I didn't really think about it at the time I was putting these photos together (I just put this first because it was first chronologically,) but this is an ironic photo considering we left the Bay Area as well. San Francisco is emptying out because it's become an expensive, unpleasant place to live. This was something I saw walking home one evening and I thought it would make a great shot.
One of Sienna's cousins was getting married the weekend our vacation started. We stayed in a cheezy motel and went to the wedding. Here is Sienna as we wait for the bride.
We were eating at this place in Eugene. I got up to order a latte and ended up in line behind this girl who looked like she was maybe 19. Total girly-girl. Right when I got in line, she looked back and for no reason gave me a stinky face. It almost made me wonder if I stepped on her feet without knowing. Having delivered her best wilting sneer, the girl turned back around. I caught Skinner's eye, pointed at the girl's back, and started attempting to make a stinky face of the same flavor and magnitude. Sienna felt it was necessary to document this process. Here is a result.
Dilligent efforts to come up with something as disarming are in progress.
Literally the best french toast you'll ever have. As a bonus, it is vegan. One of the things we love about Portland is that it's so vegan/vegetarian friendly. Dig the decor.
One of the cool things about Portland is they have a ton of bridges over the Willamette River, which runs north/south, and splits the city in half. The bridges are of various ages.
We are still working on our stinky faces.
Seems like you can't throw a rock in Portland without hitting a coffee shop, a bookstore, a mural, or a cool old neon sign like this one. Portland has a Chinatown that is about six square blocks. It is stuck just north of the downtown area. It resembles the Chinatown in Oakland or Chicago. It probably doesn't get much press because it's pretty seedy. Too bad.
Sienna, her cousin Erin, and his dog Haley.
It's probably hard to tell from the photo, but upon meeting her it will be obvious even to the dullest observer that Haley was named after the famous comet. Haley has been gsm chipped by her owner, who has of late begun to refer to her by serial number.
Draw bridge ballast.
Newport OR
On the way back to the Bay Area, we stopped at the fabulous Sylvia Beach Hotel. It's a hotel where the rooms are all decorated using famous authors as the theme. Melville, E.B. White, Gertrude Stein, Mark Twain, and Dr. Suess are among the choices. We stayed in the Edgar Allen Poe room. Here is Sienna after having bricked up Fortunado.
To encourage reading, there are no phones or televisions in the rooms. also, the ocean side of the hotel is given over to a library where tea and coffee are available all day.
Newport OR is also home to a great vegetarian Korean restaurant.
We spent the night reading scary stories to each other.
I couldn't get enough of this place.