chronicles of portland

i couldn't wait for friday to get to fly to portland and meet up with morgan, jessica and reuben. we were planning to hangout in portland from two weeks back when morgan sent out that invitation. the flight was uneventful (got delayed a bit) and i landed safely but a bit late in portland. morgan was already at the airport when i came out and he gave me a big hug before we proceeded to the baggage claim area. morgan drives a big F150 and since he just moved to this part of portland a week ago, we actually had to make several u-turns before he finally figured out where his house is. the house was big and sits on 23 acres of land and morgan's room was big and comfortably fits 2 sofas aside from his bed. i got a chance to meet flo, morgan's roommate who was quite chatty (almost in a drug-induced state if i might say) which helped in a way bridge the silence. we drank our beer/ale at the roofdeck as jess pulled over the driveway with reuben. i finally got to meet jessica's husband this time.

the first night in portland was spent by first checking out the white eagle where they have me try out the spanish coffee (coffee liqueur, rum, coffee & whipped cream) while we listened to some bluegrass music. we chatted a bit with some hummus and nachos when mesh came in before we proceeded to this tapas place called collosus (?). mesh's wife (rajestri) joined us for dinner and we learned that the chitgopekars were expecting their first baby - yahoo! congratulations to mesh & rajestri!!! the sangria at this place was awesome - smooth, fruity wine that was just unbelievably good every which way i drank it. the tapas we ordered were very good too (clams, empanada, veggies, mushrooms) that we finished most of what we ordered. after dinner, we checked out some bars before settling to this school-turned-bar/theatre/etc called kennedy school. this was really fascinating and weird in the sense that you have this old, history-rich place and you're chugging beer as you walk by the halls. i was pretty buzzed by the time we decided to call it a night.

saturday. snow day. it was a long drive going to breitenbush where i finally managed to see snow in all its natural, uhmm wet from the rain, glory. thankfully, jess & morgan lent me winter clothes that kept me warm enough to appreciate playing in the snow. we couldn't really find a steep enough slope to sled on so what the guys did instead was to tie a rope and the sled at the back of the pick-up truck and drag it along the snow. it was a big adrenaline rush when i tried it. we also had a snowball fight - yeah, real life snowball fight. we were wet from the rain and after a couple of driving to find a slope for sledding, we gave up and decided to go to the hotsprings instead. after we managed to find morgan's friend who works at the hotsprings, we were on our way to dip into the hot pools (there were a number of them) and the pools we walked to were packed with literally naked people, yes - you heard me - naked. while we walked by, most of them seemed like they were sizing us up from head to toe - can't say i blame them, we were definitely fresh meat (translation : uber gorgeous) - hahaha. we settled at the spiral pools instead where we stayed for an hour or so - in our bathing suits (conservative? naah ... would have i done it naked? hmmm probably. maybe.). it was surreal being soaked in a hot tub while there were snow all around - it even started to snow for real right after.

when we got back to portland, we showered and changed and decided to go see jujuba play at the goodfoot. jujuba is a 12-member band that delivers funky, danceable style of nigerian juju and afrobeat music. it was different but it was quite good music to dance to - and after a few rounds of beers and reuben starting up with the cocktails - crown royale+coke and gin tonic, we were quite drunk soon after. jessica was the designated driver and so that gave reuben, morgan and i permission to drink non-stop. i think i was half-asleep during the drive home - half-sleeping & waking to tap out the newspaper morgan kept poking at me.

we woke up sunday quite late and decided to get breakfast at this place called genie's where i had really good eggs benedict and huckleberry pancakes. the wait for breakfast was worth it since the food was great. over breakfast, we talked about our plans for the future, what we want to do with our lives and this is the part i felt like we have really bonded. after our meal, we went to downtown portland soon after where i finally managed to buy my macbook -no sales tax and intel discount. that was sweet. we met with jessica's brother chris afterwards where we got to hangout, drink some more nitro (pale), play some pool (to which i sucked so badly) before deciding to have some mini-burgers, tater tots and hummus. jessica and reuben left that night back to seattle.

i managed to try and be a potter kid this time - trying in a few for the sake of it. pottery barn it seems is legal in oregon owing it to its medicinal benefits - oh yeah! we watched some of morgan's roomies play some tunes in the basement but i turned in quite early later on seeing i had an early flight in the morning. i almost felt sorry having to wake up morgan so early to drive me to the airport but well, i had no choice.

i was leaving portland with a heavy heart - missing already how great the last two days, three nights have been.

you can also view these pictures here : hanging out in portland