New Years Eve and some

12/31/2010
New Years Eve. Great success.
A dinner party with friends of friends. Portuguese seafood soup, chicken cattcitorre...
Some interesting conversations.

Went to Dunes, this hole in the wall bar, for a goth-punk-post-something-lots-of-big-haired-people-who-are-hard-to-talk-to something or other shindig.
I found it enjoyable and this is where we were when 2011 was birthed.



We soon found ourselves at a house party of sorts. Dancing and shenanigans ensue.
I soon appointed myself the lighting DJ and there was more dancing.



1/1/2011

WOW. 2011

Found myself on the floor of our friend Madeline's home. My new room mate couch friend's snoring was quite similar to that of a polar bear gargling a chainsaw. Thus I found myself awake, and still quite enspirited with the prior evenings jovialities, at 6am.

I rediscovered that I destroyed my lower back the previous evening while dancing around with James on my shoulders and chicken fighting with other people.

There were movings and relaxing events throughout the rest of the day.



1/2/2011

Did some exploring of free piles I had discovered via Craigslist.
I found a sheet of color slides hat had been taped together as a lampshade.
Supposedly there was a digital camera somewhere but I guess someone made it there before me. Also found a Roma->English dictionary which I'm assuming means Italian.

Eventually found myself back at the Peach Pit where there was an all day Star Wars and snacking marathon occurring.

Things of note: I am now observing a dietary restriction of zero coffee, tea, chocolate or alcohol. This is to last until the 7th, due to my acceptance into this medical study. This is good and bad.



1/3

Back is much better. Coffee brain is not.

New project is to assemble a decent dumpster diving map. To contain such things as decent bakery stops, free pizza, produce, etc. This was inspired by some Google Magic (TM). Evidently if you enter the address of a link to a .kml file on Geocommons.com, you can observe that map in google maps. Interesting. So whats the interesting part, this map that I found this one (geocommons.com/overlays/39492.kml) gives you info on some spots to find free eatings.

Anywho. My evenings activities were whatever. I tried to pick up a (free)map of the city from PBOT downtown but I forgot my lock and had to wait for James to bring it. I blame the lack of coffee.

Wandering around...

Soon I obtained lock and map.
I immediately headed to browse Powells Books Bldg #2.
This is where all the scientific texts reside. I found some cool ones on low temp differential Stirling Engines and amateur telescope making.
FUN

Later I recall that there is to be a meteor shower so I rally up Jamz and his new friend Brittany to go give the sky a gander.
After much driving and speculation as to where a good place to go would be, we find ourselves in a cemetery north on Burnside.
I only caught one meteor but the sky was clear and pleasant, although cold.


some radio(?) towers nearby


Beaverton?

PORTLAND

12/15
So we're finally in Portland. I've been itching to get since we got to Seattle.
There was hanging out and biking. This city is awesome for biking. You can get anywhere.
Later, Powells City of Books! A new/used book store that takes up an entire city block.

12/16
Coffee, crossword puzzles, Goodwill. Alas, not the bins. Those are farther south.
Went to Red Light and found a rad tiger bandanna.

Later we went to Fred Myer for some sandwiches and a beer. As we're noshing in the cafe area, drinking our beers, we are approached by an store manager looking fellow who proceeds to grill us about whether we are actually drinking beer in the store or not. Hmmm, well it does seem to be the case BUT we did purchase them here AND showed ID for them so what is the fuss? So we capped them (the beers) and left.
Biked onward to Mt.Tabor. The only volcano in city limits in the US.



The Culprits.


View from top of Mt.Tabor, looking down Hawthorne Ave towards Downtown



12/17
Making Christmas cards and writing letters.
Drove out to the Goodwill Bins, food a decent hoodie and a book.
Later we went to a show at Hungry Tiger Too and while we were there I ran into another long lost Asheville expat, Emily. Actually, Emily Stefania and I all had lived together back in Asheville in the infamous Woodfin House about 2 or 3 years ago and after she left I completely forgot that she moved out here.

Later we ended up crashing over at the phenomenal Clare's abode at a ridiculously late hour.

12/18
Something happened here, I do not recall.
It was probably cold and rainy


This is some wall mosses and ferns outside. This is everywhere here.

Sorry for the interuption, Soup Bar will now resume it's normal-ish schedule

WOW. I just slacked off on an entire month of this... damn...

Alright. So I guess that means I have alot of catching up to do. (Hmm, well I did do that little crafty earring post. But before that...)

And go.

12/9-12/10
EPIC DRIVE PART II

So we get out of Denver around 2pm. What time we leave really will make no difference on this leg of the journey because it'll take even longer than the previous one!

So we're headed to Salt Lake City where a friend of Eli lives. I'll be able to take an extended nap there and then we'll get back on the road.


Driving through Colorado? Wyoming? Utah? Probably Colorado. The mountains are epic.






Colorao/Wyoming had alot of this stuff. High plains drifter.


I can not get enough of these rocks and shit. Sadly I was the only one awake to operate the camera.






This is the view we're treated to as we get ready to head into Utah. Exciting, huh? No.

When we got into Utah there was alot of rad rock formations but they were all hidden by the inky night. So... nothing picture wise. I hope to see some more when we get down to the southwest.

