Portland Part 1

Hey guys.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this post out. I've been working every day since the 4th, and haven't had the time. I'm at work now, but it's super slow, so I'm writing it here and I'll post it tonight when I get home. Just a heads up, it's a little long.

Anyways, so I guess I'll start at the beginning. I woke up on Tuesday the 28th and started packing. My flight was at 3:30, so I got to the airport around 2. This was my first time flying by myself, so I was a little nervous. I'm pretty good with flying, but I usually just follow my dad through the airport. After dying from old age in the security line, I made my way to the gate. I still had about 30 minutes until boarding, so I grabbed some lunch. Got on the plane, and everything went fine. I sent Erik a text saying I was on the plane, and I'd be there around 5 PM, Portland time.

The flight was boring, and when we landed it was cloudy so I couldn't see the mountains. I called Erik when I got on the ground, and he said they were in traffic, but only about 15 minutes away. I worked my way out of the airport and went outside to smoke a cigarette and wait. It had already been about 25 minutes, so I called Erik again. He didn't answer, so I called Demian and they said they were still in traffic, but would be there in five minutes, for real this time. So I waited some more, just being glad to be off the plane, and to smoke a cigarette.

Finally, I see this green Jeep with those orange lights on top that the construction workers use, and I knew they were here. I threw my bags in the back of the Jeep and we climbed in. We did the usual small talk, how was the flight....blah. Then they started telling me a little about their trip. The previous weekend, they had gone to Regeneration Festival to see some bands. Apparently, between the two of them over 4 or 5 days, they had smoked 9 packs of cigarettes, and drank 2 gallons of booze. So they weren't feeling too hot. We drove to this little mexican place that Demian's friend recommended. We grabbed a couple burritos and headed to his friend Vic's place.

At this point I still hadn't seen the camper, so I was wondering what kind of shape it was in. The first thing I saw when we pulled up outside Vic's place was the camper, looking just like it had when they left, just a little dirtier. We went up to Vic's deck and ate our burritos and shot the shit. I told Erik and D that I had gotten us a hotel for the two nights we were in Portland, with my dad's reward points from traveling so much for work. So we loaded up some of their things and headed to Vancouver, WA, leaving the camper at Vic's again.

It was about a 25 minute drive from Vic's to the hotel, and I got my first real chance to look around. Vic lives in the more ghetto part of Portland, so there wasn't much to look at, until we got to the river and crossed into Washington. Then I got my first glimpse of the Portland skyline, and it was awesome. Got to the hotel and checked in, then just kind of kicked back for awhile unwinding. We were getting hungry again, so we went to the grocery store for dinner. I had seen on the hotel map that there was a bbq area by the pool, so we bought some brats and chips to grill.

It was kind of raining, and was rather cool, so we didn't go in the pool, but we tried the hot tub, but it was even colder than the pool. So we hung around at a table and grilled our food. By this time it was about 10 or 11 at night, so we were by ourselves, which was nice. We got caught up on what had been going on with each other, and then we headed back to the room to go to bed.

We woke up around 11 or so, and started getting ready to spend the day biking around Portland. Erik and D were both excited to take a shower, since it had been about a week since they last had one. Finally got all geared up and headed out about noon. Since we were going to see A Perfect Circle that night, we drove into Portland and parked in a parking ramp, then got on the bikes. That way, we wouldn't have to bike back 10 miles after the show.

Erik and Demian brought their own street/mountain bikes, and then Demain brought one of his cruiser bikes as an extra for when people came out. So I was on that. As we were going down the first ramp out of the parking area, the brake cable on my bike snapped, so I had no brakes. I threw my foot down and was slowly able to stop without hurting myself. Demian looked at it, and decided he would ride it brakeless until we could get to a bike shop. So I jumped on his Specialized and we headed out again. When we got out of the parking garage, we ran into two police officers on horseback and asked them for directions to the nearest bike shop. It was only a few blocks away so we went there pretty slowly. Got to the shop and bought a new cable, but they wouldn't let us use any of their tools, and D didn't want to pay them to put it on. The guy at the shop said there was a bike rental shop by the river that had tools you could use for free, so after getting directions and buying some homemade, organic popsicles from there, we went to the river. I must say, it's rather difficult riding a bike one handed through the city trying to eat a popsicle.

We biked along the river until we found the bike place, and got to work. It was a really cool place. They had basic tools outside tied with a cable to a post, but if you needed something that wasn't there, you could ask the person at the counter, and you could use anything they had. So D installed the new cable, and while we were there we double checked everything else on our bikes to make sure they worked. D tried his brakes again, and they worked, just not very well. He then decided he needed new brake pads too. So we kept biking, while keeping an eye out for another bike shop. After biking around aimlessly for 20 minutes, we found another shop and he bought new pads and had them installed. We were starting to get hungry, so we started looking for a place to eat. We passed a couple of different food carts, but weren't very satisfied with them. Finally after an hour or so, we found a food cart that made burgers. You could get normal burgers, or ones with Spam, an egg, or instead of a bun, have it with a grilled cheese on top and bottom. I got a bacon burger, but Erik went for one with Spam on it. They were pretty good. D didn't feel like a burger, so he got some Pad Thai from the cart next door.

