city of roses

Yesterday morning we got off to an early start and headed for the I-5, the connection was supposed to happen somewhere around Vacaville? maybe. Well in our excitement Hannah and I ended up driving to auburn, yes we know, it takes special skill to keep driving for hours without realizing you are headed the wrong way. Finally realizing we were going the wrong way we pulled out the atlas and followed some great back roads till we finally made it to the interstate. We hadn't been missing much, I-5 was incredibly boring and a bit depressing. The closer we got to Oregon the scenery changed from scorched grass and weeds with the occasional telephone pole to gorgeously green, lush trees and mountains. After a quick pick-me-up of incredibly delicious am-pm coffee (no really, it was great) we hit the road and reached Portland.

We're staying with friends of mine (joe and dan) and this morning they took us to breakfast at "bread and ink" and showed us around Portland. We walked around the Hawthorne district and found a street painted with a huge sunflower and a barbershop's named "bishop's" each spurring a mini photo shoot. Joe directed us to a sweet vintage shop called "house of vintage" where i purchased an incredible rose printed bathing suit. Next we headed downtown for Powell's books. It was inevitable, it's a huge new and used bookstore that divides it's books into rooms. The gold room (attached to the coffee shop where we sat and read for a bit) houses; mystery, nautical fiction,romance and more.

The weather has been perfect so far, the sky is a gorgeous vivid blue and holds my favorite clouds. They are white with the undersides painted grey and shine as if illuminated from the center. The streets here reminded me of Seattle, they house quaint, colorful homes and the main streets are dotted with hip coffee shops, thrift stores and tasty looking cafes and restaurants. We are at Stupmptown coffee roasters, a long rectangular shop with one brick wall behind the counter. The rest are creamy white and hold up multi-colored, digitally altered photographs. The coffee here is delicious and the music is an electro-hip-hop-rock combination. Hannah is seated across from me, hunched over her black mac book. Alternately typing and staring in consternation at her screen,or frowning in thought at the wall behind me. Tonight the plan is to get thai food at a restaurant Joe pointed out called "thai me". How can we say no to that? Tomorrow I'm looking forward to going to Imago Dei church and driving up to Seattle!

-A