Day Seven: Little Shar Goes to the Game!

The morning of Day Seven broke lazily upon us in our free-upgrade-mini-suite-more-like-mini-sweet. We returned the favor. Lazily we enjoyed the delicious hot shower, our first since leaving Robyn's apartment. Lazily we munched a real breakfast at the hotel's diner. Not as lazily for me, I suppose, since I have decided to do as the Romans do and get caffeinated while we're in the Pacific Northwest. We packed up the car (we're taking votes on what her name should be, by the way) and barely made the check-out time at noon. Just a three hour drive to Seattle, so we could afford to be lazy. And, since Portland's paradise was our first real bed since our first night on the road, I think we rather needed it.


Before we left Portland, we stopped at The Grotto, an absolutely amazing Catholic shrine carved into the woods and stone. It was gorgeous. The surprising sun that had greeted us when we awoke this morning had melted back into the gray, wet afternoon, trapping the sacred place in a heavy stillness unbroken by the few dozen tourists and pilgrims who dotted its 62 acres. My feelings about religious sites tend to be complicated and clouded with different parts of my brain trying to talk at once. So I'm not sure I know what to say of The Grotto. I will say it is beautiful and save the rest for when you and I have a conversation.


As I guess will be the way of this road trip, we careened from the meditative quiet of The Grotto to interstate traffic. The sky dripped wetness on us throughout the drive, threatening to drown out Matt Dillon as he read Kerouac to us. But, just as we entered the metropolitan area, the skies cleared and we saw Seattle. We'll see more of the city tomorrow (our last multiple-night stay until we get to Providence). Today, we rushed to check in to our hotel (more on this tomorrow as well) and then hopped on a bus to the Sonics game at KeyArena.

Wow. I have to say that my very first NBA game was a rousing success. My recent months have been full of high school and college basketball, but I've never really followed the pros and haven't cared about a game since Shaq left the Lakers. Add to that the fact that Mike prepared me for a blow-out game, with Seattle losing in a high-scoring fist-fight against Denver, and you can see why I was a little wary. By the end of the first period, though, you can bet I cared who won. Mike's writing about it right now for LBPostSports, so you can read more about it there. Lemme just say two words to sum up the greatness of this game: double overtime. Let me add two more: Suuuuuuuuuuuuuper Sonics!!



I don't want to close out today's blarg without calling your attention to a very important issue. Pacific Northwest people are creepy. They're creepy, and they're pale, and they move silently through their gray cities like horrible mist monsters. Also, they seem to think I'm someone they know. I had three separate people "recognize" me today, and you can bet I didn't like that. Beware!

Today we listened to: more of On the Road, MTV Unplugged in New York (Nirvana), and 58 minutes of basketball stadium songs (most of which involved clapping and shouting).

Mystery words for today: "Basketball fouls: a cost-benefit analysis"

Check out Mike's blog: astoriedyear.blogspot.com

Day Six: I wish they all could be California towns...

Waking up on Day Six was amazing. I left Mike snoozing and, our tiny cabin now cozy due to the whirrings of a hearty little heater left on all night, pulled on a sweatshirt and stole outside. The redwoods were quiet. Humid from a night of fog and thick with morning dew, there wasn't even a car on the nearby freeway to disturb the morning. Beautiful. And soon we were in the car, winding our way toward the interstate, the border, and Portland.


Ah, Portland! Our love and gratitude for you overflow and pour out onto your rain-wet streets! The So Cal expatriate KOA owner (who, Mike reminds us, was not so much friendly as Extremely Helpful in a Kathy Bates sort of way) had disparaged it so. But what a city! We checked in to our fantastically comfortable hotel, hopped on the MAX light rail and rode into town.

First stop: Powell's City of Books. Can anything be better than this place? Empirical evidence says no, but I guess we'll have to wait till we see what Bozeman has to offer. The biggest independent used & new bookstore in the world, it's exactly as awesome as it should be. We rushed through, knowing that if we spent too much time we'd spend our road trip money and beyond, quite literally all in one place. We managed to escape with only a $35 bill, spent wisely on absolute essentials. I promise.


Next stop: Pastini Pastaria. After wandering about the city a bit, we stopped in for our first purchased meal since In-n-Out in SF. Delicious, quick, and utterly affordable, we filled up on good food, tasty drinks, and homemade spumoni for only twenty-five buck. It was in a close race with last night's cup-o-noodle feast, but Pastini definitely won a gold medal tonight. Congrats!

