Vacation minus the Yeti

Unbeknownst to some readers, my recent vacation was not just a trip down to the Sasquatch Music Festival at the Gorge in Washington. Oh no. It was much more than that. It was part of my yearly reunion trip with my great friends down in the Portland area, and it was a time to kick back, see the sights and visit with all those that I miss because I never see them any more.

First up, I got in really late (12:30 am) which sucks for all of my Portland friends who had to work the next day - oh wait...that's all of them. Thankfully Erik is a trooper and picked me up, and after we chatted for a long time he decided that he was going to take the next day off and spend it with me. Booyah! We ended up staying up until four in the morning watching music DVD's and syncing Planet Earth on Blu Ray up with Panda Bear's album Person Pitch (craziest thing ever). Great start to the trip!

Myself on my dream ride with Amanda off to the side naysaying

On top of getting to hang out with Erik, long lost good friend Amanda (I hadn't seen her for two whole winters!) came over after work to get Erik and I so we could all get lunch and check out the town and catch up. It was fantastic seeing Amanda once again, as even though I nearly constantly make myself seem retarded around her and perpetually say the wrong thing at the wrong time (tact? what's that?), I still have a grand time with her. This time was even more fun, as it was a really nice day even though all three of us were pretty wiped out.

We went and had lunch at Laurelwood Public House where Amanda and I had mid day beers which were quite tasty and a very delicious lunch, and then we traveled around joking and being generally ridiculous (as you can see from above). After that, Amanda took us home as she had a long trek to Gresham to make (longer than she imagined possible -2 hours!), shortly after which Erik began preparing dinner and his fiance (and all around groovy girl) Katie came home from work.

Katie bowing to her sensei Erik

Such power! Who knew she had it in her?!

Very special thanks go out to Erik and Katie, who took care of me (their special little food baby) for two nights and gave me rides to and from the airport. Quite often I'm shocked when people can deal with me for more than five minutes, and to put me up and feed me for two straight days was above and beyond all expectations. It was so much fun seeing them and I wish I got to hang out with them always. Too bad they're damn hippies and live in Portland. Booooooo!!!!!

Afterwards, we went over to good friend Sobo's place where we met up with him, roommate and friend Todd, and Sobo's fiance Sarah. It was great seeing everyone there as well (constant reunion time - yes!), although it was less good that we went and saw the vileness that was the new Indiana Jones flick afterwards. Still, fun spending time with everyone and I simply can't wait until they all come up in July for Sobo's wedding! Hurrah!

This is how I act when I have people taking care of me for a prolonged period

The next day I spent sleeping (noon baby!) and getting more of an experience with the comprehensive mass transit system Portland (and Tri Met) offers their citizens. I've said it before on here, but I love the Max train system they have there. It's incredibly convenient and if I live there I would purposefully live near it so I could ride it always.

Back to the point though, I went and checked out downtown Portland, went to the gloriousness that is Powell's Books, and had some delicious coffee while getting sold on various non-profit organizations on every street corner. After that, I went to meet up with Todd and await Erik and Katie's arrival so we could go prepare for Sheri picking us up. It was time to begin our Sasquatch journey.

Sheri en route to her house - grinning like mad

Oh wait. No it wasn't. We were picked up near 8 pm, but in reality we didn't leave until 11:30ish. Of course, this gave Erik and I plenty of time to get acquainted with Trent and John, the other two people we were going to Sasquatch with, and plenty of time for Sheri to nearly lose her mind while making sure she didn't forget anything. She of course did, but it was no big deal. It was time for Sasquatch, and there was nothing we could forget to change that.