We make it to SLC around 2am. Along the way I got pulled over by a state trooper due to one of the headlights being out. Completely ruined my drafting position behind this one truck. D:
Seriously though, the head wind out there is ridiculous. You need to draft if you wanna get anywhere and retain some decent mpg.
The cop was kind of amusing, he was very confused about what why how we're doing.
"Do you have jobs?" "Where are you from?
"Where do you live?" "Why are you going there?"
"Do you have marijuana in the vehicle?" gives me a c'mon be honest look, "any at all?"
Anywho, I only got a warning. Huzzah!

Our host in SLC was awesome, can't recall his name but twas very hospitable and gracious.

I nap, they socialize. We get burritos around 4am and then continue onward.

Around 6 or 7am there was a really scary snow pass. It went something like this:
Just driving up this mountain side
doot doot doo doo doo
la la la
hmmm that looks like snow ahead
...
*WHOOMP*
visibility is reduced to 20 ft. WHERE DID THE ROAD GO?
ok, ill just follow those big trucks up ahead
SUNN O))) DRONING ON
driving 30mph the whole time, and then getting to go down the other side of the pass

It felt like it took an hour and it probably did.


I took this picture at the bottom of the pass. There was more snow but no where near as bad. I could at least go 45mph.


Clearing up a bit

All the snow eventually disappeared and the countryside began to get interesting again. James was asleep for almost all of this. As was Eli, I think. Dharma was snuggly and stuff.




This is Dharma being cute and resting her head and paw on my shoulder. This dog rocks.


scrub


a nice reflection of all the crap on the dashboard


a poor view of some plateaus


later on in the day, more grass land.




DHARMA!


By noon I had been up for 20 some hours, so Eli drove for a bit. I only napped for about 45 minutes but when I awoke we were heading into the middle of more snow. Lots of it.







playing with sunglasses as a filter


more filter fun


This looked really interesting. We almost stopped to go check it out but the weather was looking portentous and there was no where to really pull off the road.




and the snow really starts to come down




we make it to the other side


These high tension power line towers were cracking me up. They look like there just ambling about, shrugging their shoulders...


AND WE MADE IT TO SEATTLE. This picture describes how I felt when we got there.

We got there around 10pm. 32 hours later. We dropped off Eli and Dharma at the Space Needle and then went to go find The Black Lodge, a place our friend Malia had recommended us and had notified some friends of hers that we were in town and so they had a place for us to stay. Hurray.
There was a show going on so no sleep until 3am but I ate all of it.


Space Needle on the left.





12/11
Recovery. Coffee. Beer. Pizza.


Later there is a crust/grindcore show at Black Lodge.
I manage to catch Dodsfalla and Streetwalker. Both were good, I dug Dodsfalla alot.
Check em out.

We bring the snow, to Chicago

12/3



Today began a bit slow but eventually we went on a bit of a bike ride with the superlative Kyle Stephens. After visiting the local Target, and then with hunger in the mind, we biked to Sultan's Market. This was a bit of a ride across town but the weather wasn't all that bad and after a mile or so it stopped being so cold.
Proceed to have the best falafel sammich in recent history. One thing about Chicago to not be overlooked is that alot of restaurants are BYOB.

Next on the agenda is Myopic Books. It's not as large as John K King but has a much more navigable selection with alot of new and used items. Lots of browsing occurred and I eventually found a few good one's such as 'Naked in the Woods:Joseph Knowles and the Legacy of Frontier Fakery' by Jim Matavalli, and 'Kavalier and Clay' by Micheal Chabon.

Cue more chilling, biking, and the first real snow of our trip. Approximately 4 inches.


Dumptruck Lady Kitty. The sweetest cat EVAR. <3


12/4

Cold weather promoted a bit of indoor nesting for the better part of the morning.
Lots of cat sleeping on belly while internetting and drinking tea.



There was success in finding someone to rideshare with us from Des Moines, Iowa to Seattle...

Later myself, James, and Kyle assembled the most killingest falafel combo to date. Homemade ultra garlic-blackbean-spicy hummus, deadly tzaziki, and way-the-hell-better-than-last-time-we-tried-to-make-falafel falafel. Sadly we ran out of pita but just made delicious salad stuff instead. The hummus, all 30+ ounces of it, did not make it 24 hours before being consumed.

After the feast we walked over to a house show. I cannot recall the names of any of the bands that played but it was billed as psych rock. None of that happened.

Detroit:Day 2

11/27
Rest and recovery day. Coincidentally and fortunately, it is raining and cold out.
I mostly cooked, read, internetted, and drank tea.

Around 9pm, Erin informed us that her friend was having a show/cd release party thing down in Mexican Town and there is free food and beer. So, we went. The group was Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas. They had alot of brass and had a big band/Amy Winehouse feel. It was pretty fun but I was not particularly in mind frame for anything other than hanging out and biking.


After that Erin got a group together and we all biked over to Cafe D'Mongos.
This place is a real gem. It's only open Friday nights and is always packed. The crowd is pretty eclectic and the decor is unmatched. Lots of stuff signed by celebrities and stuff hanging out from the walls to grab you. There was a guy doing an outstanding job playing covers on an acoustic guitar and the barkeeps were on great.



View from outside

More bikey, more sleep.