Photo Troubles...

We've been having some trouble uploading photos to Flickr, not because of their network, but because our wireless in the hotel is acting a bit tricky. Keep checking back as we have a LOT of photos to upload from yesterday, and even more that we're taking today.

BC & SF

Finding Nob Hill

Portland is really one of those cities where you can just relax and enjoy the atmosphere around you...yes, even if it is raining. We didn't have much of a plan today, or tomorrow for that matter, but we knew we wanted to hit a few of the neighborhoods on the west side of the city at least one of those days. We had picked up some maps and a few brochures the night before while we were out to dinner, so we had an idea of where we wanted to go, but nothing was set in stone.

This turned out to be one of the best decisions, as our first full day in Portland really ended up as one of the best days we've had out here so far. After grabbing breakfast at a small corner diner up the block from our hotel, we got into the car and headed west about a mile into the Nob Hill neighborhood. It was sunny at this point, and relatively clear, but there was a chill in the air so before leaving, we both went back up to the room to grab our coats. About a mile later, the scenery of the city changed from downtown warehouse and loft living into ornate cottages and colorful homes, inspired by anything from deep southern plantations to English Tudor, or even a mix of both. The greenery in the Nob Hill neighborhood was completely outstanding, creating an emerald canopy over the streets, with painted magnolias and cherry blossoms mixed in for variety.

We parked the car and walked around for a few hours, exploring the small shops and novelty stores speckled throughout the streets, one of our favorites being named 3 Monkeys, which was the one place we actually purchased a few things from that day. We explored the clothing stores and walked through a few of the bars, then headed into the residential streets to view many of the homes and outlying parts of the neighborhood. At one point to avoid the drizzle that started, we ducked into a small independent coffee shop (not a Starbucks) and waited out the short burst of showers. Steph got an iced coffee and I settled for my Chai Tea, and we sat by the window, watching the rain pass through town, within minutes, it was bright and sunny again, and we were on our way.

After a while, we got back into the car and drove up to the million dollar homes on what's called King's Heights. These places range from anywhere between $600,000 and 5 million, depending on how high you are on the hill, your view, and of course, the size of the home. Surprisingly, a lot really weren't all that big, but they're perched right on the edge of a steep pitch, propped up by stilts driven deep into the side of the slope. The views are spectacular, offering a full panorama of downtown Portland and the Cascade mountains beyond. The higher you get, the more elaborate the homes become. Some of them even look straight down into Washington Park, which ended up being our next stop.

Washington Park is a huge suburban park containing the zoo and a few of the world's most renowned gardens. The Rose Garden, although highly rated would've been great had the roses been in bloom. We had talked about visiting the Japanese Garden earlier in the trip, but until now, hadn't really cemented the idea. We parked the car on the edge of the Washington Park Train Station, an old-fashioned steam locomotive that circled the entire park and through the Oregon Zoo, and took a short walk up a neatly kept hill path lined with bamboo and twine, arriving a few moments later at the Japanese Gardens. It had started to rain by now, but not the rain that we would know in Ohio where the drops are heavy and you're soaked within seconds. This rain was a light drizzle, almost a mist, and continued off and on throughout the rest of the day. We didn't let it bother us though, and surprisingly it didn't hinder our day, allowing us to start to understand the mentality of everyone out here.

Our walk through the Gardens was nothing short of relaxing and peaceful. We couldn't get enough pictures of our surroundings, and took about an hour and a half to walk through what was probably an area the square-footage of a football field. There were bridges, waterfalls and ponds, small tea rooms and pavilions, and scattered meditative huts that honestly persuade you to forget that you're not actually in Japan. This garden is the most accurate Japanese Garden in the world, outside of Japan itself, further proving how much the people in the in this area of the country regard their outdoors.

Upon leaving the Gardens, we decided to head back into Nob Hill and eat a small corner pub called McMenamins' Rams Head, which may sound familiar as it's associated with the McMenamins pub that we had met Jon at up in Seattle. It was a cozy little place, a perfect fit for the weather. Steph got an amazing mozzarella sandwich and I ordered a stuffed burger. Our waitress was really nice and we had a good laugh with her when one of the obvious patrons came over to our table while she was taking our order and announced that she's getting married in a few weeks, then proceeded to ask us if we knew where the wedding was being held. She turned to him and told him that for the last time, she's not giving him an invite as she's worried he'd throw cheese at her or something. He laughed and kind of agreed, then sort of staggered away back to his stool. You kind of had to be there, but it was actually really funny and the three of us laughed about it for the next few minutes while she continued to try and take our order.

