To say the least, my trip to Portland was great. Kate really loved Portland also. We only went to a fraction of the places that I usually like to go and she still loved it. We talked about the chances that we would move to Portland some day. I told her that there were only a handful of places that I really wanted to live. Portland was near the top of that list.
It was a great trip for a lot of reasons. Kate and I travel well together. I am someone who like to keep plans open when I travel. I see that this did not bother Kate. We spent a lot of time visiting with Don and Jenna. Kate did not mind that we spent a lot of time with someone she had never met before. He instantly clicked with Don and Jenna and we all had a good time. That is also important to me.
Things I meant to show Kate but did not have the time: Powells City of Books The Rose Garden Tom McCall Waterfront Park Pioneer Courthouse Square SW Park blocks Bagdad theater
I have the feeling that Kate and I will make our way back to Portland. It would be cool if I could live there again. Even if we just go visit there it will be cool. I have visited Portland on every even year since I left. I do not see that trend ending because of Kate.
We drove home yesterday. It was 12 hours south on I-5. It was not a bad drive, but i was kind of tired. After a exciting vacation it is always hard to drive home. Kate slept a lot on the way home. I did my best to not fall asleep on the way home also. I was mindful not to speed too much, which made the trip drag on. To be honest I would have to loved to stay in Portland. I guess all vacations have to come to an end.
I asked Kate to marry me in Portland and she said yes. Yes, I asked her on March 17th St. Patrick's Day, but I am getting a head of my self here.
Kate and I started Monday by sleeping in. After breakfast and internet at the Kennedy school we looked for places to get Kate's nails done. We drove around Portland for a little bit before meeting Sean for lunch.
The whole time all of these things happened I was trying to figure out when I was going to ask Kate. Kate knew the proposal was coming soon. She knew that I ordered a ring but I did not have it with me in Portland. Knowing that, Kate has accused me of being kind of "squirrelly". She knew something was up.
I figured my only chance was to make her think I was going to do something at Dinner and ask her earlier. After a couple of text messages with a friend I decided I was going to ask her on the Hawthorne bridge in the late afternoon. I wanted to get my hair cut first. I was just hoping that the weather would hold out.
I had an appointment for get my hair cut and Kate had a nail appointment. My best friend for high school and college, His sister Shannon is a hair stylist in Portland. I had seen her over Christmas. She said she would be happy to cut my hair. We tried to hook it up two years ago, but the timing was all wrong.
It was cool to have my hair cut away from home by a person who knew me. It was a good haircut. I do not have a hair stylist in San Jose I like this much. If I lived in Portland I would go to Shannon at Dirty Little Secret all the time.
I told Kate after the Haircut that I wanted to take some photos of her on the Hawthorne bridge. Earlier in the trip I told her how the Hawrhorne bridge in Portland. Not only did it go between two of my favorite parts of town, it is also a beautiful bridge. Since I take a lot of photos it was not hard to convince Kate that I wanted to take her photo on the bridge.
I knew that I wanted to ask Kate with a photographic months back. I got the idea while we were in Philadelphia after Christmas. I wanted so way to ask Kate that I could later post on Flickr. In February I had Peter Conrad make the sign for me and take the photo of me. The photo of me at the top of the post was taken at the place where Kate and I had our first date, Mission City Coffee.
On Saturday I had Don run out and make a print for me. I knew that I was not going to be able to slip away from Kate for long enough to get it done. This lead to the whole thing with me acting "Squirrelly".
I walked Kate on the bridge and started taking some pictures. After a few pictures I said I had a prop for her. I handed her a bag with the photo in it. The print was 8x10. She looked at the photo and was surprised. She did not expect me to ask her there in this way. I am happy I could surprise her. I told her there were two more signs in the bag, 'Yes' and 'No'. I told her she needed to pick one of them out and hold it up. She held up the 'yes' sign.
We were both floating six feet off the ground when we got off the bridge. We went back to the Kennedy school. It was packed when we got back there. St. Patrick's day attracts a lot of people to the Kennedy School. We used their soaking pool for a little while. It seemed perfect. The water was warm and air was cool. We were as close to weightless as we could be. We floated around each other was we talked about the future.
