Los Angeles (Day 9): Home again!!!

So finally after nine days of driving, walking, busing, and exploring, I've made it back to my home in Los Angeles. Like always, it's nice to be home after a vacation. Anyway, I thought I would compile a reflective list of the places I went and the things I saw!

• Portland Oregon:
• Memorable experience: Rocco's Pizza in the wonderfully eclectic neighborhood of where downtown transitions into residential
• Like LA: Laid-back residents who can be extremely approachable and friendly!
• Unlike LA: You can actually see the hills surrounding the city
• Future visits?: I could see spending a solid week up here.
  
• Vancouver, British Columbia
• Memorable experience: Biking Stanley Park!!!
  
• Like LA: Bustling and crazy night-life scene that attracts a young crowd.
  
• Unlike LA: You can actually walk to places you'd like to go to.
  
• Future visits?: It'd be a great place to spend a summer doing an internship in (not that I could see myself doing an internship ever... :) )
• Seattle, Washington
• Memorable experience: Volunteer Park / Capitol Hill
  
• Like LA: It's easy to get lost in the tourist traps that lurk in major areas through this city.
  
• Unlike LA: Downtown actually meets the Puget sound, creating a beautiful city center right on the waterfront.
  
• Future visits?: Again, maybe a week sometime.
• San Francisco, California
• Memorable experience: Haight-Ashbury / Golden Gate Park
  
• Like LA: Another California city with a "California" reputation, a laid-back artistic community and a large business and professional population.
  
• Unlike LA: I can walk around in the summer without getting sweaty.
  
• Future visits?: This would be a cool place to maybe work in a hostel during some future summer. Just a random thought

Anyway, thanks for reading all these postings of my road trip. I'll continue to post for the rest of my summer (which comes to a screeching halt this Monday), and then decide whether I want to (or have time for) a personal blog and a professional blog. We'll see!

Road Trip Photos

Having basically finished my stays in Portland and Vancouver, I've now uploaded my photos to the web! You can view them as slide-shows, print them, or even download them to your hard drive. Just please don't sell them on eBay (unless you offer me at least 45% commission).

Portland Photos (click here)

Vancouver Photos (click here)

Portland (Day 2): A Bookstore for my college buddies!

I may have forgotten to mention this, but Portland is home to what is the most amazing bookstore I've ever been to in my life! Powell's Books has something like 800,000 texts which range greatly in both subject and depth! Browsing through the 9 rooms filled with shelfs, I was quickly reminded how much some of my college buddies would love this bookstore. First of all, Chris, have you ever seen entire sections in a non-university bookstore devoted to such specific topics as those above??? Wow! Second of all, Kent, I can imagine that you'd have such an amazing time exploring the "Purple Room" which is an entire room dedicated to history (click to zoom in and see the detail)!!!

Portland (Day 2): Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

For my final hurrah here in the City of Roses, another traveler named Sean (sp?)and I headed up to The Green Room, a local establishment that hosts up and coming local artists. Tuesdays are specifically dedicated to the acoustic singer/songwriters of the Portland area, and we were treated to some music that ranged from utterly predictable and unsurprising to the aesthetically magnificent and sublime. While I strongly doubt that any of you who don't live in the Pacific Northwest will ever hear these same artists which we heard tonight, it was a rather enjoyable evening.
It's hard to believe that my time in Portland has come to a close already, but that is the unfortunate reality...Anyway, tomorrow I will find myself in another country!!!

Portland (Day 2): The world's most expensive roses...

So this morning after coffee to head up to Washington Park and check out an amazing Rose Garden and Japanese Garden. I've got to say that the experience was extremely peaceful and serene, although I can't imagine bringing children there...(I know my attention span would have lasted roughly 5 minutes when I was 7 years old). Anyway, I've gone ahead and uploaded some of the pictures from the first half of today, and you can view them here!

West Coast Road Trip: Day 2 (Portland)

Is this what I think it is????? Ye, that's right. It's a solar-powered parking meter. I stumbled across this while walking the streets this morning. What's great is that you don't even need change. The meter accepts bills, as well as credit cards! Hmmmm....so this means that we won't be seeing them in L.A. for another 5 or 10 years. :)

West Coast Road Trip: Day 2 (Portland)

So one of the great things about Portland is that there are places that are extremely close that present magnificent views of the city. This photo was taken from the SW Vista bridge which overlooks the city facing east. While the view of Los Angeles from Griffith park presents the viewer with the notion that Los Angeles has essentially killed all surrounding nature, Portland stands in stark contrast and presents a great mix of the natural with the urban.

West Coast Road Trip: Day 2 (Portland)

You know it's a good thing when the coffee shop you stumble into is playing The Kinks rather than some generic garbage that one might hear at, say, Starbucks. The hostel that I'm staying in is right across the street from a wonderful little coffee shop called World Cup Coffee and Tea (no, it's not a soccer-themed sports cafe). Even better, just a block away is a quiet little park where I did some early morning reading. Couch Park is a fantastic place to simply relax, as I noticed many Portland dogs and their owners were doing. I'm already amazed at the pace of this city. Even though the neighborhood I'm staying in is about 5 times more dense than the Los Angeles neighborhood I live in, it seems about 10 times more laid back. The frenetic bustle of traffic and helicopters in Los Angeles is neatly replaced by the quiet rustle of the thousands of trees that reside here.
I've already met at least three folks staying at the hostel who are planning on moving to Portland. One of these guys actually lived in Los Angeles for several years so he and I traded some stories about what we liked and disliked about certain neighborhoods in L.A.
Anyway, I'm headed out now to a rose garden which overlooks the city, then to the waterfront park along the Wilmette River. Mas adelante...

West Coast Road Trip: Day 1 (Driving to Portland)

Total accumulated miles: 955
Today I got off to a great start to my West Coast Road Trip. I was able to wake at 5am and hit the road. I was able to make it through Sacramento by 11am, into Oregon by 3pm, and arriving in Portland around 8pm! (Only 15 hours...) Anyway, nothing interesting on the drive to note except for a stretch of Southern California highway on which I passed approximately 15 tomato trucks apparently making a huge delivery!
Anyway, 955 miles of highway makes it important to have good audio to listen to, and I used the opportunity to catch up on some of the podcasts I subscribe to: NPR's Car Talk, The Bored-Again Christian, and Mosaic.
Anyway, I've now safely arrived in Portland and am staying tonight and tomorrow at a Portland Hostel. So far, it's been cool checking out the neighborhood, meeting other travelers from places like Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Belgium! Anyway, tomorrow's schedule is pretty full, but

WCRT: T - 18 hours!!!

My bags are packed. My car has been serviced. I'm ready to go! Tomorrow at "o-dark-thirty", I head out in my amazing Honda Civic into the vastness that is the Pacific Northwest. The major stops include Portland, Vancouver (Canada), Seattle, and San Francisco. I anticipate the entire trip to take approximately 9 days, filled with exploring, relaxing and taking in the amazing beauty that lies in stark contrast to the urban jungle in which I currently live! Luckily, the longest drive is the early in the trip (the first day), which will be the fifteen hour trek from Los Angeles to Portland, OR. However, having google-mapped (which is a surpirsing new verb to enter the English language) the route, it is no longer than the drive from Central NY to Central Iowa, a journey that our family undertook on more than one occasion growing up! Anyway, there will be lots more posts in the upcoming week letting you all know what I'm up to there in the NW!