Saturday morning- Ryan, Devon, myself
heavy, photo by Devon
Sat. Feb. 28, 2009
After a marvelously fun night surfing (even though the surf was harsh) and camping (mmm… fire-cooked steak…) and star gazing as well, I slept in the car and woke up in the morning a bit stiff but none the worse. We had some fire-side coffee and hit the road. We had a long drive ahead.
A few hours into it we stopped in San Francisco just long enough to visit Arkay Workshop (http://www.arkayworkshop.com), a store a friend of mine started a few months ago. Rachel Kinney has awesome taste and I was happy to see her creation. It is everything I thought it would be. Devon bought a book. I bought a t-shirt. We checked out the local murals. We charged our phones. Then we hit the road again, driving over the Golden Gate Bridge going North.
Arkay Workshop window
inside Arkay Workshop
Mer
creature in the window
Golden Gate Bridge
My big disappointment was that by the time we reached the Redwood Forest, it was dark. Devon is a woodworker and loves trees, so I was bummed he couldn’t experience the full grandeur of the park during the day. Nevertheless, we pulled over long enough to find a huge tree, give it a hug and snap a photo to prove it happened.
California redwoods- Devon hugging a big tree
We drove and drove and seventeen or so hours after we started we arrived at a oceanside house in Oregon where my ex-neighbor Kaitlyn is staying with a woman named Diana. They were kind enough to let us crash on their sofa bed at 2:30 a.m. When we awoke, Kaitlyn pulled up the shades for a perfect unobstructed view of the ocean waves crashing against the beach below. Perfect. Kaitlyn and Diana, thanks for sharing.
morning view
Kaitlyn's beach
Kaitlyn, Devon and I went into the nearby town for breakfast and found a wonderful cafe that served us mimosas and yummy brunch food. Those who know me well will know how much a good brunch means to me. 
Afterwards we wandered to the beach for an encounter with a swarm of seagulls being fed bread by a local. I love the expression on Kaitlyn’s face as the gulls get into a tizzy over the bread she gave them.
Oregon town
siblings at breakfast
breakfast- eggs, toast, fruit salad, awesome potatoes with everything cooked in, coffee, mimosas....... mmmmm......
great breakfast joint
seagulls and Kaitlyn
hi Kaitlyn!
trio
witchball oceanside
We soon parted ways with Kaitlyn as Devon and I headed to Portland, Oregon to explore the city. We went to a recommended neighborhood and wandered around. We saw a hostel with a rainwater recycling system. We sensed a lot of pride about having local stores and very little corporate presence. There were plenty of coffee shops and microbrews around. It was a good feel but something also felt a little strange about it. I suppose it’s not the impression we thought we would get based on what we had heard from 2nd hand sources.
rainwater recycling at a Portland hostel
We managed to track down a friend of mine from back in the day. Morgan, who met me when I had blue hair (those who knew me then know how long ago that was) called me one day to say he had been inspired to hop in his station wagon and head West.. He ended up in Portland doing animation work, so we managed to see him just long enough to say hello. Good times.
Another friend was on the list too. Devon and I looked up someone we knew from childhood… a girl our age who we lived with once upon a time when I was maybe nine or ten. Devon was even younger. He kept in touch with her and had her phone number so we stopped by to say hello to her to. Spontaneous visits on the opposite coast… It’s like another world when there’s that much distance, even if the language and currency are the same.
The end of the night led us to Seattle, WA, where we stayed with our cousins (first cousins once removed… Ryan’s mother and stepfather). Thanks Stephen and Susan for hosting us!
