Berkeley to Portland

 Thursday night we had the pleasure of staying in Berkeley at C's house and we took advantage of every outlet and appliance we could find. Laundry was done, food was cooked, dishes were washed, and computers, batteries, and iPods were charged. I wish we could have stayed longer but I'm sure we'll go back to Berkeley sometime, probably before the end of the year. Friday morning we loaded up the car (we've just about got the system down now) and headed north to Portland. It is a LONG way, even starting in the East Bay instead of the South Bay like we usually do, and while there was plenty of scenery and other oddities to look at we were both ready to get out of the car long before Portland. We decided to stop in Eugene, OR at Wandering Goat Coffee and as luck would have it, our friends K and K were able to get a break from work and come meet us there. However, even though we've been there several times before, we got completely lost and had to call them three times for directions. When we finally found the place, we were ceremoniously presented with a street map of Eugene and a map of the Western US. Friends are nice.

We staggered into Portland about 8:30 and got some dinner at Tsunami Thai with our friends A and K. Even though we were both exhausted, we felt like we should really get all we could out of our visit so when A announced his intention to check out the "Potato Cart", we didn't feel like we should argue. I'm glad we went, even if we didn't get out of the car to experience the full glory of the street corner...crepes, pies, burritos, anything and everything you could want to eat in the middle of the night. The pommes frites were some of the best I've ever tasted, and in true European style, they came with mayonnaise. Lots of people hanging out, music playing, cars parked haphazardly but always leaving enough space for other to get through...if you're in Portland looking for a place to hang out at night, check out 12th and Hawthorne.

That's how our weekend began, and pretty much how it continued..."where are we gonna eat next?" was a constant refrain. On Saturday we slept in, went to Powell's (of course), got some lunch at Blossoming Lotus, and headed off to the Saturday Market. As we walked through the crowds, the groove of the one man band playing Elvis faded gently into the bongos-and-buckets percussionists (with a belly dancer for good measure) and that, in turn, merged seamlessly with the bagpiper. Never a dull moment in this town. We ran some more errands, did some computer stuff, and had dinner at Mudai which was just as good as we remembered it from last summer. That night, yet another K came over and we played tunes until 11 or so when we decided we had best pack it in before the neighbors complained.

Sunday we had every intention of NOT going out to eat but A offered to buy us breakfast and we couldn't refuse. We ended up at Francis where our table had everything from country-fried steak to the vegan burger. Excellent stuff. We went to the farmer's market to get ingredients for the Thai curry which would get us to our next stop (and which I have just polished off during the writing of this post), stopped at a few other places, and finally rounded off the day by going to the Irish session at Kells (free food and drinks for musicians!!). The bar was crowded and there were a lot of people playing but we managed to get a few good tunes in before heading home to prepare for Monday's drive.

We're currently in Bozeman, MT...details of that drive (including spending an hour at a dead stop on I-90 just after crossing into Montana!) coming soon.