Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Whoa! Big update!


Ok, the upcoming is stuff I just typed up on my computer when I did not have Internet access.  Some of it's a couple days old and I didn't double check it for big errors or anything, so hopefully it's all good.  To give a brief update, I'm currently in Seattle.  I met my friends last night and spent the day walking around the campus and seeing some sights.  I'll give you details about it later, though.  Anyway, let's step back in time....

Well, it’s now 7:30am, Monday, Oct. 4in Oregon.  We just pulled up to a bus stop in Corvallis.  I boarded the bus in San Francisco at 5:30pm yesterday.  I have about 2 more hours left before I reach my final destination of Portland.  Once I’m there I guess I’ll get some breakfast somewhere and thecatch a cab or somehow get to my hotel.  I think I requested an early check-in, but I’m guessing 9:30 is a little too early.  I did sleep some, at some point.  Maybe I got in a couple of hours total when I add up all the little naps.  The ride hasn’t been that terrible, though.  On rides this long it almost seems unreal somehow.  I guess it’s because of the strange sleeping and the brief stops in the middle of the night.  It’s also cold on this bus.  I told the driver that it was really cold in the back and so did another guy I made friends with.  I think the driver adjusted the temperature some, but the back is way colder than the front from what I can tell.
                I’m really surprised at the number of people who are riding this bus from San Francisco.  It makes several stops along the way so I figured there would be a lot of changing of the passengers.  There are at least 6 other people on the bus that I recognize from San Francisco.  One guy is form Norway, and his name is Kami.  He hasn’t been in the US for too long, but he’s here learning to be a pilot.  I think he told me his home base is in Oregon, but maybe he said Montana.  I can’t remember now, it’s been a long 14 hours since he told me that.  He was asking me earlier about US geography.  Of course he had to ask where Wyoming is.  Does anyone who doesn’t live in or adjacent to Wyoming actually know where it is?  Still, I helped him some with his geography.  He was saying things like “I know there is California and if you go up there is Oregon and Washington.  What is to the right from Washington?”
“Idaho is next.”
“And then Milwaukee?”
So, I had to explain about Minnesota and the Dakotas and Montana and he got confused about Iowa.  It was a real stress on my poor understanding of geography.

There’s another guy sitting near me who’s been on the bus since SF.  He’s got a bum arm and goes by Jones.  I haven’t really talked to him much, but I helped him open a couple of his snacks.  He bought some of those things that have the beef stick and the cheese stick packaged together in plastic.  After I helped him open two or three, he gave me one for myself.  I’m not sure if it was a blessing or a curse.  I was kind of hungry and didn’t have anything with me, but man it was awful.  The beef part didn’t taste too terrible, but I can’t imagine what’s in it or what it’s going to do to my stomach.  And the cheese was disgusting.  I tried to eat it just out of politeness and gratitude, but I just couldn’t do it.

Yesterday, I was in San Francisco, though.  I had an alright time there.  It didn’t all come out the way I expected, but it was fine.  I stayed with a family friend named Debbie who lives in Hercules, CA.  Originally I planned to get to her on the evening of Oct. 1.  But, I got a little bit of a late start out of LA and though I’ve driven longer distances before, I just couldn’t do it that night.  I was getting too tired, so I had to find a hotel and stop about 2 hours from Debbie’s place.  I think I explained that in my last blog, though.  So, I got to her place around noon on Saturday.  We went to lunch at Sizzler and she drove me around the suburban kind of areas.  She showed me some of Berkeley and we went to this great place called Fenton’s for some ice cream, and she drove me past my Aunt Sue’s old place in El Cerito.  We talked a lot.  Her brother has lived in Korea for 15 years and is married to a Korean woman, so Debbie was really interested to hear what I had to say about Korean life and culture.   Then, yesterday morning we drove into San Francisco.  I had a little trouble returning my rental car.  They told me to return it to a certain place, but that place was closed on Sunday’s and had no after hours drop-off.  So, I had to call customer service and mess with them for awhile before I could find another nearby place to drop it.  It worked out alright, though, because the new drop off was really close to the water and Pier 39.  Debbie showed me around the pier.  I got to see Alcatraz and the sea lions that hang out at Pier 39.  We went across the Golden Gate Bridge and got some pictures there, then drove to Sausalito, which is a really nice place.  From there I could see Angel Island which is kind of the Ellis Island of the Pacific.  Unfortunately, the treatment of people there was not nearly the same as it was on Ellis Island.  Immigrants there were detained and mistreated.  They could be separated from their families or made to wait for months on the island only to be denied access to the country and sent back home—usually to China.  There’s a museum there and I did kind of want to go, but there just wasn’t time.
I didn’t get to see Fisherman’s Warf or ride a trolley and there are probably other things I kind of missed, but still, I think I had a pretty good time.  Next I’m in Portland.  I’ll probably spend a decent amount of today sleeping since I didn’t get much here on the bus.  But, I’ll try to get out in the afternoon and hopefully find a good place to have dinner and a beer tonight.  I’m not sure what beer is local in Oregon, but there must be something.  Then tomorrow I can wander around all day before I catch my train to Seattle in the evening.

