Our sorta-annual 4th of July trip to Portland was a great one. Faz put up with us for 10 days and we did a month’s worth of stuff in that time, and drank about two month’s worth. Here’s most of what we did…
- Got up and went to Lorn and Dottie’s for potato pancakes
- Went to Extracto for coffee.
- Started working our way to the beach, stopping in McMinnville to check out Ehren McGhehey’s new shop called Valley.
- Worked our way to Pacific City to Ehren’s new house
- Did a bunch of house stuff and then hit the beach
- Jumped in the water for some not-so-great surf, but it was still fun
- Spent a lot of time wrestling Ehren and Danielle’s dog Whiskey (video)
- Watched Faz improvise on the ukelele (video)
- Got drunk
- Headed back to the beach for a late-night to climb up the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean. These are the no-joke fireworks people were setting off.
- Got some vague, tight-lipped hints from Ehren of what’s coming up in Jackass 2 while Faz freaked out about potentially falling off this cliff. Can’t wait.
- Got up and tried to make a big big fridge fit into a small space.
- Went to breakfast with the clan where Ehren
and Faz (video) stepped into the ring with a good debate. All time. - Headed back to Portland
- Went to one of our favorite PDX places, Doug Fir to eat and then see Rogue Wave. The show and the atmosphere were surrealistically good..
- Finally got a little sleep
- Went to work with Faz to see the Holden office
- Walked all over downtown Portland
- Worked our way over to the Foster’s for a cookout
- Watched a big lightning storm
- Back to Doug Fir to see Band of Horses and a lengthy late night dinner
- Went to buy fireworks, had to go up to Vancouver (or the ‘Couve as they say) WA to get the good stuff.
- Ate lunch at Muchas Gracias.¡Muy bueno!
- Got our cookout on, lots of people coming by: Vin, Coulter and Goobkin, the Reeds, LG & Ara, Kara.
- Game on, time to blow shit up. $200 of fireworks. No casualties, except for a close call with a bottle rocket skimming my cheek and missing my eye by about half an inch. (More / slideshow)
- Walked around Hawethorne
- Rented a car
- Went to see Vin and the new Instrument global headquarters
- Stopped by Kegler and Eric Peet’s space
- Hit up Burgerville just because
- Went over to Cal’s Pharmacy and Dept. Pharmacy is under long-term construction.
- Hooked up with Ehren and Danielle and played pool at Bar of the Gods while we waited for our table for pizza
- Got pizza, Faz and Ehren resumed the dispute (video), round 2.
- Stopped by a kickass birthday party and watched a kickass rockabilly band, Dead Man’s Hand.
- Drank more at a different bar. Again.
- Hit the adidas employee store for some shoes. I got my first pair of running
shoes ever that require a manual, CD-rom, and crazy over-packaging. - Mio sushi for lunch, best sushi ever.
- Stopped by Holden again
- First Thursday was going on and we went to a party at the adidas Originals store, where Tara won a raffle for a free track jacket and a pair of shoes for me. As if we hadn’t just bought enough stuff with three stripes on it. Booyah.
- Muu-Muu’s for dinner
- The Alibi for cocktails. Karaoke night. I’ve had more alcohol this week than I usually drink in 3 months. This is still the greatest bar ever built.
- Went out to Beaverton for the Paper Zone
- Right back to Portland to check out Bonfire’s super so nice new space. Had Phil prepare me an espresso because he likes, and needs, to serve me.
- Went to see Pirates of the Caribbean in Lloyd Center. Not so rad.
- Went over to Esparza’s for dinner
- Went to Collosal for more drinks
- Got up and went to breakfast at Violet with Shawn and Faz
- Made the rounds of every vintage store in Portland and could have left with a lot of new furniture
- Hooked up with Melanie at Kennedy School for our final meal before heading to the airport, ended up right next to Kegler.
- Flew home on the red eye. Painful.
- Got home, napped for 2 hours, picked up my dad and went to a Phillies game for his delayed Father’s Day gift.
- Done.