We headed back to the room to take advantage of the Romance package, which was a bottle of champagne on ice and two chocolate truffles. After a little time in the room we decided to get some dinner in the hotel restaurant. The wait for the restaurant was 90 minutes, but when you are staying at a hotel with its own brewery and six bars, waiting 90 minutes for a table is not too hard.
We had a lot of beer, chicken wings, tater tots while we waited. We mooned at each other over steak and beer for dinner. Steak has become a celebration meal for us. It seemed perfect that night. Lets just say we were pretty free with the drinks that night. Everything that night seemed to make us happy.
We stumbled back to our room after a few hours. When got there I wanted to make sure we finished I wanted to make sure we finished off the bottle of champagne. I paid good money for it and I did not want it to go to waste. It was a little warm and flat for sitting out, but that was fine by me. The only glass clean in the room was a pint glass. We ended up sharing that glass, trading it back and forth. I ended up Twittering "we finished a bottle of flat sparkling wine out of a pint glass. what a perfect day."
After that I had this Idea that we should go out side and look at the stars. We we got outside we found out it was raining. The sky was gray and we could not see any stars. So we ended up dancing outside in the rain. It was still pretty cool. It was the end of a perfect day.
We are staying the night at three different places in Portland. Most times this might get in the way of a trip, but this trip it is working very well. It is giving me a chance to show Kate different parts of Portland. It is making the vacation feel like we are doing more without spending a lot more money. It is working out nicely.
Sunday we checked into the Kennedy school. I love the Kennedy School. It has been once of my favorite places in Portland since I moved there. I will admit that I am a bit of a mark for McMenamins. The idea that they are selling appeals to me greatly.
I am very happy that Kate also liked the Kennedy School. She likes the art that is on the walls. She like the design of the place. She loves that the building is an old elementary school. I think that is shows a lot in common with us. I think it something we see the same way.
Saturday we did two very Portland things. In the afternoon we went to the Portland Saturday Market. I love the Saturday market. When I lived in Portland I spent plenty of weekend mornings shopping there. There is something I really like about crafts. I even bought Kate a new purse there.
In the evening we meet Sean for the Portland Trailblazers game. It was a pretty good basketball game. I had never been to a Trailblazers game before. The Rose Quarter is a good arena for basketball. We were all the way at the back of the lower bowl in the corner, but we could see all of the action fine. The Blazers beat the Timberwolves 107-96. I am happy to see NBA scores back in the 100s.
It was just fun to hang out with my brother. We were late for the game, but that did not matter because I was hanging out with Sean. That was the whole point, for us to hang out with my brother. We ended up having to park no where near the arena. Note for next time, if there is a next time, take the MAXX to the Trail Blazers game.
We decided to Leave Wednesday night and drive past Sacramento. I did not want to start my first full day of vacation looking at traffic. I usually like leaving after work to get my start on vacation. It makes the vacation last longer.
Kate and I made it up to Corning. That was a nice jump on the trip. I can drive from San Jose to Portland in a day, but it is not a great drive. Starting early gets me in Portland early enough to do things when I get there.
I am glad I stopped in Corning. We got to see lots of beautiful country side as we drove north. We would have missed this in the dark. My favorite part of I-5 to drive is around Mt. Shasta. You can see much more in the daylight than you can in the dark.
The first Stop is a Denny's on I-80 on the say to Sacramento. We had a Kathy like experence with a homeless guy when we got out of the car. He walked up to me and asked for money. I was pinned in with another car right there. Scaring people is not a great way to get me to willingly give money.
We are one hour into the road trip and it is going well. Once we hit the road everything was great. There was a little getting on each other's nerves as we were packing the car, but that all went away. More about the trip later.
In JFK airport, terminal 6 there is not gate 13. There is a gate 12, 12A, and 14.
Food
I always eat a lot while I am home. This trip I ate two cheese steaks, one chicken cheese steak, one hoagie, Peanut Kandycakes, and a little water ice. I washed that down with a little yuengling lager. Going home is always about food. There are so many foods that I cannot get in San Jose. That is what I really miss about home.
Back
I am somewhere over America, in an airplane, flying back to the city that is now my home. I am tried, uncomfortable, sore, barn sour, and bored. I am flipping through the channels on the DirecTV feed they have on JetBlue. I feel good because I gave my Mom a great surprise. I feel bad because there will be a lot of work on my desk when I get back. I feel revealed because I know how I am going to handle things when I get back.
