How do you pirate a pirate party?...

We showed up in Portland around 8 and had a bottle of Sailor Jerry and Old Crow awaiting. Rachel's house in the north ish section of the city and in her words was in the midst of being renovated but still maintained its punk feel. Well said, it reminded me of a very lived in and used house, but one that still had meaning in use. The house was a hodgepodge of clothes, musical instruments, an unused toilet bowls to be installed and free boxes, mostly rummaged through for pirate attire. In keeping with the piratey spirit, Sailor Jerry's kept us afloat until we left for the party. The venue was homey and dressed in jeans and flannel, I was certainly outnumbered and out fashioned by pirates. It was beginning to seem like everyone on the west coast just goes balls to the wall and doesn't look back. And Portland was no exception, in fact it may have even been the flagship city...(haha pirate joke). Portland seemed to be chock full of witty bizarrely talented people. Not only was everyone hilarious, but the house sheltered a pair epic banjo players (actually in a band Wolves at Glennruin), a clown in carhart over-alls and a twisty mustache and Rachel who is currently working on an awesome watercolor portrait of a scene from Alabama on disaster over this passed summer. Once again, I'll keep a long story short, as it was short for me anyway. I called it a night early (:/) but the next morning pulling the trigger paid off since I was the least hungover! We all woke up to some eggs courtesy of Rachel's hangover and then took on driving around town, seeing all there is to see, which turns out to a lot, too much for a brief afternoon. Portland is home to what seems to be hundreds of bridges. It is a beautiful city with things like Voodoo doughnuts and neon reindeer welcoming the people into downtown Portland. I later learned that the Oreo and kool-aid doughnuts are pretty epic and Powell's bookstore is way too big to explore in one afternoon, it has rooms by color and then category so basically it looks like I'll have to go back! I bought some postcards but couldn't bring myself to buy the other one hundred books that looked like a good read. I was proud that I was successful in practicing thriftyness. We dropped off Rachel, sat around with the other roommates because they are hilarious. One of the banjo players was moving out and to the burbs as she dubbed it, and in what seems a habit of people in Portland she was getting rid of anything she couldn't carry in a backpack. Indoctrinated into a true Portland experience, I took my free shirt, groggy Caleb and we drove on through to Seattle! I've heard many good things and I was excited to see how it would settle into my roadweary heart.