollar homes tucked into the side of the mountain, Mt. Hood at eye level, Carts on Foster, food pods, freedom, Cathedral park on the Colombia river, finding "the beach" among the industrialization and beer cans waiting to be plucked up for recycling, the affirmation of cliche that Portland is, not knowing if I just saw the same girl twice, looking slightly similar to that very cliche, Men at Work playing again in the Oriental market, Lebanese dinner, Cheese and Crack, crack box, art, half a heart in Utah, caffeine crashing, learning to love me.

Portlandia

11 hours, 715 miles, 3 tanks of gas, 90 something dollars, 80 on the 84, watching the sunset with Buddha on the dashboard as Bob FM plays Pat Benetar and Men at Work and Huey Lewis and the News, a PBR sighting on Montello Ave, and two states later I find myself in Portland, Oregon, where the streets are appropriately far from "neat", and just how everyone likes it. Most of the drive yesterday was spent thinking how all things are inevitably connected. I pondered where I am now in relation to the people in my life, how I would not have been in Utah had so many other events not occurred. I would not have arrived in Portland today, most likely putting it off another couple weeks, had I not gone out into the white nothingness of Benson Marina with Preston back in Utah, and saw a bird thriving, flying, having survived winter, and then moments later witnessed the contrast of black feathers and blood on snow from another who was not so fortunate. Why I decided that day to leave sooner I'm not quite certain other than it was just time, but I found myself waking at 7 this morning for a sunrise run, weaving through the quirky neighborhoods of SE Portland and meandering Mt. Tabor Park with my brother to see an exquisite view of Mt. Hood, eating Banh Mi for lunch from a place off Foster and 54th, and riding my bike down to Fred Meyer's to buy razors, because as I still won't be wearing a bra, I do choose to keep grooming... Pictures to come when I get a better hang of this blogging shtuff, or ever just get organized.