We were pretty full, so we walked our bikes through town for a while, going wherever we felt. Around 6 we went back to the Jeep to drop off our backpacks and grab the concert tickets. Then we biked over to the concert hall where the show was. We locked up the bikes and got in line for the show. After a very serious pat-down by security (the worst I've ever had at a concert) we were in. They told us that if we used our cell phones while inside, we would be kicked out. So even in the foyer area outside the hall we couldn't be on the phone. Erik got in line to get some t-shirts and D went in line to get some beer. I just stood around watching everything, getting more excited as the minutes passed. Doors were at 7, and the show was supposed to start at 8. The opener went on right after 8, which kind of surprised me. Usually they are later than what was scheduled.

The opener was an all female, Japanese punk band. I had looked up one of their videos on Youtube, and thought it was alright, so I was kind of excited to see what they were like live. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed. The rest of the songs they played didn't sound much like the song I'd heard, and it wasn't as good. But they closed with the song I knew, so that was cool.

Erik and D went to get another beer while APC got set up. I stayed in the seat because I didn't want to miss anything. When I got into A Perfect Circle, it was 2004, right before they put out their new album. But they didn't tour for the album, and I never got a chance to see them live. Then they broke up, and I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to see them, so I was ecstatic to hear that they were touring again, and I'd get to see them. The venue didn't allow food or drinks in the seats, so they had to stay out and drink them before they could come back in.

The lights dimmed, and Maynard and Billy started the first song, but Maynard missed his cue, so he stopped and they started over. About 30 seconds into the song Erik and D came back, and I told them what they missed. They were disappointed, since Maynard had made some little smart ass remark. He nailed it the second time though. I don't really remember too much of the show. It all kind of blends together into this haze of awesomeness. But I do remember when they were doing the song The Outsider, Maynard forgot the words for the first verse and asked the audience to help him out. So it was a huge sing along with 2500 people. After the song, he apologized, claiming that he was closer to 50 than 40. Then he asked if we wanted them to do it again to get it right. Of course everyone screamed YES! but then he laughed and said too bad, then went into the next song. It was an amazing hour and a half, and I was really disappointed when it was over. Although they did play a new song as the last song, which was cool. Usually when a band is done playing and the house lights don't come back on, that means they're going to do an encore. So when the lights didn't come on, we all stood there waiting and yelling for them to come back. But after about 30 seconds, the house lights came on and the crappy filler music started playing. Everyone was pissed because we weren't expecting it to be over. So we slowly made our way outside into the cool night air.

Before we got back on the bikes, D talked to their friend JT, who is from Minnesota, and they ran into at a festival in Missoula, MT. While he was with them, he had left his jacket and ID in the camper. He had somehow gotten a ride out to Portland, and wanted to meet up to get his stuff back. It turned out he was only about 3 minutes from where our hotel was, so we said we'd pick him up. We jumped on the bikes and headed back to the car. Since Erik and D had been drinking, I was automatically designated the driver for the night. We loaded up the bikes on the back of the Jeep and headed back to Vancouver. After getting a little lost, we found the bar he was at and went inside. Since it was a Wednesday night, the place was pretty dead. They had a couple drinks and caught up on what had happened since they last saw each other, and it was decided JT would spend the night with us, since we weren't with the camper. So we headed back to the hotel and proceeded to figure out what to do for dinner, even though it was after midnight. We called the front desk, and they said only Domino's was open, so I jumped online to find a late night place in Portland. You would think that when you Google 'late night food in Portland, OR' you would get places open late, but every place that came up closed at 11 or 12. Not very late night in my book. After probably 20 minutes, I found a place called The Original Hot Cake and Steak House, open 24 hours. I grabbed some directions and we were off. It was about a 30 minute drive and then we pulled up to this rather rundown looking place. But it was filled with a bunch of younger people, so it looked good. We walked in, got a table, and ordered our food. I must say, I was blown away with their hot cakes. I'm not usually a huge breakfast person, usually only at night like that, but I don't know if I've ever had better pancakes.

We hung out for a little bit, then headed back to the hotel since we had to check out by noon. Got back and watched a little tv and then hit the sack, tired from all the exercise and fresh air.

Well I think I'll stop here for now. This got a little longer than I thought, and we're only halfway done. If you made it through, good for you!

Hope you guys are well!

143

_Kevin