What I really know is that I am going to land in Oakland at 1:30 AM tomorrow, get out of the airport around 2:00 AM, get to my apartment around 3:00 AM. All of those things add up to me wanting to do nothing but sleep tomorrow. I will figure out the rest of my life from there.
Last week I was talking with Cool Eric about home. He just got back from visiting his family in central Pennsylvania. His most of his extended family is all in one area. They all live within a day drive or Redding. He feels like he is expected to move back there. He feels like the east coast is calling him. He wants to be close to his family, but he feels some conflict because of this.
Many of my friends from the East Coast have told me that their parents expect them to move back there. They are all about my age and have come out here to find their way in the world. There family understands that, but they are still wondering when they are going to come back.
To me, it does not really matter to me what my sisters think. They can think that I should move back, but they have no say in the matter. I understand that they miss me, but they are not responsible for me. They cannot help me make my life. I am jealous that they get to hang out with each other so much, but that is just the cost of living out west.
The only people that I really care what they think is my parents. I feel that I have a strong connection with them. My mother thinks I have to make the world for myself. They do not need me to live close to them to be close to them. This makes me feel good. I think that my relationship with my father is as good as it ever was.
I am not sure where I will end up. I might stay in San Jose or end up in another city. One idea I have is to live in a row home in Philadelphia. I might find my way back here. I might go on to a whole other city.
Family
Last night was my mother's birthday dinner. It was a great dinner. We had two of my favorite foods, corn on the cob and baked potatoes. I really love having big dinners with my family. There is always so much good food to eat. My family knows how to love food.
Dinners are also great because the people. We do not get together often enough. There are so many little conversations going on at the same time. I wanted to just sit and wait to hear people talk. There was just so much going on.
We took lots of pictures. We took so many pictures that we used all the up all of the patience the kids had. They did not want to stand still for the pictures. It is funny to think about all those pictures.
I do not know when I will get another night with my family like this.
When I had grown up in Pennsylvania I would hear people from other states talk about how Pennsylvania was so green. I never got what they were talking about. Now that I have lived in San Jose for almost four years, I can understand it. The hills to the east of Silicon Valley are so yellow. I do not go places with lots of leafy trees and green grass. It is all over the place around here.
Traveling Home
I still have a lot of friends who live in this area. On this trip home I will not see any of them. I am spending all the time seeing my family. Tonight I am playing cards with my parents. I feel that there is so much time I can just spend with my family. I see them so little, I would feel bad about cutting out on them.
I feel like I need to start going home for a longer period of time. If I want to see my family and my friends I have to take longer trips. I am thinking that I would need to spend 10 or more days here if I want to see everyone. This is not even counting the people I know in Harrisburg. Maybe I should take a whole month back here. I would be able to do anything I wanted. I would not have to worry about how I spend my time.
I flew Jet Blue back to the East Coast. They do not fly into Philadelphia, so I needed my sisters to pick me up at JFK. The fare was really cheap for being so last minute. It made it worth all the extra time.
This is the first time I have taken Jet Blue. One of their big marketing points is that it had DIRECTV on all its flights. The planes are Airbus A320’s. They have LCD screens in the back of the seats. There are about 20-some channels to choose from. I flew out here on the red-eye so there was not too much to watch. The choice of channels were pretty interesting, ESPN, Food Network, WNBC from New York, Headline News, and Discovery. I was surprised there was no TNN, HBO, TNT, USA, or FX. I wonder how they picked the channels.
One of the channels you can watch your plan on a map of the US. You can see how far across the country you are. This is one of the best things ever. You have some idea how much longer you will be in the air. I like the fact that I can say that I was thinking about Jeremy as I was over Chicago.
JFK
I landed at JFK airport in New York. This is one of the airports that you could not build now. It was built in the middle of wetlands. You could see all the water around it as we landed. There is something funny about the smell about JFK. I guess that is what you get when you mix swampland, body odor and jet fuel. This is what many people are greated by when they come to America.
I keep on thinking about its old name, Idyllwild. There is something special about names that are no longer used. It is like you are invoking something by using that name. The name was changed in the Sixties. I was told for a long time no one used the new name. People started to call it JFK when the FAA changed the Airport code to JFK. I wonder if the airport would be any different if they kept the old name.
