getaway

As you guys know I have less than a month left at school and that's why things have been a bit quiet around here and in the Sadie shop. With just a month left concentrating on my final project continues to be challenging, especially with spring showing up in Vancouver. I've decided to try to do one thing a day to keep life on track while I'm working on my project. So, yesterday I got a long awaited haircut, the day before I went to the bank, and on Wednesday I applied for a new passport. My old one expired in December and I haven't been out of the country since our trip to Portland last fall to see Kurt Vile and go to Little Winter. I've got the wanderlust!!!

If all goes as planned my new passport will be here by the time I do my final presentation and Jeff and I can head to Washington on a much anticipated mini road trip. Sometimes we'll drive down just to go to Trader Joe's (you have no idea how much cheaper groceries are in the States than here in Vancouver), but I'm wondering about a camping trip to a place we went to a few years ago. The beach in this particular state park is made of quartz stones of all colours and shapes and you can watch all of the boats from Vancouver Island heading through a small passage to Seattle. So fun. Just one little problem, of course, and that is that Lola hates camping! I have so many travel ideas right now, but they are dependent on so many other things. This photo I took in about 2004 or so I think on the greatest road trip that Jeff and I have ever embarked on: Calgary to San Francisco and back up the Pacific coast with weeks to spare. So amazing and we discovered many places that remain our favourites to this day. Oh, Oregon coast, I will see you this summer, some way, some how!!!

What is the best road trip that you've ever been on?

portland: day one

Despite being up until 4AM the night before, we managed to get ourselves to breakfast at the Tin Shed at a reasonable hour. This coffee cup was amazing, but the food was even better. Biscuits and homemade raspberry jam, grits, and so much more. This is a place you must visit when in Portland. Also, they let dogs in, so we all got to pet two black lab puppies at the same time! The black labs would be a highlight for me (I'm a bit dog-crazy) until this little guy (big, actually, for a pug) showed up. Two pugs, actually! Saturday was the day of double dogs.

We walked around Alberta Street quite a bit, checking out my favourite art supply store, Collage, and then discovered what would become Ryan's most favourite Portland place: Ray's Rib Joint (good photo opportunities, you see).

Afterwards we went to Little Winter (great! I'll share some photos of my treasures soon), Powell's, and ate hot dogs. Our real dinner at Farm a few hours later was to die for. Toasted Oregon hazelnuts with brown sugar and tabasco as a starter...need I say more? Finally, Kurt Vile ruled and Voodoo Doughnuts sent us to bed with a sugar high (and, yes, Ryan did try the maple bacon doughnut). So good! I would never, ever accomplish this much in one day at home. I love how vacations can be super busy but you don't have to feel rushed or stressed because you really have no where in particular to be. And Portland is as good a place as any to visit, there is so much to do, way too much to eat, and really friendly locals. I've still got more pics to share from our last day there where we checked out a neighbourhood we hadn't been to before. Stay tuned.

portland: night one

amazing peace arch sculpture?

I haven't had a chance to go through many of my photos from our Portland trip yet, but I thought I'd share these few from our drive down and first night there. What a great first night we had! A bit of a traffic-filled drive before we were able to check in at the Jupiter Hotel, have a drink at a bar on the top floor of a cool building on Burnside, late-night waffles in a parking lot (while listening to Fugazi), and finally an ultra-late-night hang out in Ryan and Amanda's hotel room. Oh hai, Portland! More photos soon!

portland

ira keller fountain & the portlandia,
together at last thanks to the magic of holga

Next month Jeff and I are heading to Portland for a weekend of food, fun, frolic, Kurt Vile, and Little Winter Market! I've been to Portland a bunch of times and I absolutely never ever get sick of it. I always think of it as a miniature NYC, without the millions of people. Culturally there is so much happening, the shopping is great (and oriented towards local designers and small-scale production), the food is incredible (and also local, organic, vegan...), and, of course, Powell's City of Books is there (what other reason do you need to visit Portland?). This time around I'm really looking forward to going to Little Winter. I've been following the vendor profiles over at frolic and it looks like it is going to be a really beautiful collection of talented artists and designers showcasing their wares. As a student of landscape architecture, Portland is also a place that we often study for its precedent-setting management of Pacific Northwest rainy weather (and subsequent stormwater run-off), bicycle-friendly planning, and livable/walkable city centre design (that'd be "center" in Portland, of course). In my excitement I've prepared a little taste of the things I like to do while in Portland. Check out the links below and let me know where you like to go when in Portland. There are way more amazing places than I've included on this list, perhaps I'll drop a few more as the date of our mini vacation approaches.

eat: blossoming lotus pdx

craft: collage

stay: the jupiter hotel

watch: the kennedy school movie theatre
shop: tender loving empire

lomo monday

taken with a holga: astoria, oregon may 2009

Plastic cameras take the best photos.