Portland: Runaway Capital

She had blonde hair, dyed, I think. A black shirt, and black cargo pants. She looked like she used to be pretty muscular, back before the food must've run a bit sparse. She might've played softball. She might've been a catcher. In fact, she might be playing high school ball right now if things had been a little different. But those days were long gone, for sure. She didn't look up at me from the side walk. Her sign said it all: "I make you feel better about yourself." There was a hat for putting money in titled "Space Hat." And there she was, offering her bit of pleasure in the form of self-righteousness--and all from the sidewalk.

And so I walked past, wishing I had the ability to sit down and chat with her about the anger that comes with being ignored all day. Down the street a different girl sitting on the sidewalk laughed at another man's joke, confiding in him that she "was so drunk." The homeless in Portland are only different because of their age. They're also much more interesting because of their age, I think.

Portland is an interesting city. It's very biker friendly, as in bikers have a lot of rights--and by rights I mean lanes. Bike lanes are everywhere. Cars are used to sharing the road with bikes. People also get very upset at bikers when they break the traffic laws--like when people get upset with other drivers when they break traffic laws. So unless you've come from the east where you can get away with doing whatever you want on a bike because no one really knows the traffic laws for bicycles--unless you're Andy--you'll be fine.

After a few traffic laws were violated. After a few people yelled profanities. After Matt finally broke down laughing and made a few smart comments to an affluent white couple. After Andy almost got hit. The trio got separated and frustrated trying to catch the train to meet the family they were staying with.

(A small tangent: Portland has a "Free Zone" for the train. If you get on the train in the downtown area you can ride for free. If you board it outside the proper downtown area you have to pay a certain amount depending on where you're boarding it from. Cities out east should give this a try.)

Nevertheless we met the family and had an amazing weekend hanging out with the parents and three of their boys (who were our age; they also had an older son who kindly texted his family a picture of him an michael Jordan--he's working at one of his camps).

Matt and the oldest son that was home got a long really well and spent the weekend hanging out in Portland and watching television.

Andy and Morgan spent time hanging out with the son that was their age as well as spending some time with one of Morgan's distant relatives. Overall it was a great weekend--one couldn't have asked for a more restful or fun weekend before we complete our goal in the next week.

Don't worry, I'll keep filling you in about what happened in Pullman and the last week. Cheers for now.