And, for the big finish: Too Much Coffee Man Opera: the refill!!!!!!!!!!!!! A little background: I discovered jazz pianist/vocalist Bob Dorough and Shannon Wheeler's comic Too Much Coffee Man at the same time, due to the album Too Much Coffee Man recorded by the singer, featuring the theme song to a proposed TV show. When I tripped across my first TMCM comic in Ashland, OR more than 5 years ago, I instantly recognized it as something truly great. And when I met Shannon Wheeler a few years ago at Comic-Con, he told me that another musical awesomeness was in the works. I have been positively jittery ever since. And suddenly, there we were, far away from home, in the super-swank Portland Center for the Performing Arts, old volunteer ladies peddling comics in the lobby and young indie folks lining up for coffee from the convenient stand outside the door.
And then the lights dimmed and the music started. And it was magnificent. Absolutely perfect. Baritone Stacy Murdock threw all of his considerable talent behind the ridiculousness of the man in the red spandex and the giant coffee cup on his head. I can't thank him enough. We had a great time, and I feel as though I can cross something off my Bucket List.

Yes, I just made that reference.


Ah, Portland! Be but a smidge more sunny and you would be perfect! As Mike says: "I don't want to go to sleep, because then I'll wake up and we'll have to leave." Just a head's up, Seattle. The pressure's on!

Today we listened to: Great Big Sea Live: (Great Big Sea), On the Road, "Convenience Stores" by Buddy Wakefield, an accordion player at the rail station, and, of course, an aria extolling the virtues of a certain caffeinated beverage (while drinking that beverage).


Mystery words: "Pee and poop in the hole"

Read Mike's take on things: astoriedyear.blogspot.com

Day Five: "These are nice trees."--Mike

We got up early this morning Day Five, had some birthday festivities for our roomie, and got on the road a little later than we would have liked. About an hour and a half out of San Francisco, we made a quick stop at California Carnivores, one of my very favorite places ever. On the grounds of a winery, it's a greenhouse in Sebastopol filled with carnivorous plants. We're talking Nepenthes hanging from every rafter, bogs full of sundews in every corner, and every flytrap and trumpet pitcher in between. I adore these beautiful and strange plants, and it was beyond great to be able to show Mike around the place a bit. You can be my witnesses: he promises to take me back in May with a budget and a mind to make our patio the sweetest (and most dangerous!) place ever.


We're staying tonight at the KOA campground just outside of Crescent City, in a little cabin in the middle of the redwoods. I won't say I'm not cold. I am. Very. I won't say that I'm not worried about bumps in the night (or growls, or scraping ghost chains). I am. Casually. But I will say that it's gorgeous here and that I am at peace. There's a little heater humming away in the corner of the room, an extremely friendly Southern California expatriate in the office, and did I mention that we're surrounded by redwoods?

I've always loved the redwoods. I love the velvety quiet of their forests, the way the crackle of footsteps on the fallen needles do no more disruption than the play of the wind in the trees. I love how secret, tiny trails invariably lead to the most beautiful grove around, the one with the thickest ferns, the most softly creeping sunlight, and the most intriguing smaller, more secret trails running further and further and further away. When I was small, I loved climbing onto a fallen giant, delighting in the tops of my parents' heads. My brother and I would seek out trees hollowed out by fire who were somehow, by some miracle, still reaching, immense and red and leafy, to the sky. Trees that fell, whether because of an axe or a fire or a gust of wind hitting just right on an ancient and weathered trunk, were welcomed to the forest floor with vigor and delight. Soon ferns and even new seedlings were springing from the broken trunk, joyously carrying on the work that older generations had started. Grow! they sang as they became taller and thicker, rings upon rings upon rings leaving record of their trials. Can you imagine that first touch of pure sunlight?


I am in awe of these trees. I'll be happy to sleep among them tonight and to listen to their encouragement long after they have faded from our rearview mirrors. Grow!

Today we listened to: "Two of Us" by Aimee Mann & Michael Penn, "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show, Her Majesty (The Decemberists), "Grace Cathedral Hill" by The Decemberists, Live at Massey Hall (Neil Young), more of On the Road, and the thip-thip of raindrops dripping from the trees to our windshield.