When I got on the street outside of JFK, I knew I was no longer no longer on the East Coast. The air was thick and humid. It felt like I was swimming in the air. It was only 5:45 in the morning and it already felt like this. That is the East Coast that I remember.
Surprise
The whole idea was to surprise as many people as I could. Most of my sibling did not know I was coming. They were surprised to see me, but a little annoyed that they were not let in on it. They said they would have changed their plans if they knew. I know it might have been good to tell people, but I liked the idea of the surprise.
My mother was very surprised. My sister said she wanted to stand behind my mom so she did not fall over. I thought my sister was being over dramatic. That was until my mom walked in the door. My sister had to catch her. Mom loved the surprised. She was so happy to see me. It really made her day. She admitted that she was a little sad that I was not going to be there for her birthday.
Firsts
Today was the first time I have gotten to meet my niece Emily and my niece Rosemary. Emily is four years old and this is the first time I have gotten to meet her. It makes me think of how little I get to see my family. I have not seen my brother’s children in five years. That is what happens when you are halfway around the world from each other.
I have decided to get rid of my the Travel-Blogue. I needed to clip a little disk space and I have not been using it. It seemed like it was just going to waste. All of the entries have been folded back into Sad Salvation. I would think about doing it again if I was planing on traveling with another person. Are of my travels in the near future will be solo. It was a good idea, I just was not keeping it up.
Today was the big drive home. That was my only goal today. I went to bed early last night and got up very early this morning. I was out of bed by 3:30 AM and on the road by 4:00. I like starting early. I wanted to clear any major cities before traffic. I was clear of Eugene by 6 AM.
I also like to start driving early because those first almost free. We all have a maximum number of hours that we can spend in a car. I feel that the hours before 7 AM do not count toward that total. It is 7 AM before I realize what I have set out to do.
I was in California at 8:59 AM. It felt cool that I was in California at about the time I would be in work on any other day. I am surprised there are not any huge shopping outlets on the southern Oregon boarder because of the tax-free shopping. I guess there is not that many people close enough to the boarder.
I got back to my apartment in San Jose at 2:30 PM. If you do the math, that is 10.5 hours to get from Portland to San Jose. It is proof if you speed, you can save two or three hours in a full day drive. I drove like I was shot out of a cannon. I know that my car is not fast, but it might be too fast for me. I am not sure what kind of trouble I would get myself into if I hard a really fast car. I got up to 90 at one point and it still did not feel like I was going fast. I stayed between 10 and 15 mph over the speed limit at any time. The roads where empty the whole way back.
I was really sick of driving by the time I got to San Jose. For right now, I do not need to spend hours in my car any time soon. It was good for me to take a road trip. It is something that I have not done for a long time. I do not need it do it any time soon.
Whenever I get back to San Jose I am happy to be home. I wonder if that is a happiness to be back at my home base or if that is a happiness to be back in San Jose. The sun was shinning and it was a beautiful day in San Jose. I give San Jose a hard time a lot. I keep on staying that it lacks something. To be honest, it is not that bad of a place. There are a lot of worst places out there. I should try to figure out how I feel about the city.
Tomorrow I am on my way back to work. Now I am wishing that I took Thursday and Friday off also. It would be nice to have some time to rest before trying to head back to work. I have to try to get back into the swing of things tomorrow. It should be fun. I am looking forward to seeing what everyon says about my hair.
Now I have to figure out a lot of things. I have to figure out if I am going to drive cross country or not. I have to think about what I am going to do for my 30th birthday. I have to figure out what I really think of my life. Some of these things will be harder then others.
The only important thing I did today was have lunch with Amber. She is the last person I keep in touch with from 800.COM. Amber is just a great person. I talked to her like no time at all had past. There was a slight moment when it was uncomfortable, but that went away almost instantly. It is like we never stopped seeing each other.
We have been keeping in touch via e-mail. We both knew about the big events in each others lives. I know that she is married and trying to buy a house. She knows that I am still working for TiVo and living in San Jose.
I like Amber for a lot of reasons. We are about the same age, we had the same goals at one time, and we have run into the same walls in life. I think there is a lot of connection there. They are the things that made us friends in the first place. She is the last person I speak to from 800.COM. I am the last one she speaks to also.