The night again was fairly relaxing as we decided to retire early and watch some TV. I fell asleep reading and Steph caught her American Idol and before we knew it, the day had ended. We'll probably do much of the same the next day, only exploring different parts of town. Again there's no set agenda, which seems to be the way to go here in Portland, and we're enjoying every second of it.

Arriving in Portland

We had a pretty decent start in the morning, both of us waking up by 8:30 and getting our stuff all packed and ready to go in order to be out of the room by 10:00 am. We checked out, jumped into the car and started driving south towards Portland. Almost immediately we recognized the timing as a good decision seeing that Seattle's incoming traffic was completely gridlocked. For those that aren't familiar of the layout, unlike Cleveland, or even Cincinnati for that matter, Seattle basically has one freeway artery into downtown, and one out; I-5. Traffic can be a nightmare, especially when everyone and their brother is trying to commute into downtown for work. We breezed out of downtown with hardly an issue and continued our trek south through Tacoma.

It was a really pleasant drive, almost lasting 3 hours, but it really didn't feel like it. The only downer was that we weren't able to see Mount Rainier in the distance due to some low-hanging clouds immediately about the mountain (the rest of the sky was mostly spotted or clear), but we both know that we'll be heading that way towards the end of the week, so we weren't too bummed about it.

We got into Portland at about 1:00 or so and immediately got ourselves checked into the hotel. Driving down, we were both exhausted, so we knew our first day in town was going to be somewhat of a leisurely one. For a momemt I thought the experience was going to be interesting as the deadbolt to our door literally fell apart as I turned the key, but within a few minutes we had a maintenance worker come up and fix it to good as new for us. On that cue, Steph laid down for a nap and I took care of the Parking.

Before I walked up to the room from the parking lot, I took a quick stroll around the neighborhood, locally referred to as the Pearl District, immediately noticing a distinct difference between Portland and Seattle. Portland is a really cool city. It's great for people watching and it sports this vibe that I've never quite seen before. I mean, it is a city. There's a fairly established downtown, and there are a few skyscrapers dotting the skyline...but, I don't know what it is. It's almost as if it has a small town feel to it, though I'm not sure why. Steph pointed out later in the day that it seemed as if everything was really close to the street, so maybe that's it. Regardless, it's very charming and it's easy to feel at home here.

Exhausted as well, I came back up to the room and relaxed for a bit, reading some of the books I picked up in Queen Anne and catching a few minutes of sleep before dinner. At about 5:30 or so, we left the room and did some exploring of the neighborhood together, eventually finding a neat little noodle place to eat that reminded me all too much of Tea House Noodles in Cleveland. It had a largely health-driven menu, which was a nice source of protein to help us recover a bit from being so worn out.

After dinner we walked around a bit to some of the stores, but most had started to close around 7 since it was after all a weekday. We made it a point to check out more of them tomorrow and got back to our room around 7:30 or so to chill out at the hotel for the rest of the night. This may sound like a waste of time to some, especially considering that we're only here for a few short days, but in all honestly, the Ace Hotel in Portland is kind of like this little hipster hangout. People come here during the day to get away from work and just chill downstairs in the lobby with their friends or just to get a change of environment, and at night there are people in and out of the main entrance, taking advantage of the books downstairs or just to recover for a bit between bar hops. It ended up turning into a really nice, relaxing evening. Tomorrow however, we have a few more aggressive plans. Considering it's supposed to rain most of the day, we may be doing quite a bit of driving as opposed to walking, but I think we'll have to play it by ear. Portland has a lot to offer, so much in fact that regardless of what we end up doing, it'll be hard not to take advantage of it.

The Six Arms

I haven't seen Jon Agnone in over six years...before that, it was probably another five. That's a long time not to see someone that you practically grew up with, and it was a good reunion.

Jon and his sister Jen grew up right across the street from me back in Youngstown. We always got in a lot of trouble together, but it was always innocent kid stuff, most of which if I remember correctly, I mainly instigated. We had a great time growing up, but after high school each of us went their separate ways, occasionally catching up with each other through myspace or a random run-in back at home.

I think Jon's been out here for about six and half years, and the last time we had seen each other back at home, I believe he mentioned that he just moved out for school. That's stuck in my mind and before heading out this way, I sent him a line telling him that we'd be in town and it'd be great to meet out. Fast forward to last night, only a few blocks from our hotel, we meet out at McMenamins' Six Arms bar, a cool little microbrew joint that has outlets all over Seattle and Portland, one of which we had already planned on stopping at in Portland without even knowing that they're related.

