Portlandia

So I went to Portland for my Mission Year teammate Matt's wedding. (It's so weird when your friends start to get married.) Flying back to the west coast for a week was like what I imagine chewing nicotine gum a few days after quitting smoking to be. Except probably better for my health. And worse for my bank account. Either way, I'm really glad I went. Figured I'd share a few lessons I learned along the way in case you ever find your way to Portland.

Discovery #1: Maple bacon donuts are better than they sound.

I visited the imfamous Portland donut shop, Voodoo Donut, and waited in a line that ran outside and around the building in the rain for about 40 minutes. Totally worth it. They have the craziest menu. Oh. And people get married there. I love Portland.

Discovery #2: The best places in the world are free. 
(For the record, I already knew this. My experiences in Portland just added fuel to the fire.)
My friend and I paid $4 at The Grotto to take an elevator up to a lookout for this view:

Two days later, I hiked through Forest Park, one of the largest urban forest reserves in the country, and found myself at the Pittock Mansion (a guy that really traveled the Oregon Trail! And he didn't die of cholera!) with this view for free:

That's Mt. Hood, by the way. 4th tallest peak in the Cascades.

Discovery #3: The excitement of finding seesaws lasts longer when you have someone to ride them with.

Eight! Eight seesaws and no one around. Fastest high to low ever.

Discovery #4: Everybody Digs a Swingin' Cat
Saw the Mel Brown Septet play at Jimmy Mak's -- a pretty well known jazz club downtown. So freakin' great. Every city needs a good jazz club. C'mon, Philly.

Discovery #5: Film junkies really do know what they're talking about.
I stayed for a few days with a friend of a friend of a friend who turned out to be a super hospitable and beautiful person who expanded my film and musical horizons in a matter of two days. He's really into film projects and shared one of his favorites with me. It's called Koyaanisqatsi, which means "life out of balance" in the Hopi Indian language. It doesn't have a conventional plot or spoken language, but is a bunch of images and music synchronized magically to compare and contrast natural environments with nature as impressed upon by man. For being released in '82, the shots are pretty freakin' amazing. It's worth watching all the way through. The middle is my favorite, I think.

 

Discovery #6: The extent to which you feel like you might die and the coolness of an old elevator share a direct relationship.

The same friend of a friend of a friend had the oldest, craziest elevator in his apartment building. You opened an actual door and then a wrought iron gate to go inside it. And it was just... old and awesome. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't work out so well.

Discovery #7: Airplanes will never not be magical. 

Seriously. Riding over a brilliantly lit city at night? Watching all of the other planes float around in the dark like alien spacecrafts below you after you've taken off? Flying through mountain passes and over deserts in the same hour? So crazy.