We talked a lot about turning 30 this year. It is a big event and a small event at the same time. She told me that scheduled a doctor’s appointment for her birthday. I told her I do not have any plans yet. I would like someone to throw me a party, but I do not want to ask anyone to do it for me.
We talked for an hour. It felt like it was longer then that, but still not enough time. I hope I get to see her again sometime soon. I hope it is not another three years before I see her face to face. I think she is someone I could stay friends with for a long time. I hope that I get that chance.
I thought Amber was going to blow me off. I thought she was just pushing me off and she did not want to see me. I did not feel this way after I saw her. I was thinking about leaving Portland early. I am happy that I waited around for the chance to see her.
Old hangouts
I went to Tennessee Red’s for dinner tonight. I know it has been two and a half years since I have been there last, but I was disappointed. It used to have the feeling of a place run by guys who were right out of the hills of Rocky Top. Not it feels like a hipster hangout. The food was not as good as it used to be. I guess things do not stay the same.
Random Roads
Bought a copy of the Qur'an
Got a buzz haircut.
Hung out at Pioneer Courthouse Square one last time.
Watched Vanilla Sky in my hotel room last night
Going to bed early so I can get up early to hit the road tomorrow.
This vacation should help me figure out what I want to do with my next vacation.
Politics of the Ballot Every time I come to Portland people try to get me to sign ballot measure petitions. Ballot initiatives are really a west coast thing. It makes people think they are close to democracy. There are lots of issues with petition drives. One of the big issues is that people are paid to gather signatures. They are usually paid per signature.
I told the one guy that I do not like ballot measures. I think it gives the lawmakers an excuse to be lazy. Instead of lawmakers taking on tough issues and making good laws. They let the tough ideas go to the ballot. We get poorly written, ambiguous, easy to overturn laws. I think that the ballot measures should be more restrictive. It sounds so un-democratic when I say this, but it is a better from of government.
Jugglers in the streets
I told a Juggler that I think all people who learn how to juggle do it because they are starved to attention. He agreed with a little bit and then proceeded to tell me that it was not true. He tried to compare Juggling to playing a musical instrument. He told me that Boffo the Clown is the greatest juggle in the world but he only juggled in private. He was a street performer, so I gave him a dollar for giving him a hard time.
We talked for a while. He tried to teach me how to juggle. I warned him that I have hands of stone. I only played sports where I was not allowed to touch the ball. I quickly showed him that I did not have the skills it takes to juggle. We had a good laugh. It has been a while since I have just started a conversation with someone on the street like that. I should try it more often.
Watching the public
Later that day I was sitting in Pioneer Courthouse Square. I was wondering if I would see the juggler again. I know that he was just traveling though Portland. I did not see him. It was interesting to see the people sitting there. I always seem women here that I want to try to talk to, but I can never do it. I can never get up the nerve to do this. I wonder how I would feel if someone at random approached me. I would be a little scared and un-nerved.
Drinks with Doug
I had drinks with Doug today. Doug was one the the best guys I met when I was living in Portland. We met at a book signing at Powells. Doug and I used to talk for hours about all kinds of things. We like each other because we both have a view about the world. Doug talked about school, baseball, teaching and Portland. He wants to be a playwright. It is one of those career choices I do not understand. I am so far away from that world. My guess is that he really loves it.
If I lived in Portland I would see Doug all the time. I know I could get him away from the house to have drinks from time to time. I miss having someone like Doug in my life. I never worked with him. He was someone I could talk to things about. He was not involved with the things I wanted to get away from. I have met few people that have as sharp of a mind as Doug. I think that we will have these check in sessions ever couple of years.
Random Roads
They call Pioneer Courthouse Square ‘Portland’s Living Room’. What does that mean?
Had lunch at the Bagdad today
Bagdad is a pivotal place in my history of Portland
I am thinking about ending my vacation early
Powells on Hawthorne is one of the places I miss most about Portland.
Alone on the road I have spent most of this trip alone. I knew that before I came up here. What am I trying to figure out with all this time alone? It is alone and away from my regular life. Today it was hard to be alone. I wanted to be closer to people. It is Easter, and everyone I saw where in groups. Not being close to people is really getting me down. I have to think about that.