We spent the majority of the night catching up on old times and filling each other in on what's been going on for the past decade with our families, careers and what-not, throwing back a few drinks (the only other guy I've met that voluntarily drinks a Rusty Nail), and detailing the rest of our trip with a few suggestions as to what to do when we head down to Portland and back the following day.

Honestly we could've talked longer, but the bar closed up and announced last call. A few minutes later we said our good-byes and once again headed our separate ways, Jon back home and us to our hotel, with the promise to give one another a call when we get back into town. Once again, just a really cool thing when you see someone for the first time in years, and it doesn't feel like much time has passed at all. The one thing we didn't do was trade old stories about the neighborhood, but we'll have to save that for another time, when the bar is open later and the shelves are stocked with an adequate amount of Drambuie and single-malt Scotch.

Where's the Beef?

All Steph wanted was a hamburger. Which usually isn't that hard to find, but man...we just weren't getting lucky at all on that front. There was Thai food, sushi, more italian and coffee. Those were our choices, so we bounced around a bit until we finally came across some old-fashioned pub-fare up in Queen Anne in the form of a bar called Hilltop Ale House. We tried one place beforehand called How to Cook A Wolf (thankfully Wolf is NOT listed as a menu item), but there were literally five choices for entrees and although the restaurant was ranked as one of the top ten in the city, we already had Italian the night before, so we grabbed a glass of wine, took in the Hobbit-hole like atmosphere, and decided to head elsewhere.

So after leaving Hungry Like the Wolf we ended up at the Hilltop, which was a neat little microbrew pub right on the main strip in Queen Anne. We looked around at a few other places, but this seemed the most appealing. The menu was pretty straightforward...I got the Steak Sandwich and a cup of Italian Sausage Stew, while Steph got her hamburger with chips on the side. They had a really great selection of beer, of which I only had one, a Porter called Scuttlebutt, which I'd be more than happy to try again. It ended up being a good choice for dinner and we had to laugh about how appropriate it was (due to an intense fear of all things 'wolf') for Steph not to like the menu of Peter and the Wolf, or whatever the hell it was called. It was a perfect end to what really turned out to be a very relaxing day around town.

Exploring Seattle

Sunday was a good day. Our morning was pretty relaxed. While waiting for Steph to get ready, I went down to the gym and put in about three miles on the treadmill and got in a quick workout following the jog. After a quick shower and change, we got some of our stuff together and headed down the street for breakfast. We wandered around a bit, just trying to find a place that served something other than danishes and coffee, and eventually ended up making our way down towards the market again, where we found a quaint little bistro called Bocca tucked into the side of the hill on Stewart. They specialize in these amazing juices...completely worth the wait to get in, which actually wasn't all that bad.

After breakfast we picked up the car and headed north into a few of Seattle's neighborhoods. Our first stop was Queen Anne. We didn't really have an agenda, so we drove up the hill and made our first stop at Kerry Park, a small overlook suggested by my buddy Glen. After checking out the skyline for a few minutes, we decided to drive around and explore. This brought us to Queen Avenue books, a cozy little bookstore nestled behind a small cafe on the main strip. I picked up a book about weird washington facts and a best-seller called 'Merle's Door,' a story about a man and his dog, which after reading a page or two of, I felt all too familiar with.

Instead of going back to the car, we took a stroll around the neighborhood just west of the strip, which ended up turning into this amazing walk. We were both so impressed with the houses, all of which were a bungalow/arts and crafts style, that were so detailed and well-taken care of, that it almost reminded us of something out of a storybook. The yards were immaculate and detailed with ornate landscaping, and the homes themselves couldn't have a more perfect coat of paint on them. It was a very comfortable place to be.

Soon after, we jumped back in the car and headed down the hill towards Fremont, which is widely known as the funky district, appealing to thrift store shoppers and those with eclectic tastes. Almost right away, we loved it. While Queen Anne was quaint and prestine, Fremont had a vibe to it that reminded us of Lakewood in Cleveland. There were tiny little vintage shops everywhere and the place was littered with a huge variety of restaurants. We parked the car at the bottom of the hill and almost right away came across a small street fair, with dozens of vendors set up along the sidewalks up and down the entire street. We decided to stay there for a little while and browse the tents, and ended chatting it up with a few of the local artists. One guy was selling hand-crafted leather wallets from Argentina, while another had a display of wood-carved earrings. Just before we moved on into the neighborhood, Steph found a table of homemade scented candles and picked a few of those up on our way out.

Like I had mentioned before, Fremont has sort of a "wacky" reputation, which means it has some out-of-the-box public art. Like Waiting for the Interurban for starters, a simple piece that displays a group of people waiting for the bus. The odd thing here is that the dog's face is actually the mayor's face from when it was erected there, mainly due to a legendary dispute between the artist and the mayor of Fremont himself.

