#powellbooks

Portland doesn’t have uberpool, which scrambled my brain because I’ve grown so used to it. The uber to the airbnb would’ve been $30 so I took public transportation instead for $2.50 and it took me two hours to get there, mostly because of a 25 minute wait under a bus shelter while it rained. 

B’s flight didn’t get in until 1 am so I went to Quality Food Market down the road and had canned clam chowder and malbec for dinner and watched the first two episodes of Westworld. When B got in we stayed up late talking.

Friday

We got up late and took an uber downtown. Our driver recommended Lardo for lunch and I got the dirty fries which were great:

and we walked to Powell books, a bookstore so massive it’s more like a library with huge rooms named after colors. There was a display for dark humor and I'd read a lot of the books on it so I picked one from there called "Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust." I’ve only gotten a few pages in so far but there’s a lot of boring religious stuff that I hope drops off soon.

also this couple:

We walked by the Ecotrust building and got a farmhouse ale in a place in there and went on the roof and looked over the city.

Then to Cider Bites for a flight. It was overcast all day but started raining then and we went to the nearby Lowbrow Lounge which was dimly lit and the tagline, “everyone is welcome.”

Then, because B must have improv in his life constantly, we went to Comedy Sportz, which he claimed had the best reviews on Yelp for improv in a sea of terrible improv reviews. Straight off we could tell something was not right. It was awful. It was unbelievable. The crowd loved it, and more than half of the audience was adults without children. It was inconceivable. It was like all they had to do was say something that the audience recognized and they would go apeshit for it.

We left before it ended and I tripped on the stairs in the middle of the audience and neither of us felt good about it.

Then we went to Jake’s Seafood restaurant and shared a bowl of clam chowder and crab cakes and I had a Pisco sour and outside B fell on the sidewalk because he was wearing wingtips in the rain.

Then to the Star Theatre for Mr. Gnome, which I’d just sort of picked arbitrarily because the name maybe sounded familiar, and it turned out to be an incredible show and I wanted to be everyone there’s friend but also I was tired.

Saturday

We went to the saturday market, which runs Saturday and Sunday. B joked that he could find a rainstick and wizard hat easier in Portland than actual groceries.

Here is the famous voodoo doughnuts, which we didn’t go to because it always had a giant line and neither of us are that intense about doughnuts:

We got one mini doughnut each from here instead:

I liked it because the doughnut guy was masculine presenting but had painted fingernails. 

We walked through the china town arch but it was kinda desolate

At Caseys gay bar asked the bartender about salmon ladders, a thing B and I debated about being common knowledge after it got brought up in the Comedy Sportz show. Turns out I know quite a bit about salmon somehow. There were tons of halloween decorations and pictures of celebrity mug shots. 

We did the Underground Portland tour, about all the skeezy shit in Portland’s history, like Shanghai’ing and the history of the million bajillion strip clubs and why there’s still so many (free speech). 

We got food at the honey thai food truck and walked to Waterfront park to eat and watched teenagers try to climb up the memorial battleship hulk. B complained that I wasn’t fun enough to try it myself. 

We went to Darcelles’ "female impersonators" show. B had never been to a drag show, but this was no ordinary show. The seating was like normal theatre seating and the audience was primarily older women. It was more of a choreographed performance and way classier than most of what I’ve seen. And you had to go way to the front of the room to try to tip the girls. 

Headed to the northeast side to Binks bar. Took a little molly and felt lighter and more open and went to the Knock Back. When we got back to the airbnb we drank more beers and I wanted to take a bath. I hate baths. I never take baths. I get upset when I accidentally touch the shower wall, let alone have my entire naked body pressed against the bottom of the tub. And the only time I've ever taken a bath with anyone else was right after I lost my virginity. But, took a bath together and it was really nice and then we went to bed.

Sunday

Brett texted the Airbnb guy to ask if we could pay extra for a late checkout and he didn't answer so we took our time, laying in bed and cuddling.

We took an uber to Bordens for brunch but they had a big line and it was raining so we went across the street to Dots. It was really casual and dimly lit and I loved it and I loved our waiter. Brett wrote my phone number on the receipt but he never called.

We went to Ground Control arcade and played table top PacMan for a while and then hung out in the mall food court for a long time because it was raining and what else were we gonna do. We went to h and m and both bought socks (mine never made it back home with me).

Somehow we miscommunicated when we were both flying out, so he flew out Sunday and my flight wasn’t until Monday. We hung out at the mall, enjoying some of the finest cuisine Portland has to offer: 

So we shared an uber, him to the airport and me to my cousin Glee’s house. We had a family dinner and then I helped Bunny on the phone with an essay on that film series “7 Up.”

Monday

Glee and I walked to what she said was the best coffee place in Portland, but I can’t remember the name. Then she drove me to the airport.

Every time I fly into San Francisco I feel more like I’m home. It also always feels wild, like I still can’t believe it’s true.