Chaos Attraction

Post-Vacation Thoughts Roundup

2010-06-21, 1:20 p.m.

* If you don't pack things such as your rain boots, umbrella, heavy rain coat, enough books to have your own portable library, etc., those things will not exist when you get to your destination and need them. If you DO, however, bring these things, somehow it won't rain more than 10-15 minutes at a time (even if it did rain almost every day at some point), it won't be frigidly cold, you'll get to hit a bookstore + find there's a pile of free books where you are staying... you get the drift. I have never been able to figure out the knack of packing just the right amount of stuff.

* Oregon and Washington may have been cloudy/cool/semi-raining every single day, but they still weren't as frigid as California gets when it is raining. Go figure. I actually didn't mind it too much. Even the beach wasn't as frigid as I expected it to be--I've been colder on SoCal beaches than I was here.

I did meet someone who had moved to Washington from my neck of the woods who said there had been ONE sunny day since October. I don't think she's liking it.

* Oregonians are really effing sick of it being 50-60 degrees and cloudy/cool/semi-raining, btw. Apparently even for there this is out of the ordinary, plus the plants are trashed. One chick asked me if it was warmer where I am from and I said, "Well, we got a few hot days here and there, and THEN the weather goes back to being like this...so not so much."

* Oregon in general is a lot nicer/more fun than I remember it being (haven't been since the 80's or so). Lots of cute, quaint towns with bookstores and yarn stores. We stopped in Medford (though I didn't see much of it), Oregon City, Sisters, and Bend. I even found a store that sold roving (what you make yarn out of) and was very excited. I went to a yarn store that had a restaurant attached to it (or vice versa) and had a long chat with a guy knitter.

* I like Portland, which is pretty much the city version of the town I live in. I could totally live there except for the weather. Plus it's now one of two cities on the planet where I didn't feel totally afraid to walk down the street. I did, however, feel quite sad to read an article saying that the town will totally be destroyed by earthquakes if/when The Big One occurs. Eeek!
I went to the infamous Powell's. City block large, 3-4 stories high or something (I lost track). I got tons of books I couldn't find elsewhere, some of which were used/pretty cheap. AWESOME.
I also went to the Portland Saturday Market (i.e. craft fair). I had a great time at that too. Amusingly enough, we were there during gay pride weekend and got to see some interesting outfits. I was dressed for the occasion (I got a rainbow tie-dyed sweatshirt), but Mom was kind of confused.

* We were staying in the total sticks in Washington--about a 3.5 hour drive to the peninsula. It was reminding me of Montana quite a bit at times, what with the "everything closes early"-ness. There were also pretty slim pickins for restaurants in the town we were in--there's about four altogether and the best one of them doesn't do dinners. If you asked people where to eat, they'd say, "(name redacted) is pretty good." We went there. My dinner was fine and tasty enough, but Mom got in a snit because she ordered the steak and found it chewy, so she pretty much refused to eat in the town thereafter (except for the lunch restaurant). Later on we drove to another town and when she asked a guy where to eat, he said, "I'd go home." For the record, other folks recommended places to eat and we ate just fine, thanks.

* It is a really good idea to do a road trip north around the time of year when the days are longest. 9 p.m. sunset, anyone? Awesome.

* I spend most of my life kinda like this guy, i.e. not going any farther than I can on foot. I cannot imagine wanting to do that for a year. I forget in between vacations (I haven't been on one since 2008) how awesome it is just to be somewhere different where you haven't seen the same stuff every single day. To have access to things you don't normally have access to. Even on a boring driving day, you see new things and do something else besides live in a stupor between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. five days a week doing the same old shit. It's really nice to have a reason to think during daylight hours.

* That said, you know what sucks? We were in Bend/Sisters yesterday because Mom wanted to visit a friend there, and I think the friend REALLY didn't want us to leave. Nor did Mom want to leave...let's just say we didn't leave until 5 p.m. and it's a 7-hour drive. So we got home at midnight. I also lost my house keys and didn't find them till 1 a.m. And in the grand tradition of what happens every time I have to wake up for work, I spent the last few hours before I had to wake up waking up to check if I had to get up yet.

I am soooooooooo rummy today and chugging Dew. I really wish I could have called in sick, but how tacky does that look? It's a good thing that it's one of those days where I'm waiting on other people to get their stuff done before I can do anything, because I don't think I'd trust my proofing today very well.

* Catching up on the Internet after you've (mostly) been gone from it for a week is a real bitch.

* I am wearing a Hawaiian sundress today. It promises to be 90 degrees.


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