10/5/10
Well, I had a pretty good time in Portland.  I got in at 9:30am just liked planned.  I didn’t exactly know what to do or where to go.  I wandered around a bit when Kami found me again.  I thought he was catching another bus right away, and he thought the same thing about me.  But, we were actually both staying in Portland for the time.  He helped me catch the MAX—the Portland transit system.  Unfortunately he got me going the wrong direction.  He rode with me all the way out to the end of the line we were on, then he had to change.  Turns out I needed to be on the opposite end of the line.  Oh well, he tried to help at least.  And, it also let me see a bit of the city, which did come in handy later when I was riding around and getting to different places.  I wasn’t sure how to get to my hotel, and only knew it was close to the airport.  So, I rode out to the airport so I could get the hotel shuttle back to the hotel.  Of course, it was too early to check in at the hotel, so I did a couple of things at the airport.  My bank is very afraid of fraud on my account and keeps blocking me from using my debit card.  I called them up and hopefully got everything straight with them.  I don’t want to have to call every week because I’ve been blocked again.  After that and a little sitting, I got my shuttle to the hotel.
                The hotel wasn’t as nice as the one in L.A.  I think it was formerly an apartment complex.  It smelled kind of funny, too.  But I only paid about $35 for it, so I can’t complain too much.  I don’t think my next place is going to be so great either.  However, I know I have a decent place waiting for me one night in Seattle, and then later when I get to Bryce Canyon.   One nice thing about the hotel was that they were very willing to drive me to the nearest MAX stop so I could get downtown.  That’s a very useful thing when you’re trying to stay cheap and also don’t have a car.
After my long bus ride, I was feeling tired and I tried to take a nap.  It didn’t work too well.  I usually don’t nap well.   So, after a little time dozing and just stretching out on my bed, I decided it was time to head downtown.  I got a lift to the MAX station and rolled on downtown.  One thing I noticed about Portland and L.A. is that they operate their transit systems on a kind of honor system.   I’m used to the systems in Chicago and Busan and Seoul where you purchase a card or ticket and have to feed it into the turnstile to get through.  There’s no such thing in Portland or L.A.  They both have signs that say you have to have a ticket, but I never once saw anyone checking in Portland and only one time in L.A.  Still, I usually paid my dues.  When I first got into Portland, I had no cash and my bank account was still blocked so I rode for free.  But, back to the story.  I took the train downtown and headed to the Pearl district and found Deschutes (I hope I spelled that right) Brewery which someone had suggested for me.  Getting there did require a bit of getting lost, I should add.  A guy at the airport visitor center had given me a map and showed me some places to go.  This place was on the map, and I had the map with me, but I didn’t want to look at it in public.  I don’t like looking like a tourist.  I found the place without too much trouble, though and got a beer and a sandwich.  Both were quite good, but I was feeling sleepy still and I just wasn’t feeling the vibe at the place.  It was nice, but it was too big.  It wasn’t really a good place to meet people.  So, after a relatively quick dinner I headed back to my hotel.  This time I had to walk from the MAX to the hotel.  It wasn’t too far to walk, about 10 blocks or so.  It was interesting, though.  As you might guess, the area near the airport isn’t the most upscale.  But, the road was mostly well-lit, and it’s not like it really felt like such a bad place.  Really it wasn’t much different from east Columbus.  One thing did nearly make me stop, though.  As I’m walking there was a low, square building by the road with a little parking lot beside, and some neon lights up.  Pretty standard look for all kinds of commercial buildings in an area like this.  It was actually an “adult” store, advertising adult books and magazines, an arcade and “live dancers.”  What really got, my attention, though, is that the place was painted all white.  The whole building on the outside was bright white and though the windows were covered with newspapers, there seemed to be a lot of light coming from the inside.  That confused me, because from my limited knowledge, such places are usually pretty dark both inside and out.  I guess they weren’t ashamed.  I also had an urge to check out the “live dancers.”  I don’t know about you, but I’m so tired of going into my local adult venue to find the dancers are either dead or prerecorded.  Then again, if the amazing movie Zombie Strippers holds any truth, undead dancers may be the best around.  In the end, though, I decided to keep on moving and get to bed early.
This morning I headed down town again and had a bit more success.  I stopped into Powell’s bookstore, the largest independently owned bookstore in the nation.  I got a couple of books, since I didn’t bring any with me on my trip.  The place is huge, by the way.  I didn’t wander around too much since I wanted to do some other things, but still, it’s a cool place.  I got directions to a good place for breakfast and had some bacon and eggs with potatoes.  It was delicious, though a bit greasy.   

The girl gave me a bowl with assorted jams, one of which was Marionberry.  I had to ask the girl if there really was such thing as a Marionberry or if it was just an old joke.  She explained to me that she thought it was a type of black berry—which made me chuckle—that grew in Washington and Oregon.  I told her the only Marion Barry I knew was from Washington, D.C., but she didn’t seem to get the joke.  Maybe she was too young.

I wandered around somewhat lost for a little bit after that, but soon got out near where I hoped to see the Japanese Gardens I heard were quite nice.  The gardens weren’t right next to the MAX and I’m not sure I got off at the stop nearest them.  So, I wandered some trails through the arboretum for about an hour.  I didn’t find the Japanese Gardens, but I can’t complain.  I did enjoy just getting out in nature for a bit.  Eventually I got back into town, grabbed a slice of pizza and hit Union Station to catch my train.  The station in Portland is great.  It looks just like a train station should.  Straight out of an old movie.  Everything is big and stone and big wooden doors, and there are no electronic signs or anything.  The people are very nice and helpful. And, the train is much nicer than the bus, for about the same price.  I’m just riding coach, but there’s more leg room than a bus or plane, the seat is more comfortable, and it’s quieter than a bus, as well.  And, over a relatively short distance like this, I’d even pick it over flying.  It’s cheaper, there’s less security, so you don’t have to show up so early.  They don’t come around bringing drinks to you, but there’s a car right there that you can walk to and buy things.  Also, you get a nice view.  Well, not all of it is nice, but between Portland and Tacoma there were definitely some very pretty views.  Hooray Amtrak!

No comments:

Post a Comment