Portland

My trip out to Portland was a somewhat spur of the moment decision. My mom was supposed to go and visit my sister for her birthday, but instead, she ended up having surgery and a lengthy recovery afterwards. (Surgery went fine and she's doing well.) This started me thinking that maybe it would be a good time for me to go to Portland. I didn't end up making it in time for Donna's birthday, as that was only days away when my mom had to cancel her plans. But before very long, I had made the necessary arrangements for a week's vacation. I would be going by myself; Andrew had kindly agreed to stay home and care for the animals, which turned out to be an even bigger deal than I initially thought. Shortly before I left, the website I had booked my flight with sent me a link to a list of songs and movies that would help me "get in a Portland state of mind". I never did get around to looking at that list, thought I should see if I still have it, as I can't think of any films or songs that prominently feature Portland.

My trip started out a little rocky, but went smoothly after that. I had called for a taxi the night before since Andrew was sick and I didn't want to make him drive me to the bus station at such an early hour. The time I had scheduled pick-up for came and went with no taxi in sight. As it was getting late, Andrew drove me out to the airport shuttle. I called the taxi company on my cell (earlier calls only got a machine) and learned that they had assumed I was in the town that they're based in, despite the fact that I had told them I wasn't. Scratch one cab company. The bus got me to the airport in plenty of time and my two flights went smoothly. After I brief mix-up where I ended up in the drop-off area instead of the pick-up, I found Donna and her Andrew and was on my way to their place.

First on the agenda was, of course, meeting the kitties. They were a little wary of me at first, but that didn't last too long. Phoebe is a little shy, generally well behaved, and vocal. Owen is a little mischievious, but he's also a total cuddle kitten. He'll come up to you and purr, whether you pat him or ignore him. They're both very playful and, not surprisingly, cute.

I was pretty beat when we got to the apartment, having read on the plane instead of sleeping. Donna gave me an early birthday present: the DVD of "Firefly". I was too tired to watch it that night, but we got about halfway through the episodes before I left. I fell asleep before anyone could even turn the couch into a bed.

We spent the week alternating between touristy stuff and hanging out at home. We checked out the Portland Museum of Art, which has a particularly nice collection of Native American art from around the country. They were also showing a collection of John Singer Sargeant's paintings of children. It was interesting, showing a nice variety of gift portraits for friends and patrons and more artsy works. They tried to include some biographical info about each of the sitters, which was neat. But the endings were pretty much "He was killed in WWI", "He was killed in WWI", "He never married and shot himself at age 40." (I stopped reading them after the last one.) Later in the week, we went to the Oregon Zoo and did a little sketching. Towards the end of the week, we saw the Chinese garden and Powell's, the ginormous book store. (I picked up some gifts for Andrew and Nancy Cartwight's autobiography to read on the plane ride home. Time at the apartment was spent watching "Firefly", playing video games (with focus on World of Warcraft), watching a little TV, and chatting.

Of course, we also paid a visit to Les and Jon, meeting at the local comic shop. We had a nice dinner with some very tasty pesto mac and cheese. I also got to meet Donna's Andrew's parents and have more mac and cheese (at a different restaurant). By the way, Jon, Andrew seemed into the idea of having a "hockey buddy", so give him a call whenever an interesting game is on.

The one real downside came near the end of my trip. Andrew called and said that Blitz wasn't eating. This persisted the next day, so he took her to the vet. It turned out that our bunny was blocked internally. Blitz is not the most cooperative bunny, so Andrew had a pretty tough time getting her medicine into her, in addition to being worried about her health. I felt really bad that this was happening while I wasn't there to help. Fortunately, Blitz has recovered nicely and has regained her appetite, thanks in large part to Andrew.

Portland is a nice city. In my limited experience, it's not too overwhelming, but there's still a lot to do. It was great to see my sister and her boyfriend and Les and Jon, all of whom I miss. And it's always nice to travel every once in a while. I'm sure I'll be back again before too long, though next time I'll probably have Andrew with me.