#202 - portland!

this one is for matt.
i have been thinking of all the cool things that we can do when you come next month. there is just so much, i had to blog about it. i have probably written about my love for portland before but i just want to highlight some of the things that are in store for you and anyone else who decides to come visit me.

restaurants

• saburos is one of my parent's favorite things to do when they come here. it is this rad sushi restaurant that serves up some of the biggest, cheapest and tastiest sushi in town. if you like unagi you won't be disappointed.
• nicholas restaurant is a lebanese food place and if you've never had it before, this is the best place to go. i used to drive up to portland from corvallis in college with my friends, just to go eat here. hummus, falafel, kabobs, flat bread and baba ganouj. it is an essential stop.
• le bistro montage is a fun, eclectic late night portland hang out. the food is great, kind of southern style with yummy mac & cheese. they have late hours and it's a fun atmosphere.
• voodoo donuts is a must-see/do place. they make the most amazing and fun donuts. names like grape ape, dirt, and cock & balls (yes, i said it). you can also get married there!
• mcmenamins pubs are a chain of local pubs and restaurants. they brew their own delicious beer, show movies for cheap and have over 50 of them in the area. you are never far away from a mcmenamins. for $3 you can see a movie AND have beer and pizza while watching. rad!
• stumptown brews strong coffee for the coffee lovers. i am having one right now!

things to do

• japanese garden is really pretty and colorful, especially in the fall. i think maybe by mid-december most of the fall colors are fading but i think it would still be nice to check out. also there is the rose test gardens which i hear are amazing but i've never been.
• the oregon coast is a totally different experience than hawaiian beaches but is beautiful in its own way. it can get quite cold and stormy in the winter but it is fun anyway. there is also shopping and casinos if it is too rainy.
• OMSI is a fun museum for kids and adults alike. they hosted the bodyworlds exhibit awhile back and the last time i went it was a CSI exhibit. now, until january, is all about the science of fear! sounds rad. they also have the regular museum section and of course, OMNIMAX (IMAX) which always shows awesome movies. what can i say, i'm just a big kid.
• i'd say we could hit a Blazer game but it looks like they will be out of town that weekend.
• ground kontrol arcade is fun for kids and adults. it's an arcade that serves adult bevs. they have bands play there sometimes but mostly its about getting your nerd on and playing video games!
• saturday market is a good place to spend a weekend day. local artists and creatives sell things here. there is good food, music and lots of people. its a great place to get handmade gifts for the holidays or just how people create things. get inspired here!
• powells is not just a bookstore. the main one downtown is called the "city of books" and it takes up a whole city block. they have every book you could imagine and others that you can't. you can buy, sell or just read while you are there.
• portland art museum i've never actually been but here it is pretty cool. they had an exhibit on tattoos this summer but i missed it.
• shopping. yes we have no sales tax. there is a lot you can buy here and plenty of places to do it. there are your big chains and malls of course, ikea, and factory outlets but there are also many, many boutiques and small local businesses that are awesome. each neighborhood has its shopping districts and its pretty fun to just window shop at least.
• dodgeball pickup happens on friday nights. basically a ton of people go and throw balls at each other. it's not organized but it's wicked fun and you can see what all the dodgeball fun is about!
• oh, and it will probably be raining.
• music! although we are going to see a show on sunday, there are always tons of bands playing every night. big names and local artists playing in big and small venues. some of the bands that will be playing that weekend - the thermals, dandy warhols, and zero 7.
• portland underground tours - there are some walking tours of portland that are pretty interesting but they might not be happening in december. there are stories of secret tunnels, ghosts and other things that make portland weird. maybe they don't do them during the winter cause you'll basically be walking in the rain for hours.
• snowboarding might be an option, if we can get a ride up the mountain and if the conditions are good. not a guarantee but it is a possibility!

there is just so much to do, see and eat here that you will always have more to come back for. it will be a fun filled weekend for sure, no matter what we decide to do. we can't do it all but we can certainly try. or if you just wanna chill and hang out portland-style, we can do that too!

