A quick visit to San Francisco

My cousin Heather, her husband Mark, and their adorable daughter Charlotte, were gracious enough to host us for the weekend on our way down through California. They gave us the whirlwind tour of their part of San Francisco, and showed us just how amazing San Francisco is.

San Francisco is a fantastic place. Maybe my favorite place. It is hard to describe just what it is about it, but I thoroughly enjoyed our short visit and can’t wait to get back.

These fascinating flowers are called Dahlias and the pictures were taken in Golden Gate Park at the Dahlia Garden.

We ventured out into the Haight-Ashbury district and had lunch at the Magnolia Pub and Brewery. Mark and I then took a bike ride up through Presidio Park to the Golden Gate Bridge, (which let me tell you is much more or a sight to see in real life, than in pictures), down to the hidden China beach, up a killer San Francisco hill, then back down to Ocean Beach (a silly name for a beach), and then back through Golden Gate Park to end up at their amazingly-located, beautiful row house on the Park’s panhandle. We ended the day by having dinner at an interesting Mediterranean restaurant on Haight Street.

The next day we cheered Heather on as she passed by during her half marathon, and then we were off, to hit the road for Temecula in the hot California sun, pondering how we can one day afford to move to San Francisco….

Our time in Portland has come to an end (for now)

Well, that flew by….! We have been here for 2 whole months now, and it seems like 2 days. We didn’t experience nearly enough in that time. Most of our stuff has been moved to a storage unit, where it will remain for the next few months while we visit with Tess’ sister Jenny and her family way down in Temecula, CA.

I will continue working from home, and Tess will be looking for a temporary job until we move up to Seattle, where I will be taking my class and working. Once we are done in Seattle the plan is to move back to Portland.

We saw Fleet Foxes

One of my favorite bands, Fleet Foxes, finished up their tour at Edgefield Amphitheatre just outside of Portland, before returning home to Seattle. The lead singer has apparently moved to Portland, a fact we picked up after the show, when he mentioned that he had only a 30 minute drive in order to return home, whereas the rest of the band had 3 hours. This resulted in his fellow bandmates branding him a traitor! It was a fantastic show at a cool outdoor venue. I’m very glad we caught this show.

Seattle Weekend Reconnaissance Trip

We have been planning on making a quick trip up to Seattle to check out the various neighborhoods and get a feel for the city, so we can make more informed decisions when it comes to looking for a place to live here in a few months.

Coincidentally my good friend Tyler was up in Seattle this past weekend trying out the city for himself, so we made the 3 hours journey up to hang out and tour around. Just like Portland, Seattle has many very different neighborhoods, each with their own flavor and affordability. We checked out several neighborhoods that were recommended by some friends (Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford), and then walked around the downtown area of the city. We went to a huge record store with something like half a million records, checked out some restaurants, saw (looked at) the space needle, ended up in some crappy tourist-trap areas (most of which, I will never go back to), and had a great time wandering around.

It was great to see Tyler and hang out in a new city.

Tess’ Dad visits

Tess’ dad was passing through the area, so we took him to this interesting restaurant/place where they converted an old middle school into a restaurant/theater/community center /hotel/etc, called The Kennedy School. A very interesting place. We then caught a movie.

It seems that there is nowhere in the States where you can escape a potential truck route, which is great because we enjoy his visits.

The Oregon Country Fair

This festival is called The Oregon Country Fair located outside of Eugene, Oregon. It is nothing like the name makes it sound. It is not a fair in the sense of a County or State fair, but more in the general sense of a fair. And the “Country” part of the name has nothing more to do with the fact that is located in the country and doesn’t reflect the type of music.

It is, as most festivals are, a place of the bizarre, and this festival takes bizarre to new level, all while maintaining a “family-friendly” atmosphere. It has been going on for 42 years, and just as all festivals with a long history, it has been modernized with all the amenities required to maintain ~45,000 people who will attend within the 3 days.

We only made a day trip, to check it out. It was a very interesting experience. Definitely something we would like to attend again. The festival ground was really cool, with the hundreds (probably 500) vendors selling every strange item you can imagine, within a labyrinth of elaborate permanent wooden market booths, giving the feeling as if you were meandering through a medieval bazaar. A fantastic display of interesting things, strange people, crazy art, and bizarre culture, all within an intricate weird wonderland (similar to that that Alice found herself in).


Oh yeah, the entertainment... There were 20 “stages” showcasing a vast array of “talents” from every possible area of the spectrum, such as: one-man bands, puppetshows, acting troupes, choirs, clowns, comedians, marching bands, dancers, actual bands, jugglers, belly dancers, gymnasts, etc, etc. And let’s not forget the random aspiring freelancing toss-a-dollar-in-my-cap musicians, the shamans, the hippies, the clowns on stilts (freaked me out a bit), the drum circles, the hulla-hoopers, the street performers, the quacks, the healers, the tarot readers, the endless variety of costumes, the trippers, the tweakers, the candlestick makers! All of this, calmly coexisting for 3 days, in place that is out of this world.

We saw many interesting things and several bands that were really good. It was fun.

We saw Will

Will was up in Tacoma, Washington for some Air Force Training, so we journeyed up to Olympia, Washington, where we met him at a place called Fish Tale Brew Pub, where we had some food. We then found another (quieter) restaurant to continue the evening of catching up.

It was great to see him, catch up on life, talk about the potential future plans, and joke around like always.

So the moral of the story is, if you are out in this part of the country, drop me a line, because it is always a nice surprise to see an old friend!

Sorry the photo quality is crappy. The flash on my camera is broken and needs to be fixed.