OHHHH MYYYYY GOOOOOD!!!! Serious amounts of catching up to do urmmmmm OK where do I start.....
When I left you last we were in Seattle, and having drank ourselves into a Mountain Dew and vodka stupor and visited numerous micro breweries we set off on a 4 hour bus to Portland. However not before we visited the first ever Starbucks (which is at Pike Place Market) and encountered massive amounts of freaks in and around the hostel. I had a bit of bad news from home; my Uncle Syd had passed away and I was a bit stuck in limbo with what I could say or do for my dad when 5000 miles away however he had a really amazing life and defiantly was someone who lived to the full.
Portland was one of those places that we didn't know anything about or know anyone who had ever been. In fact, the only reason we were stopping there was to tick off the state of Oregon and break up the huge drive down to San Fran. HOW WRONG WE WERE!!! Having settled into our "green" hostel (it has no environmental footprint and a living roof) which was amazingly homely we decided to go and get some food and more importantly a beer (or 5). Plus on the bus on the way to our hostel we met a wicked Alaskan called Autumn who had invited us for some drinks. After exactly 2 minutes we realized we were in one of the coolest places EVER (a suburb called Hawthorne) as the number of bars and restaurants was overwhelming. We settled in this amazing warehouse come brewery come venue and as we tried to pretend we were cool enough to be there but the local brew was flowing strong. Autumn was so nice and this made us think if we had finally left all the freaks behind in Seattle....
Having been armed with loads of tips for pubs, shops and sights we set off early Sunday morning on our adventure into Portland which should probably be renamed as the most pointless city on planet earth. Our tourist trail was fun as we had just highlighted things on the map the night before (when smashed) and we navigated to them blind having no idea what we were going to see. It turns out that Portland has no real sights, although it boasts some old tall trees and a massive copper statue (second largest after Lady Liberty herself). Having had our fill of tourism we decided to stop for coffee, this them seemed impossible as Portland (unlike Seattle) has NO coffee shops and only seems to be jam packed with amazing breweries and funky bars. In the avo we decided to check out all the shops that had been recommended to us.....yes I know DANGEROUS. We spend hours rummaging in amazing vintage stores picking up some amazing jewels and funky clothes for next to nothing. It was then that I realized I was totally in love with this pointless city and its quirky nature; everyone was too nice and so eager to talk and help us out, even the bus drivers seemed happy! Plus the beer was so good and the cheapest we had encountered on our year in North America.
Then, the fun really began as the Kate Nash extravaganza kicked off. Her gig in Portland (at none other than the Wonderballroom) was AMAZING, the best I've ever seen her and to top it off we have some amazing photos and Jenna's first real brush with stardom ;-). TALKING OF JENNA she decided to get utterly smashed at the gig and after the 4 pints and 3 double vodka mountain dew's pre gig she managed to carry on with more beer and double G&T's. Needless to say she wasn't feeling amazing for the last morning in Portland, however a massive Chinese and a morning in some Thai Chi gardens sorted her out in time for the 18 hour train to San Fran.
Portland has massively been the highlight so far, so I sit here, freshly showered, having just checked into our San Fran hostel with a nicely suntanned face, a very pretty 1960's puffball dress (thank you vintage Portland) ready for what the gay capital of America has to offer.
Plus Greg (a friend from Montreal) joins the Jenna and Lorna tour tonight which is probably a good thing as we need protecting, not in that sense but we just keep loosing things haha. Jenna has no lost 2 towels and (almost) her handbag and I have sacrificed a jumper to the cause. Oh well...probably a good thing for the weight count. xxx
Portland was one of those places that we didn't know anything about or know anyone who had ever been. In fact, the only reason we were stopping there was to tick off the state of Oregon and break up the huge drive down to San Fran. HOW WRONG WE WERE!!! Having settled into our "green" hostel (it has no environmental footprint and a living roof) which was amazingly homely we decided to go and get some food and more importantly a beer (or 5). Plus on the bus on the way to our hostel we met a wicked Alaskan called Autumn who had invited us for some drinks. After exactly 2 minutes we realized we were in one of the coolest places EVER (a suburb called Hawthorne) as the number of bars and restaurants was overwhelming. We settled in this amazing warehouse come brewery come venue and as we tried to pretend we were cool enough to be there but the local brew was flowing strong. Autumn was so nice and this made us think if we had finally left all the freaks behind in Seattle....
Having been armed with loads of tips for pubs, shops and sights we set off early Sunday morning on our adventure into Portland which should probably be renamed as the most pointless city on planet earth. Our tourist trail was fun as we had just highlighted things on the map the night before (when smashed) and we navigated to them blind having no idea what we were going to see. It turns out that Portland has no real sights, although it boasts some old tall trees and a massive copper statue (second largest after Lady Liberty herself). Having had our fill of tourism we decided to stop for coffee, this them seemed impossible as Portland (unlike Seattle) has NO coffee shops and only seems to be jam packed with amazing breweries and funky bars. In the avo we decided to check out all the shops that had been recommended to us.....yes I know DANGEROUS. We spend hours rummaging in amazing vintage stores picking up some amazing jewels and funky clothes for next to nothing. It was then that I realized I was totally in love with this pointless city and its quirky nature; everyone was too nice and so eager to talk and help us out, even the bus drivers seemed happy! Plus the beer was so good and the cheapest we had encountered on our year in North America.
Then, the fun really began as the Kate Nash extravaganza kicked off. Her gig in Portland (at none other than the Wonderballroom) was AMAZING, the best I've ever seen her and to top it off we have some amazing photos and Jenna's first real brush with stardom ;-). TALKING OF JENNA she decided to get utterly smashed at the gig and after the 4 pints and 3 double vodka mountain dew's pre gig she managed to carry on with more beer and double G&T's. Needless to say she wasn't feeling amazing for the last morning in Portland, however a massive Chinese and a morning in some Thai Chi gardens sorted her out in time for the 18 hour train to San Fran.
Portland has massively been the highlight so far, so I sit here, freshly showered, having just checked into our San Fran hostel with a nicely suntanned face, a very pretty 1960's puffball dress (thank you vintage Portland) ready for what the gay capital of America has to offer.
Plus Greg (a friend from Montreal) joins the Jenna and Lorna tour tonight which is probably a good thing as we need protecting, not in that sense but we just keep loosing things haha. Jenna has no lost 2 towels and (almost) her handbag and I have sacrificed a jumper to the cause. Oh well...probably a good thing for the weight count. xxx
1 comment:
I miss you Loopy Luna, come home soon, it's not the same. J xx
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