I made Sam get up early. Let me rephrase that. I tried to make Sam get up early. I roused her from bed early enough to go to the post office around the time it opened so we could hit the road early. Shipped off our two boxes, which definitely cleared some room in the car. The car was still full, but at least the rearviewmirror was no longer completely useless. Cats back in the kennel in the back seat. They had been happy at the office, but it was whining time again back in the car. We hadn’t even made it into town to get gas and road supplies before Lucy spewed in the back seat. At least she got most of it in the litter box. OK, car full of gas, and cat puke cleaned up, and we were on the road. Heading south on 101, and this is a gorgeous drive. 101 winds around the Olympic Peninsula between the mountains and the water. In our case here, we had Puget Sound to the left of us and the mountains to the right. The sun was out and it made for some scenery. That all ended when we hit Olympia, where we got off the 101 and onto I-5.We blew south on the 5 heading towards Oregon. I had sent a quick text message to some friends in Portland, saying that we would he coming through. At this point, we wanted to make it to Palm Springs as quickly as possible, so the cats could settle down and Sam could focus on studying. Thus, we could only have a quick bite to eat in Portland and then we would be on our merry way. I only received one response in the affirmative having some lunch/dinner. So, we met up with Mackenzie at the Kennedy School McMennamins. Mack and I spent three years of law school together. With the exception of first year, we probably spent more time drinking beer together than in class together. His and Emily’s wedding in Sun Valley, Idaho was the first wedding Sam and I attended together last summer. McMennamins is an Oregon chain restaurant/brewery. The Kennedy School location in Portland is an old school converted into a huge restaurant and bar. The old detention room is now a smokers’ lounge and cigar store. The other cool McMennamins location is in Bend. That one has a brew theater, similar to the Bear Tooth (for those of you in Anchorage). I do prefer the beer and food at the Bear Tooth if the two need to be compared.
Portland is a city that both of us love. It would be nice to be moving here. For starters, that would mean the move would pretty much be done at this point. Of course, the jobs just aren’t there for same in this area, and it would involve me taking another bar exam and probably going back to criminal law again. Maybe later, Portland. Not yet. The lunch was good as we were there at happy hour. The 3 of us only managed to rack up a $23 tab for food and beer (though, Sam and I only had one a piece since we were about to be back on the road).
We made it further down the 5, and stopped in Eugene for the night. This was the first time I had been back here since I moved out and up to Alaska. It looks the same. Well, except for that huge new arena they are building at the edge of campus near the law school. We made a mad search for a motel room. I figured that it would be cheap since it is spring break and not exactly football season. I was wrong. For some reason, all the motels were $70+. And it was hard finding any place that was pet friendly. After stopping at numerous places, we settled on the Broadway Motel (named for being on Broadway). I talked the girl at the desk into only charging us for one pet instead of two. After checking, I gave Sam a walking tour of campus. Some nostalgia for me, since I did spend three years of my life at UO. I took her to Rennies (UO’s famous campus bar), through campus, pointing out some of the buildings used in Animal House, over to the law school ( where we walked around the building), and finally over to Villard Street Pub (which was our favorite hang out during 3rd year of law school). Villard was dead, and the bar tenders appeared to be male, which was odd, since every bartender was female when I was in law school. We had a beer at Villard, and since the kitchen was down, the bartender gave us free chips and salsa. This was a new one, too. I was used to paying for my food and getting free drinks here. The times they are a changing.
Up Next: California, Here We Come.
M.E.
(The picture is one I took from his grandma's yard. SKT)
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