#137 - pictures with parents

i wrote a little about my travels with the 'rents but now i've got some pictures so i wanted to share a little bit about what we did.

SEATTLE
we stayed in seattle for two nights and did a few things that were new. we went to the olympic sculpture park for a free art walk. my dad is a big photographer and my mom needs to take pictures too cause then she has something to do while he's taking photos. so basically we all three had cameras and took awhile to go through the park. it was really cool cause it was free and you kind of just walk around and look at different sculptures. art is so up to interpretation, but i enjoy it sometimes. so this picture is of one of several giant safety cones. they were gigantic and while i thought they'd be made of the same material, they were not. they were metal. art.

bumbershoot! it's a weekend of music, music, music...and also some comedy and art. but i was there for the music. my parents were there also and i think had a good time. first we saw vince mira, a young guy from seattle with a voice like johnny cash. he sings a lot of cash covers and a few originals that are basically the same style. i saw blitzen trapper for the first time. they are a portland sextet and were pretty awesome, i'd definitely go see them again. they do lots of experimental stuff and mix country, bluegrass and folk. we got tickets to the show on the mainstage at night, which was death cab for cutie. i definitely like them and had a great time, even got to crowd surf, but my favorite act of the day was langhorne slim. he plays with an upright bass player and a drummer but is definitely the show. his music is kind of folk rock bluegrass and he has a different voice. some songs kind of remind me of bob dylan and others but other stuff is just different. real fresh and entertaining. here are a few vids from youtube:






CANADA
after seattle we drove up to vancouver, BC. vancouver is where the next olympics will be in 2010. can't wait! we stayed with some relatives and had really good dim sum. we went to grouse mountain which is the "peak of vancouver". most of the olympics will be held at whistler which is an hour away but this little mountain was cool. there was a tram ride up to the top and we saw a logger show and birds of prey, which was awesome. we saw a great horned owl, ferruginous hawk, turkey vulture and bald eagle. they would bring them out and the birds would fly from perch to perch, sometimes needed a little encouragement. it was really awesome though, one of them flew right over my head! these things are pretty dangerous/vicious to smaller animals and rodents. they have beaks but mainly use their strong talons to crush their prey! i learned a lot about these guys and it was a cool little demo. i learned that the bald eagle doesn't get a white head till it's pretty old, they start out all brown. they are also pretty big guys and build giant nests as well. it was neat. they also had two grizzly bears at grouse mountain. they were orphaned as babies and were brought to the mountain so they could be safe. they are testing out new ways to save orphans and return them to the wild so they don't have to be euthanized. so these guys are testing out electric fencing technologies.

after vancouver we took a ferry to vancouver island. we went to the butterfly gardens and butchart garden in victoria. they were both pretty fun and awesome. i've never really seen that many types of butterflies. my mom bought this butterfly chart and had me memories 34 types of butterflies while we were riding in the car. so i can identify those 34! haha i am such a nerd. there were so many, and it was set in this building with tropical plants and weather. it was chilly outside but almost 80 inside. there were many different sizes and colors of butterflies, including those popular orange and black monarchs. it made me think of all those caterpillars i saw in guatemala. i wonder what kind of butterflies they were going to be.

the butchart gardens were beautiful. we went before but i don't really remember much because it was in intermediate school but it's a giant garden and really british. it was cool but a little too proper for my tastes. there were tons of pretty flowers though and that was nice. we wanted to eat at the restaurant there but you needed reservations so we tried this place outside the park that had cajun/creole food and i had ribs that were delicious! we came back for the night gardens, which they pretty much just put lights on the different plants and it looked different. usually you think of flowers as beautiful for their colors so i experimented a little and did some B&W photography to capture their different shapes and sizes in the light with shadows. it was kind of fun and interesting. the whole day was basically photography with the parents, seriously they took hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures that day. i got away with only 200 maybe. so i had fun taking pics but it was kind of a long day. we went to our hotel in downtown victoria late that night and slept well. the next day was museum day and just hanging out around the town. it was a pretty nice time in canada, i always enjoy going there...mostly cause they say "eh"!