Lost on the Street or Religion
When I left the restaurant I was having dinner at tonight I was panhandled by a girl. I am not sure if she was 16 or 24, but she looked in rough shape. She was eating a handful of gummy worms. She asked me if I had any change. I usually do not give money to panhandlers, but today is Easter. I gave her about seventy-five cents in change and left it at that.
I know what she meant her that she did not have any Easter candy or Easter dinner. I thought about the idea that Easter is really for religion. Easter is about faith. I wanted to tell her to look into religion. If she is living on the streets she is looking for something. I wanted to tell her to look for that something in religion. It does not work for everyone, but it might work for her. It might be better then living on the street.
I did not say anything to her. The whole time I walked away, I wanted to turn around and say something. I am not a super religious person. I just cannot think living on the streets is better then finding faith. I still wish I told her this.
I went back later to see if she was there, but she was not. I wonder if I would have said anything to her if she were there. I will never know now.
Alone thoughts I am a little depressed today. I am depressed because I am alone. I know I took this vacation to be alone, but it is pointing something out to me.
Random Roads
I am spending too much money on this vacation.
Breakfast at Jo Rousserie & Bar
Lunch at Burgerville
Dinner at the Downtown Greek Deli & Cusina
The restaurant has an octopus on the facade.
I had a great sandwich there.
I had two bottles of beer today.
The city was really dead tonight
There was not much to do today
I spent a lot of time driving around the outskirts of the city
It looks like I will not hit the road at all until my trip to Portland at the end of March. I have been thinking about taking a long day trip, but looks like it is not going to happen. Part of the problem is that I am on call every other weekend. That cuts in half the weekends I can leave town. I do not want to not answer the on call phone. That is a way to start having to work weekend again.
The other problem is that I keep on finding things to do on my none on call weekend. I was not on call this weekend, but I was invited to go out on Saturday night. In two weekends someone is having a big party I want to go to. There will be no road trip that weekend. I think my next good weekend is my trip to Portland.
It would be nice to get a day trip in before Portland, but it is not going to happen. Portland is an important trip. It will decide if I drive cross country this summer. I know that I am putting a lot of press on what I can learn on one trip.
I was thinking about taking a day trip this weekend, but it is not going to happen. I had a party to go to tonight and I am hanging out with a friend tomorrow. These are both events that I did not want to miss and I cannot move to another time. I am not sure now when I will get a chance to do a day trip. It might be a little while. Next weekend I am on call. I could do a roadtrip while on call, but I do not want to risk it. If I miss to many calls while on call, they might have us working weekends again. It might be two or four weeks before I get the change to hit the road for a day trip.
I am thinking I want to drive down to Hearst Castle. It is one of those things I want to see while I am living in California. I have been told it is four hour drive from San Jose. That is about the drive for a good day trip. My family used to day trip to Washington DC all the time. Four hours is enough time to really hit the road, but not so long you having to stay overnight.
I have not taken a day trip in a long time. The last real day trip I took was a trip too Mount St. Helen's with my sister Kathy. That was when I lived in Portland. We left at breakfast and got back for a late dinner. It makes me wish there was someone I could take with me to Hearst Castle.
I have started a new web log just for travel writing. I have started it because there will be another person on at least one of my trips this year. I want her to be able to post to it. I really do not want anyone else ever posting to Sad Salvation. The new web log is Travel-Blogue.
Part of me wants to have the people I am visiting post to this web log also. I am not sure if they are would get it. I have been trying to do projects where other people post. Most of the time, I have a hard time getting people to post to these web logs. I know that people just do not have the time to sit around and write. I am not sure I could convince them to spend the time it would take.
I am going to cross-publish some entries on both Sad Salvation and Travel-Blogue. I really am not worried that I am going to put the same thing in both place. I really want Travel-Blogue to be more of a solo archive with some of its own content. I am not really sure how going to use it right now. I know that it is something that I wanted to set up.
I have started this new web log just to log the movements of life and travel. I traveled very little last year. I plan to travel much more often in 2002. I want a single place to write about all my travel ideas. I am going to post some of these ideas on both Travel-Blogue and Sad Salvation. I think there are some Ideas that I am only going to post here.