Next was the Fremont Troll. Now, I don't think anyone knows exactly how this got here, or what inspired it, but wow...is it cool. It's hysterical, you walk up the hill under the bridge and this is what you see, a huge troll coming out of the ground, crushing a Volkswagon Bug of all things. ..I know, right? And the Bug is real, not made out of cement like the rest of the sculpture, which made me wonder what's actually inside of it. You almost can't help but clamber all over it...just watch out for the bums that make their home behind it (some little Rasputin-looking fellow with a staring problem was standing directly behind me during this photo). Very wierd, but very fun.

A Night on Capitol Hill

There are a lot of things that Steph and I are comfortable with in Cleveland. We enjoy a nice Italian meal in Tremont and we're frequenters of the Garage Bar in Ohio City. It's just what we do when we're there, so this was a really nice night to experience something so close to what we're used to.

After looking through Seattle Weekly, a free magazine similar to Cleveland's Scene, we decided to head up to Capitol Hill and have dinner at Ristorante Machiavelli's, a cozy little neighborhood restaurant, tucked into the top of Pine Street, overlooking the Paramount Theatre. The restaurant itself had a very strong NYC vibe to it, but it also reminded me of a few of the restaurants we've frequented at home. We started off with wine, then Stephanie ordered the Penne Bolognese while I got the Linguine alla Vongole, smothered in garlic and topped with a white wine sauce. It was fantastic, and worth the garlic breath that no mint can cover up effectively.

After dinner we decided to explore the area a bit. We were supposed to meet my buddy Jon, an old neighborhood friend from Youngstown, out around the Hill but he said Sunday would be better for him, so we were on our own. We walked up Pine Street for about 6 blocks or so and passed a bunch of eclectic and vintage stores that we made a point to try and come back to next week when they're open. We passed a few bars that seemed fun, but decided to head over to Pike where Jon had suggested to go originally. There we found Moe Bar.

Like I said, we're frequenters of the Garage Bar in Cleveland and I think this is as close as you can get without it actually being the Garage Bar. The crowd was EXACTLY the same...sort of hipster, yet punk, with some yuppie mixed in simply for the sake of variety. While the Garage has a bit of a biker theme/retro-50's gas pump feel to it, Moe Bar had a slightly more Gothic edge to it, with some old-fashioned wallpaper choices that you tend to see in those really freaky antique family portraits where no one is smiling and Joe Shotgun looks like he's about to go Manson on his entire family. Anyway, we got a few drinks, and hung around the bar a bit. Steph almost got hit on by the Green Lantern (I wish we got a picture of this guy), which was entertaining to say in the least. After awhile of mingling around and meeting some really cool people, we decided to jet, took a cab back to the hotel and called it a night. I would love to go back there again, but next week is Cinco de Mayo and we're staying in Belltown, which should be an experience in itself. We'll have to hit Capitol Hill next time we're in town.

I Want to High-Five an Otter

After spending some time in the market and exploring some of the lower levels (there are three levels below the main market full of small nick-nack stores and businesses), we headed down the bluff to the piers to get a good look at Puget Sound. We ended up exploring some of the oddities shops down here and stopped to eat lunch at a small fish n' chips place which had the best beer-battered cod I've ever tasted in my life. We then walked out to the end of one of the piers to get a better view of the mountains, which you can kind of see in the photo to the left. They really are spectacular and it's hard to imagine that they're as far away as they are. There were a ton of touristy cruises leaving the pier while we were there, and although it would've been kind of cool to jump on one, we plan on taking the Bainbridge Ferry when we get back into town on Thursday, so we opted for the Aquarium instead.

The Aquarium was a good choice to spend the next hour or so, because although we didn't go out into the Sound yet, this place gives you a really unique view of what life is specifically like out there below the surface. There's a hands-on exhibit that we really enjoyed where we got to handle different kinds of starfish and sea cucumbers, and some of the glass displays were completely immersive in how you felt like you were right underwater with them. My favorites were the sea mammal displays that contained sea lions, river otters and the like, all of which possessed a playful demeanor I couldn't help but love. It's like you just want to hang out with them and give them high fives.

Pike Place Market = West Side Market on Crack

Honestly, you could spend the entire day down at Pike Place Market, and we practically did. Neither one of us had ever been there, so on the way down (it's about a 6-block walk from our hotel) we were talking about how similar it had to be to the West Side Market in Cleveland, with its small food stands and competitive prices, a place where you can pick up a shark steak and some exotic fruit within 15 feet of one another. And it was...sort of, but it had so much more. When we first walked in, we were enamored with flowers; tulips, roses, strange hybrids that were fantastic in color, but we also immediately noticed the array of wares vendors surrounding us. All up and down the corridor, the vendors and artists were displaying anything from personal photography, to leather wrist bands, to woodworking and candle sculptures. Honestly, you can wander through there for an entire morning and find the most unique things, all of which have their own story. It was a really cool way to experience the people here.