Mystery ask-us-about-it-when-we-get-home words for today: "headless Babe"

Mike's blog: astoriedyear.blogspot.com

An Interlude: Happy Birthday, Beans!

A few weeks ago (although it seems like ages now) Mike and I celebrated our 24th birthdays. My birthday is March 1st, and Mike was born a mere 36 hours before me, early in the morning of February 29th. Our roomie Robyn, whose SF residency we recently enjoyed with much vigor, was, due to this same residency, unable to attend our birthday bash. Imagine our delight when we opened the front door a few days later and found these on our doorstep!


Our buttery delicious roomie had made the trek after all!

Today is Robyn's birthday. We wanted to do something for her that was at least half as awesome as the birthday present she sent to us. That's why we were so excited when she showed us the Zombie Brain Gelatin Mold at the Exploratorium gift shop. "Should I buy it?" she squealed. "No!" we exclaimed in perfect unison, "Because we will buy it for you. For your birthday!!"

Please enjoy the photodocumentation of the results: a delicious birthday breakfast for our favorite roomie. Happy birthday Robyn!!

Day Four: Explore! Atorium!

We spent Day Four saying goodbye to San Francisco and the familiar unfamiliarity of its streets. The San Francisco bay area is close enough to home that it's rather common for folks in Long Beach to make the drive up for a weekend or even a day trip. But it's far enough away that the things we want to make sure and see again are almost always pushed aside for things we never knew we had been missing. Yesterday's slide adventure was one example. Today we found another.


I knew, when I first stumbled across The Exploratorium on a San Francisco website from the comfort of our own couches, that it was going to be awesome. Our genius roomie Robyn is what her peers call a "Science-type Brain Lady." Mike and I, both very much rooted in the humanities, used to love hearing tales from the other side of campus: tales of dissections and nano-things and what exactly happens when you poke someone in the brain. The Exploratorium seemed (and proved) to be the perfect outing for the three of us, and luckily Robyn was able to sneak out of work for a few hours to come with us. It has all the fun and excitement of a children's science museum, but was designed for adults to enjoy just as much. We tracked our eye movements (scandalous!), we made electrical currents dance (scintillating!) and we even played with a robot (scantily clad!). I can't say we ended up learning much, as we didn't have time to read the meaning of the experiment we'd just performed before we were called away to see something even awesomer. We didn't get to see the whole museum (since Robyn had to get back to her brain-poking), so we're looking forward to adding it to our list for next time we make it up here. We still have the "Tactile Dome" left to explore!

After Robyn went back to her obligations, we made a horrifyingly long trek through The Presidio and down to Golden Gate Park, where Mike's brother Matt, having ditched obligations of his own across the Bay Bridge, was waiting for us. Very cold and very tired, we were glad to have him drive us to the Japanese Tea Garden and Kezar Stadium. Generally, we were glad to have him.


Just another touch of home before we start the real hard stuff. Like when our friend Edna met us at the rail stop to say a quick hello and a quicker goodbye before going back to studying for her exams. Oh, what a friendly city!

A short trip to San Francisco was the first vacation Mike and I ever took together and, now that we have family and close friends up here as well, it feels more like a second home every time we visit. So it's probably for the best that we exhausted ourselves walking its hills and riding its oh-so-lovely public transportation today. It's probably for the best that we'll be leaving it for parts much less familiar in a few short hours. Best that we don't get too comfortable here, because we've got a long way to go.

Thanks and huzzah! to all the wonderful folk who made themselves available for hanging out while we were here in your town. Thanks especially to Robyn-the-birthday-girl for renting us her lovely floor space at a family rate and to Val & Whitney for those invaluable Muni passes. Ah, and one last thing we'll be missing as Mike and SharTours rambles on:


Listened to: Whatever random late-night NPR weirdness is playing on Robyn's stereo right now, and the synthesizer that put music to the electrical current that was closed when our mouths touched the water stream of the Exploratorium drinking fountain. Also, the music videos of Montgomery Gentry.

Mystery words: "Cat Salmon"

Mike!: astoriedyear.blogspot.com

Day Three: Apologies to Witchita as well...

Waking up on Day Three in our favorite roomie's apartment, eating breakfast out of her familiar bowls, and lazily getting ready for the day in a bathroom that smelled neither of dirty water nor of cigarette smoke was just about the perfect way for these road-weary travelers to start the day. All the weather reports said it was to rain today, so we bundled up and (gasp!) put on shoes, heading out to spend what ended up being a beautiful, if cloudy, day in SF.

