Portland Day 1: Surprise BBQ Adventure
Driving out of Utah, we were faced with the decision to drive to Seattle, Anacortes, or Portland. All routes led us through Boise, so we just went to Boise.
I would have liked to see this city, as I’ve only been there for a day before this visit, but we arrived at 3 in the morning and just wanted to get a hotel and pass out. And that we did. We spent a couple of hours in the morning doing some work at an Idaho bookstore-coffeeshop, then headed onward to our destination of choice: Portland.
We chose Portland for a number of reasons.
- The drive was several hours shorter.
- There was no chance of being late to the show, because we’d be an entire day early.
- I had noticed a Portland-based design blog had mentioned our coverage of Megafaun. I sent him a message thanking him and informed him that we happened to be on our way to his city. He asked us if we had plans upon our arrival (we did not) and invited us to a BBQ he was hosting. Of course we said yes. Who doesn’t love BBQ-ing with strangers in Oregon? It sounded like an adventure in the making to me.
Nine hours later, we’re driving along the Gorge, surrounded by water and mountains and Christmas trees and windmills that resemble giant bladed alien probes. We arrived at Shaun’s house soon after.
Facts about Shaun:
- He is a Portland-based designer who spent years working with Wieden+Kennedy.
- He is moving to Raleigh-Durham (our hometown) in 10 days to work as art director for Travelocity.
- He was recently in Raleigh staying with my friend Grayson. Hanging out with my friends.
- He is best friends with the owners of Hometapes, Megafaun’s record label, who we’ve been touring with already.
- Basically, we were destined to meet him anyway.
I don’t think I can say enough how freaking small this world is.
So we dove right in. Lots of tasty drinks and grub waiting for us. It was a proper west-coast BBQ, a foodie’s haven. We quickly got acclimated to our new environment and finished up the night crashing our new temporary Portland abode with our new best friends, Shaun and Margaret.
We would end up living here for the next three days.
Colorado/Utah driving.
These states are particularly fun to look at. Nine hour drives aren’t so bad when the topography changes drastically every 30 minutes.
Utah’s topography was particularly epic. We soon found ourselves in the region of Dinosaur. Dinosaur functions as both a city in Colorado and a giant national monument that extends between Colorado and Utah. It is also a glorious haven for dinosaur statues. We picked up our friend Liz and continued on to Salt Lake to catch the end of the Bowebirds‘ set at Kilby Court, the best backyard venue ever.
Other notable fact about Utah: The beer doesn’t work. You can also get in big legal trouble if you are caught with liquor that was not purchased in the state of Utah. You also have to purchase wine at the one state liquor store allotted per city.
But yeah, other than those few alcohol-related differences, Utah is fabulous.
Longest day ever: flaming semi trailers, secret Indy speakeasys, etc.
Yesterday was a long day.
We woke up in Raleigh. 7:30 AM. I (Helena) made plans to meet up with Simon Biswas, the road warrior that I wrote about in my previous tour planning post, at Morning Times for a cup of coffee. It only felt appropriate to meet up in the same spot where I first read his email about planning an epic phototour meetup.
Our coffeetime was a little rushed, as Tim and I were supposed to get on the road early, but Simon and I had a jolly time showing each other our tour routes, plans, and music suggestions. We snapped a few window shots and then I headed on my way. I can’t wait to compare tour stories + photos with him again when he stops through San Francisco.
And so began the drive. Driving to Indianapolis. A little far. Yes, we know.
Our original plans for Indianapolis:
- Arrive mid-afternoon or evening
- Eat sushi at sushi restaurant in which my friend Megan works
- Go to Vollrath Tavern to meet up with fellow Raleigh compadres and road warriors Bowerbirds and Megafaun, who had a show in Indianapolis that night.
- See where night goes from there.
After making a quick stop at a coffee shop in Durham to get more work done, we were extremely tempted to go surprise the Flywheel Design crew with a round of Locopops (fully expecting a response of… “aren’t you supposed to be in Montreal or something by now?”), but with limited time and funding in our Locopops budget, we decided it would be best to head on our way. Just know, Flywheel folk, we thought hard about it. Real hard.
Every single drive I have ever made through the NC mountains has been dominated by ridiculous rainstorms. This time was not much different. The storms were spotty, but intense. We’d go from sun to torrential downpour, and sometimes both simultaneously.
Enter West Virginia. Such an incredibly gorgeous state. Last time I was here I was touring with American Aquarium, yacking my brains out from food poisoning I received in Pittsburgh hours earlier. I’ve suddenly started producing body head and have been allergic to garlic ever since.
Anyway. The drive was going as planned.
Then, the inevitable traffic jam. In West Virginia, of course. The perfect setting for such a jam. Mountain to left, mountain to right, no exits for ten miles or so. No escaping this one.
Two miles and TWO HOURS LATER, we are quite eager to see the source of such a jam. We mentally prepare ourselves for some sort of measly fenderbender, so we can wallow in the irony just a little bit more.
Turns out it was a semi truck’s trailer that had caught on fire and perhaps exploded. Ok. That will do as a proper excuse for epic traffic jam. We finally pass it by and head on our way.
After a not-so-quick stop hunting for wireless in Raleigh County, WV (appropriately), we check our remaining travel time. Six hours to go. It’s 8:00 PM. Something tells me we’re going to be missing the show. I call the B-birds and tell them that we’ll just to see them somewhere else in the country in a few days.
Fast-forward six hours. Actually, almost seven. We finally arrive in Indianapolis. It’s 2:50 AM. Great news: Bars close at 3 AM here!
So we head to Broadripple, a bustling neighborhood in the city, to meet up with my friend Meghan, just in time for last call. We have a much-deserved beverage, and prepare to call it a night soon thereafter.
But no. There is a treat in store for us.
A certain friend of Meghan’s is opening a late-night speakeasy of sorts for us where we can drink for free, in a certain restaurant in a certain neighborhood of a certain city that we happen to be in. That’s basically as much detail as I can provide you on that one.
So we spent the rest of our night in an unlit, seemingly closed restaurant, sipping free cocktails with a hoard of new Indianapolis friends we had made ten minutes prior. They were all quite ahead of us on the drinking, as they had been drinking for hours, and we had been drinking for minutes, and it was quite funny trying to participate in conversations that consisted mostly of me autopiloting responses to inaudible slurring. Friendly well-intentioned slurring though. Nice folk they were. It was a good time had.
We’re going to spend the next day or so exploring Indianapolis. I was born here, and haven’t really explored it in about 16 years… so me and Indy have some catching up to do. More adventures to come.
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