Upon visiting a few of the vendors that we told ourselves we'd return to after exploring the piers below the market, we ran into the very first Starbucks. I know...there's a running theme here, but honestly I can't tell you how many of these places there are around here. It really is a phenomenon. For the Cleveland people, you know how you walk around down and there are the magazine booths with Scene Magazine and the Free Times on practically every corner? That's how it is here, only with Starbucks. It's almost to the point of being ridiculous, but it's all part of the culture.

We wandered around a bit more and Steph got a chance to get a "Free Hug" from a group of people literally handing out free hugs, just another cool look into the attitude out here. All over the market exists a large hippy and american indian influence. The array of people here are so different from what we're used to, but it was amazingly genuine, especially the street musicians (one guy rolled an upright piano down there and played all afternoon). We could both spend every weekend at the market, sorting through the various wares or just people watching if for nothing else. We want to make it a point to go again next Saturday when we're back in town. Maybe Steph'll get another free hug if she's lucky.

The End of the Universe...

Lewis Black had it right. Once at the laugh stop in Austin, he walked down the street to grab a cup in the local Starbucks. Upon exiting, he looked across the street and saw...yup, another Starbucks: The End of the Universe, which can only occur when all forms of sense loses complete reason. For years I thought this was only a comedy bit. Then, low and behold...

I swear to God, they're not more than 300 feet from one another. Great Lakes should gather a few pointers from their marketing strategy.

1st Night in Seattle

So we got here pretty flawlessly and right now I'm sitting in a Starbucks (imagine that) down the street from our hotel. There was actually one right next door, but it seemed to only be open on weekdays, so i walked another few blocks and boom...another Starbucks.

Surprisingly, there weren't any huge hitches in getting here yesterday. After work, my buddy Mark drove us to the airport and we got everything checked in fine. A few minutes later we headed to get in line for security when we literally ran right into Pete Cordon, one of my best friends from high school that I've pretty much known since birth. We had no idea that the other was traveling that day (he and his girlfriend were heading to Vegas and Phoenix for the next week or so), so after getting over the surprise, we had a few drinks and dinner at Max n' Erma's in the airport, then headed to our separate gates. It was a hilarious coincidence.

The five hour flight was pretty tame, nothing exciting save for our bird's eye view of some spectacular thunderstorms over the Dakotas...Steph was fascinated by the sight. She watched the in-flight movie as I worked on my Mac and before long we were on the ground in Seattle. After getting our bag we got hooked up with this little Chevy Cobalt, a car eerily reminiscent of Steph's, and drove into downtown Seattle. On the way I found out my TomTom is acting up...not sure why, but I plan on finding out today. When you get the "big red X" flashing on the screen, you know something's up. No worries, we have Steph's Garmin, so we got here fine.

Simply put, our hotel rocks. Literally. We're staying at the Hotel Max on Stewart St, right in the middle of downtown, and this place is just freakin' cool. The room is a little small, but we'll hardly be there, so it's not a big deal. For what we're paying and where we're at...we got a heck of a deal. Our door has a huge image of Cortney Love on it, conveniently right next to the room with Kurt Cobain, and the window down the hall has an eye chart etched into the glass. The colors are all heavy greys, oranges, and black. From a designer's standpoint, I love it. I would suggest anyone coming into town stay here at least one night, if for nothing else than the experience. Parking is a little steep, but then again, we have in and out privileges and we ARE in the middle of downtown, so it's to be expected.

Not sure what we're doing today, we'll probably hit the Market and explore downtown a bit. I'll be sure to post something up here either tonight or tomorrow morning for everyone to see, complete with photos and possibly some video. Till then.

The Night Before...

Packing most of the night after work. Steph got home around 6 with a brand new haircut which she'll be sporting shortly here. I of course got distracted with shiny things around the house and the first new episode of "Lost" since early March. We caught up on Laundry yet I still can't find my bathing suit. Had to find some time in there to mess around with Kino too...gotta say, even with the hat the little guy is a damn good sport. The only things left to pack are toiletries and my backpack, which will contain the computer, camera, various cords, our GPS systems, books, journals, etc.

Off to bed now, but will probably start posting again Saturday morning. It's direct flight there, so hopefully we won't run into too much hassle. Famous last words...