I think that travel is important. It gives us the chance to see things outside of our lives. It is important to try to get away from your day to day life when you travel. I do not think people should take there work with them. Too often people cannot get away from the world that they are in. I think it gives people a small vision of the world. We have to step back from our lives and our visions of the world to really recharge.
Other people are also going to be posting on this web log. I want the people I travel with and some of the people I visit to be able to post here. I would love to see what they think about this trip. There are still a ton of things to do before I actually hit the road.
My plan is to drive to Portland taking US 101 North all the way to Seaside. I would like to spend my night in Seaside. I will drive US 26 from Seaside to Portland. I have wanted to drive 101 north for a long time. It is a much more scenic drive then taking I-5 North. I will be able to see the ocean for much of this drive.
I have been longing to visit Portland for a while. It has been since June 2000 since I was in Portland last. It is a city that still holds some part of my heart. I miss a lot of little things about the city. I miss the parks, clear air, Powell's Books, coffee shops, and brew pubs. It was a city that I did not understand when I left. I think I could take better advantage of it now. I was only there for a short time, but that city still clouds my minds.
I still have a couple of friends in Portland. I am not sure if I am going to stay with them or stay in a hotel. Part of me wants to live the big time and stay in a nice downtown hotel. I have never blown a lot of money on a hotel before. I think there would be something cool in just dropping cash on the hotel. I could be Mr. Big Time for a couple of days.
I am looking forward to seeing my friends. I have been able to stay friends with them. It is hard to keep in contact with people when you do not see them very often. If I moved back to Portland the people will not be the draw. I would be moving back just like I moved there the first time. With no real support in the city.
I still think about moving back to Portland. I tell people if I could have my current job and live in Portland, it would be a great combination. I think I could be a lot happier. I do not know if I will ever move back there. It is something I have to think about for the future.
I went out and bought new front tires this weekend. My front tires were starting to look worn. Four of the last Five times I bought new tires, it was because one of my tires went flat. The last two times I had to change a tire on a highway. There are few things I hate more then changing a tire on the highway. My mind was full of all the stories of people getting hurt doing that.
The tires are a very important step. I need to make sure my car is in roadtrip shape. I would hate to be riding on a spare time when the next exit is 50 miles away. I am going to take a test trip this spring. I am going to take a road trip so I can see if my car can handle a long trip. I am going to drive up to Portland over Easter Weekend. I have a three day weekend. I can take a couple of days and just stretch that weekend. This will be the trip that will decide it my are is up to a further trip.
I know that waiting until April to decide if I want to take a trip in July might be a little late. This worries me a little bit. I wonder if it will be a problem for any of the people that I want to see. I feel that I have to take a trip to Portland. If I am driving, I really do not want to drive any sooner. I at least want to wait until March. I might as well wait for my three day weekend. I will have to see how this unfolds.
I want to start a Travelogue on Sad Salvation. It is the start of the year and I want to travel a couple of times this year. I have not settled on all of my plans yet. There are more then a few things bumping around my head. Steve is getting married this fall. That is time I am going to spend in San Diego. My cousin is getting married in June in Knoxville. Jen is getting married this summer. That would be a trip to Pittsburgh in July. I was talking with Cathy about taking a trip with her. There is part of me that wants to drive cross country this summer.
I am not sure where I want to go. Most likely I will have to do a good deal of this travel alone. Being the Uber-single man I do not expect to have a traveling companion by the time I hit the road. I am not sure how much I want to travel alone. I have a lot of vacation time saved up and I have to use it some time. When I lived with my parents I loved to travel alone. It was my chance to be on my own. Now I am on my own all the time. I do not need to be on my own more often. Most of my life is about the time I spend by myself.
The problem with traveling on my own is very often I do not do as many activities as I would do if I was with another person. I do not take the time to look at the world around me. I just rush through everything. It also seems less important because I am not sharing it with any one. It feels less important because I am doing it all on my own. It is hard to explain, but things do feel more valid when they are shared with another person.
No matter what I will travel somewhere this year. I will start up the car and head away from San Jose. I just do not know the extent yet. I am not sure if it will only be for a few small trips or if it will be a big cross-country ride. That is what I need to decide for myself. There will be a need for a travelogue this year. That travelogue will be part of Sad Salvation.
