Step One: Portland check

Nothing terribly exciting to report yet. I made it to Portland in one piece. The only snags were giving up some items from my too-heavy bags (except for one. Wink, Rachel), and experiencing real turbulence for the first time. I'm talking drops in altitude, hold onto your shit kinda turbulence.

So, I've mostly just been walking around the city on my own, or with Parag and Hans for the last five days awaiting the arrival of Janet Monday upon which we will begin our free-wheelin' romp around Oregon and down the coast to Northern California, ending in San Francisco. More on that to come as we experience it (and plan it, since we haven't actually narrowed down where to go yet. There was a cheese factory that came highly recommended. I'm sure we'll make it to that).

Ok, so Janet got here yesterday and we're going to spend a few days in the city hanging out with my friend Monica who came to visit from Seattle. It'll be lucky if we survive, though. Janet I already almost got run over as we stood in the middle of what we momentarily forgot was a street looking up at the Chinatown welcome gate. Oncoming traffic was kind enough to not slow down, but did honk, so that was helpful. : )

Notes:

Portland's a cool city, you should check it out. Please be prepared for rain ; )

Sooooo many people smoke here! Weird.