the worst vacation ever, full stop

reader, the baron's back in town, fresh from her vacation to beautiful portland, oregon! she traveled there with a childhood friend, jrr, who is right now debating whether or not to move to there...

the baron has recounted her trip a fair few times already and is kind of tired of the whole thing. for you, reader, she'll spare the gory details and give you the truncated version.

the lowlights:

-even for the baron - a californian who hasn't quite fallen in line with the east coast's way of doing things - portland seemed a little sedate. like, real sedate. like, everyone in the airport seemed stoned... even the sober people.

-snow, and lots of it. as soon as the baron's plane descended below the cloud line, she could tell that the day was not friendly. once she saw a report from the local news, she figured that the week wouldn't be that friendly either.

-snow, and lots of it, brought the city to a standstill, which meant that many of the activities jrr had planned were, uh, CLOSED.

-snow, and lots of it, meant that walking the neighborhoods of the city (a necessity for jrr, who wanted to pick a new place to live) was super DUPER difficult.

-snow, and lots of it, pretty much confined the baron and jrr to the hotel. which meant that tv and books were all that they had to amuse themselves. which meant that they were pretty much together the whole time. which meant that they kind of, occasionally, got on each others' nerves.

the highlights:

-portland is mellow. it was kind of refreshing to go without attitude from baristas/sales assistants/cabbies/waiters.

-vegetarian house. within walking distance from the hotel, and the best hot and sour soup EVER.

-the festival of the last minute, where one can find lots of interesting and one-of-a-kind gifts, was not nearly as frightening as this sounds:
the baron: where is this place?
jrr: same place at the saturday market...
the baron: yes?
jrr: under a bridge and, uh... some tarps.

-sweet masterpiece, a small chocolate shop in the pearl district.

-snow, and lots of it, kept them mostly inside. however, they did venture to powell's books, maybe the best. bookstore. ever. the baron found patchett, didion, and fadiman - o my!



-the portland public library, which sold this bag for a mere $21:


otherwise, the baron is glad to be home. she missed the husband, she missed the dogs, and also? her feet weren't warm for like a week. oh, and jenn? don't move there, PORTLAND SUCKS.