So here I am in the small town of Burlington, WA in an auto glass shop getting my rear right window fixed. Why do I need it fixed? Because it was smashed in by crackheads… yes crackheads in southwest Portland at 3 am.
However before I explain my predicament in this small town between Seattle and Vancouver, Canada let me rewind…
Olympia, WA: dive bars, movie marathons, knee surgeries, cleaning house.
My arrival back to Olympia was a culture shock all in its own. To walk down the streets I grew up on and randomly run into people I knew every 10 yards was very odd. For the first two nights I was greeted with pub crawls and cocktail reunions at my old haunts, however the partying and late nights right after Burning Man finally took its toll and I became bed-ridden for the next 3-4 days. I was not sick, or ill, just so exhausted I couldn’t seem to move around or have any energy even after 8-10 hours of sleep.
After exhaustion passed I began to clean house immediately. My days we filled with throwing away boxes of junk. My goal was 10 boxes… so far I am at 11. During this time I was also spending time with my dear friend Sam who had just come out of a knee operation, so my evenings we spent watching movie marathons and eating ice cream with my invalid friend. So life, for the first two weeks was fun, and…calm…. And then….
…I got restless.
Seattle, WA: Salsa dancing, coffee shops, blind dates, Thai classes, and cloudy skies.
Pretty much every week I have been in the Northwest it is safe to say that I have spend at least 2 out of every 7 days in Seattle. Shannon, one of the most amazing women in my life, and long-term crush had been living in the Emerald City since she returned from a year in Edinburgh. We met on top of the sundial overlooking gasworks park as the boats sailed across Lake Union while the kites flew high above, walked the streets, talked for hours in coffee shops and went on long bike rides while we watched the leaves turn along the University paths. We would salsa nights away.
I’ve been attending my old Buddhist temple and taking Thai classes twice a week.
Portland, OR: Couchsurfing madness! Breakfast parties, steaks and strippers, couchsurfing roadtrips to the Oregon Coast, cycling around the Willamette, auto vandalism by crackheads…oh, and more salsa dancing…!
Yes, Portland was crazy fun, and just plain crazy with Shannon at my side once again! (I kidnapped her…hehe), and at 5:45am I awoke to a CSer Eric calling my cell waiting to meet me outside with 3 other CS friends to take a road trip to the coast when I found that the back window of my car had been broken into, pieces of my window lie smashed all over the road, and the only item they took was a friends backpack. Sadly and fortunately these thieves were idiots! They ran down the road with the pack upside-down and the contents dumped out all over the street. Our sweaters and granola bars littered the sidewalks. The only thing we were missing was what to tell my friend Ethan when he asked for his pack back…. oops… Apart from that the trip to the coast, the hike up to Haystack rock and the drive back was amazing. Cycling in Portland with Shannon was beautiful and we were welcomed with clear, crisp skies and the sun shining through the clouds. We dined on Moroccan food with live belly dancing and the next night Lebanese at one of the best restaurants in Portland and one of my favs, Nicolas Restaurant. After we hit the clubs to sample some Portland Salsa! We ended our time there with a spontaneous breakfast party we threw at our CS hosts house where we invited 10 other surfers in the area for bacon, pancakes and eggs galore! Our goodbye to Rose City was grand!
…and now I am heading up to Bellingham. To, yet again throw another CS gathering, and yet again continue on my journey of itchy feet. In 4 days I shall be in Boston… then beyond!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment