Jellyfish

Sunday, April 3rd, 2016.

Portland, OR / Tacoma, WA

It’s 6am and I am tired. I offered Laura a ride to the airport last night and now it’s too late to take it back. I silently curse my past self and begrudgingly get out of bed.

Around 6:15am we approach my rental car and find a parking ticket stuck to the windshield. Ugh. Laura offers to pay for some of the cost but I decline. I am going to let it go and see what happens. After a few wrong turns and a stop for gas I somehow still manage to get Laura to the airport early. She is grateful for the ride and we say our goodbyes.

Now I have about 8 hours to kill before my 4pm flight out of Tacoma, I consider going to brunch in Portland, but instead decide to hightail it to Tacoma and try to hit the zoo before going to the airport. The freeway is gloriously empty and I make it to Tacoma in 2 hours and 45 minutes flat. I now have a comfortable 3 hours to explore the Tacoma zoo and aquarium. I have to stand in line for nearly 20 minutes to get my ticket. I am a solo adult in a sea of small children. I nervously play on my phone and try not to look like a creep. 

Eventually I gain entrance into the zoo and make my first stop in the aquarium. The jellyfish are totally awesome (as always) and I even get to see a few sharks. From here I make a full loop of the zoo and finish up at the polar bears, which are adorably playful.

Around 2pm I am climb back into my Subaru and look for lunch and gas. I end up grabbing Chipotle and gas at a nearby shopping center and then heading to the airport. Around 2:30 I am drop off my rental car. Goodbye blue Subaru; you have served me well. I head into the airport to check in.

Holy Crap. My flight is at 3pm not 4pm! I am instantly resigned to missing my flight but go head and line up at security anyways. I mentioned to one of the guards that I am running late and he insists that I go to the front of the line. I do not argue and waltz right through. From here I break into a full run and make it to my gate with minutes to spare. Ah man, that was scary.

The flight back is uneventful. Eventually I land in Los Angeles and pick up my car in Lot C. 

Visiting Portland was such a great blast from the past; I already want to go back.  

Beer cocktails are the best!

Saturday, April 2nd, 2016.

Portland, OR

It’s 9am and I am slowly crawling out of bed in my Portland motel room. I drove in late last night from a Seattle work trip and booked the cheapest hotel room I could find. It looks even grosser in the harsh morning light. I quickly get dressed, pack my bag and am back in my rental car. It’s a blue Subaru and it’s freaking awesome.  

My first order of business is brunch with Katie, one of my long lost AmeriCorps friends. I have not seen Katie in 10 years, but I am not nervous at all. 

We meet for brunch at a small café in the Northeast part of town. I recognize her immediately and we get right down business. When I last saw Katie she was a recent college grad with a Masters in Biology; now she is a middle school guidance counselor. I am very happy to hear that she absolutely loves her job! I don’t know any teachers, so I have a lot of questions, which she answers calmly and honestly. She is making her career sound very fun and now I am feeling jealous. Soon the conversation turns over to boys. We are both unmarried and dating on Tinder. We are also both having great online dating experiences.

After brunch we make a trip to my old neighborhood, Hawthorne. I haven’t lived in Portland since 2007 but my old neighborhood is exactly as I remember it. We go to Powell’s so that I can buy a new book and then we finally succumb to the bar. It is after noon, so it's okay. 

Katie takes me to a little bar on Morrison where we sit outside (the weather is uncharacteristically awesome) and I order a beer cocktail. I have forgotten how awesome beer cocktails can be and feel sad that I never see them in Los Angeles. After 2 rounds of afternoon drinks we walk back over to my rental, stopping at Powell’s again so that I can buy a copy of Kafka on the Shore, a book that comes highly recommended by Katie. Next I drop her off at her house, vowing to stay in better touch.

My next stop is downtown Portland. My long time travel buddy, Laura, is just finishing up a work conference and is ready to see the town. We are both here on our works’ dime and intend to make the most of it! As I pull up to our hostel/hotel I see Laura sneaking out of the front door and making a beeline for the bar next door. I yell across the street for her to stop. She is happy to see me and turns back around to walk me to the hotel room (To be fair she just completed a 3 day conference on book publishing, so she really needs a beer!).

Unsolicited, I explain to Laura know that the real Portland is located east of the river. She is agreeable so we hop in the Subaru and are off. Katie has suggested that we check out Mississippi Ave, so that’s where we go. We drive around for a few minutes and finally locate a very lively strip of stores, restaurants, and bars with a small brewing district at the end. To the breweries!

As we enter the brewery district, we see a place called Spin; it looks promising. Upon closer inspection it turns out to be a laundromat / bar. We actually consider ordering a beer, but it smells too much like soap. Onward.

We end up at Ecliptic Brewing. We quickly find a table outside and I order a pilsner with some snacks and Laura orders a beer sampler. She gets one sip of my pilsner and I get one sip of each of her 5 tastings. We enjoy the weather and catch up on life. Laura has recently moved in with her boyfriend and I am being super nosy. Laura obliges my curiosity. 

Eventually we continue our tour to a bar called Liberty Glass. It is quintessential Portland and I immediately love it. We finish our tour of Mississippi Ave at one of my personal favorites, the White Eagle. This is the first bar that I ever visited in Portland (a trip that resulted in me living in Portland for almost 3 years).

The sun is starting to set and we are both starving. I decide that Laura has to see the Kennedy School (its an old elementary school that has been converted in a bar-restaurant-pool-movie-theater building. It’s as wonderful as I remember and we both enjoy our dinner. 

Laura is starting to look tired, but I push for one more stop at the Backstage to play shuffleboard. The Backstage is my all time favorite bar and we both rally for one last round. 

Around 11pm we head back to the hotel. We fall asleep immediately. I have committed to taking Laura to the airport at 7am in the morning and we are both beat.