We hopped on the fantastic public transportation and met up with our good friends Val & Whitney at about a quarter to one. Except for their college years, they've lived in San Francisco their whole lives, having met and begun dating while they were in high school together. Sound like anyone you know? Val sang with me in Random Voices, and Whitney and Mike bonded over being awesome RV boyfriends. Whitney and I one time both wore white shirts and jeans, and I crossed to the other side of the street before he saw me, so as to avoid the awkwardness.

Every time we come up to San Francisco we enjoy getting the insider's tour from these local folk, especially of the best food in the city. By the time we stumbled back to Robyn's apartment, leg-tired and tummy-full, we had eaten at their favorite burrito joint, gotten delicious organic and homemade ice cream, picked up pastries for breakfast tomorrow, munched on some great hole-in-the-wall pizza, and dipped gourmet Belgian fries into gourmet Belgian dipping sauces.

It's one thing I always appreciate about SF, that I can't seem to find in Long Beach: the endless independent and delicious eateries that are absolutely endemic to the area. In SF it just seems like there are fewer chains and more small shops and restaurants, relying on becoming neighborhood favorites rather than putting up billboards.

By far the coolest random little San Francisco attraction we found today should, in all fairness, have been just an urban legend. We hiked up several hills because Val had heard a rumor... and surely, nothing could really be this awesome. But yet, in the middle of an otherwise completely normal neighborhood, in a tiny park lodged betwixt two houses, was a long and inexplicable concrete slide. Suffice it to say that it will take a lot to top this (sorry Bozeman):

Today we listened to: Whitney strumming his guitar while we tried to muster the energy to walk out the door again, and mad techno beats in the Belgian fry shop.

Mystery ask-us-about-us-when-we-get-home words for today: "Sacramento St."

Day Two: Street View may also have helped

Day Two, and we're already taking a break. Just a 2 hour drive from Salinas to my college roomie's apartment in the Mission Bay area of San Francisco. She was working in her brain-poking lab till 5:30, so we tried to drag our heels as much as possible, seeing some sights along the way. Here is something we should have planned out more carefully.

We stopped at the San Francisco 49ers headquarters in Santa Clara, hoping to spend an hour or so driving around, peeking in on a pick-up game between off-season players. We packed Mike's Joe Montana football just in case we ran into the legend and he wanted to toss the ball around. Of course, when we arrived, it was a beautiful building (flying a 'Niners flag under the American one) with some branded SUVs in the "Restricted Parking" lot. We snuck a couple of pictures from across the street, then were back on the 101 about fifteen minutes after we'd disembarked. Five hours until Robyn gets out of her lab.

We thought we'd explore Mountain View a bit, so we got off a couple miles up the road, right in front of the Google compound. There was a sign saying "Visitor's Lobby," so we thought we'd pop in and kill a few hours with a quick tour and some free T-shirts. Passing fleets of Google bicycles, two "Expecting Mothers" parking spots, and the famous Google mini-vans, we took advantage of the free valet parking and trotted into the lobby. Turns out there's a strict closed campus policy, and visitors without an employee accompanying them are promptly escorted off the premises. We grabbed some free Naked Juice and got back on the freeway. Twenty minutes killed. We should have asked Jeeves.

The drive through the Stanford campus was pretty but it couldn't last forever. Candlestick Park was closed and, though it was awesome to be only a huge parking lot and a chainlink fence away it, one can only drive around it so many times before the drug dealers doing business across the street start to get suspicious. Even getting lost on the way back to the freeway was little help: we arrived at Robyn's apartment at 2.

In any case, we're here now, and it's good to have an oasis to relax in for a few days before we embark on the rest of our journey. We've got a couple folks we'll be visiting and many cool sites we're looking forward to seeing again. And, with Robyn's rad apartment at least half-filled with familiar furnishings, San Francisco is homey and comfortable. Drink up, camels! It's going to be a vast desert before we're staying with friendly faces again.

Today we listened to: Willie Nelson Essentials, Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? (Harvey Danger), and the first hour of the audiobook of On the Road.

Mystery ask-us-about-us-when-we-get-home words for today: "bronze spider"

Mike's blog: astoriedyear.blogspot.com