The last twenty-four hours have been action packed, so I have a lot of ground to cover before I hit the sack in anticipation of a rocking, both literally and figuratively, day in Seattle. First off, Portland is a really cool city. Interesting people, quality beer, delectable bar-type food, cultured downtown and neighboring boroughs, and now that I’ve reached Seattle I better get it all down on the record or else it will all be replaced with new experiences.

The Rose Garden, in Washington Park overlooking Portland proper, provided a nice stroll amongst the worlds largest collection of roses, a few photo ops, and a tourist hotspot to check off the list, but it is not the leading highlight of the Portland segment. I hear the Japanese Garden, Chinese Garden Sanctuary, and Zoo are all superior, but I didn’t see them. So, when you go take pictures for me.

While aimlessly wandering about I came across Good Dog, Bad Dog: Sausages For All in downtown Portland. It is the kind of cheap eats place that should be recommended and enjoyed by all, except for those of you that don’t eat meat. And if that is the case, move on to the next paragraph. The menu is simple: sausages in various forms, styles, flavors, and such. The Oregon Smokey, a blend of meat, herbs, and molasses, with grilled onions, cheddar cheese, and a soft bun rocked, as I’m sure the ten other flavors do as well. Pale Ale and smothered dog for fewer than eight bucks seemed pretty reasonable at the time considering it was a pretty substantial lunchtime meal. As you sit there amongst the dog themed decorations a steady stream of various downtown folk keep the small room filled. Business suits, hardhats, women, men. Chili, cheese, sauerkraut, horseradish, relish, hot and sweet mustard, ketchup. The kind of place that a messy dog, a pint in a plastic cup, and people watching goes together as smoothly as the pale ale goes down.

The Portland Timber’s game, or I should say PGE stadium, provides for a unique soccer-spectator experience. Show up early enough on a Thursday night your ten dollar assigned seating ticket, free if you know members of the team, becomes an all access pass to a field level beer garden and patio seating literally five yards from the playing field. With four local brews, and Miller Light, on tap I can’t imagine a better place to start an evening out on the town. The game, played on the Astroturf field, which is also shared by Portland's minor league baseball team, The Beavers, is fast paced and entertaining. Alas, the game only provided one goal and sadly the visiting Montreal Impact scored it in the 88th minute. Unfortunately, it was a disappointing ending to an otherwise well-played and enjoyable game.

The post-game happy hour at the Rock Bottom Brewery has some of the cheapest happy hour bar food I have seen since I was at “The Bear” in Chico two days ago. Slider n’ fries, mac n’ cheese, enchiladas, Tuscany salad, hot wings, nachos, and calamari all under three ninety-five each. The service was a little snotty, but considering that four people can eat and drink their fill and still manage to have a tab that totals less than forty dollars makes the waitress’ coarse attitude understandable.

Dixie Tavern is an absolute trip for the unprepared. I was only mildly prepared, but was surprisingly very entertained. The atmosphere is a cross between a white-trash rodeo and head-bangers ball, with the centerpieces of the action being scantily clad girls and hicks in cowboy hats rocking on the mechanical bull, and a fully tatted chick DJ playing everything from AC/DC to 311 to Hank Williams. The rowdy, boisterous crowd that is subject to spontaneous and clumsy dance parties makes for a fine milieu to enjoy a few Pabst Blue Ribbons in. It was fun in a "Wow. I've never been to a bar like that," kinda way.

Today: Cup and Saucer Café serves great breakfast eats for the better part of the day in a Telegraph Avenue style setting on Hawthorne across the river from downtown Portland. Good thrift stores, record stores, and coffee shops all with a charming, yet dingy, aura make up much of the store fronts that line the short, but lively Hawthorne drag.

I could probably spend a few more days in Portland. Lots to do, cool people to hang with, and many more bars, thrift & record stores, and restaurants to test-drive… It’s safe to say that I’ll be back at some point in the near future.

A little pit stop in Tacoma, while heading through Washington State on my way to Seattle, to pay homage to Neko Case and her song “Thrice All American.” (“I want to tell you about my hometown, It's a dusty old jewel in the South Puget Sound, Well the factories churn and the timbers all cut down, And life goes by slow in Tacoma”) Yeah, you know the one. Pretty neat city, but a hell of a lot bigger than Ms. Case makes it out to be in her little ditty. I’m not exactly sure what people would do with themselves here except eat smoked turkey and cheese on asiago-pesto bagels, which I did, and roam the “historic downtown district,” which I didn't. I’m beginning to become convinced that the words “Historic Downtown” equate to “not much to do here, but walk around and read strategically placed plaques.” Perhaps that is too harsh a judgment, considering I come from a city with the third and fifth wonders of the novelty amusement world — being The Santa Cruz Boardwalk and Mystery Spot, respectively. Oh well, on to Seattle. To Tacoma’s credit, the bagels were good.

Finally: It’s remarkably hot here in Seattle. A one arm tanning kind of day in the car, subtly transitioning into a shorts and tank top evening… should be interesting to see what the weather is like for Experience Music Project and concert tomorrow. My left arm is much tanner than my right, by the way; a trend that I imagine will only get more noticeable as the miles in the sun tack on.

Shout out to Ronnie, Yuri, Carly, and Mike. Good times, great hospitality.