On to Portland

After Wyoming we went through Utah, Idaho, and Oregon. Utah was a gorgeous state, and parts of Idaho were enjoyable, though most of it was just flat farm land. Eastern Oregon was also flat and fairly boring, but once we got to the Columbia River Gorge, things turned for the better very quickly. The wind was blowing opposite of the river flow, creating some pretty amazing white caps and fueling several wind surfers.

Portland was indescribable. It’s not all my cup of tea, but it’s as close to being “Josh’s Town” as they come. World-class coffee and beer, radical thinkers that care for causes, usable public transportation, and ready access to some of the best varieties of organic and fresh foods.

We were able to attend a cupping at Stumptown Coffee, which pretty much blew my mind. It was like a wine tasting but for coffee, and the people took it pretty seriously. We tried six different varieties of coffee. The process was pretty complex to describe, but it was a lot of fun. Three of the coffee varieties were from the same farm, though I’m not sure of the particular type of bean.

The other three coffees were geisha varieties, which is a type of coffee that was largely ignored until a few years ago. A farmer had decided to separate out all of his geisha beans and submit them by themselves to a competition, where they blew away the judges. The coffee is unlike any other. The geisha coffee that stood out among the others, for me anyway, was the Panama Esmeralda, which had a tea-like aroma. On the first pass it had a very fruity taste, like blueberries, with the herbal taste remaining. As it cooled, it became vey hoppy and beer-like. It was amazing.

Aside from coffee, we stumbled across countless markets with organic and/or fresh options. We even found an organic beer, Henry Weinhard’s Organic Amber Ale, which blew me away. Even the supermarkets like Fred Meyers, which we do not have here in Oklahoma, had far more organic or fresh options. I suppose there just isn’t the same market for those kinds of things in Oklahoma.

The weather was pleasant and far cooler than it is in Oklahoma. For example, tomorrow’s forecast for Stillwater calls for a high of 95ºF, but only 77ºF in Portland.

Why does this seem to have become a comparison between Stillwater and Portland? Well, because I am going to move there. It’s that simple.

Yes, I am going to be delaying my schooling. Yes, I am going to spend quite a bit of money to move. No, I do not have a support network in Portland. No, I do not care.

I will detail more about the trip, and the move, later. Until then!

Never-ending Flatness

We started off at about 10:00am. We packed the car and got everything ready, then hit the road. We started north to Kansas, then east towards Colorado. Kansas and eastern Colorado are so incredibly boring. Everything is so flat– there’s truly nothing interesting to say about it. It’s just a lot of corn and wheat fields that are so big, they seem endless.

After Kansas we arrived in Colorado and to a nasty thunderstorm. It was so rainy and windy, you couldn’t see anything. Luckily enough, the storm ended as we arrived in Denver, where we could finally see the mountains. It was still kind of cloudy, but after the never-ending flatness we had been through, it was like heaven.

After that, we turned north towards Wyoming. We had planned to stay in Laramie, WY, but we couldn’t find the campsite and instead got lost. As we were trying to find the site, we stumbled upon the Medicine Bow National Forest, and just decided to stay there. It was too dark to see anything, let alone our surroundings, but when we woke up, we were blessed with some gorgeous surroundings.

The air was cool and smelled of sage brush, and we were surrounded by tall pine trees and mountains. Lots of fun.

So, that’s how our second day began. I’m getting caught up on writing these posts, so expect more soon.

Off to Alaska!

On Sunday, I am heading to Alaska! Jeff is moving back to Alaska, packing everything he owns into his car and driving there. The guy that originally planned to go with him canceled, so I offered to step up as his replacement. Pretty crazy, eh?

It’s going to take us about a week to get there. You can view the route we’re going to take on Google Maps. Each destination is our goal for each day of our trip. We’ll be driving an average of 14 hours a day, covering about 4,400 miles. It’ll be a crazy drive, but I’m sure the scenery will make up for it.

While we’re in Portland, we’ll be staying with some friends, but other than that, we’re camping. I don’t know very much about camping, but luckily enough for me, Jeff is fairly seasoned in camping.

I’ll try to keep this updated as we go along, if I can find Internet access along the way.

I’ll see everyone in two weeks!

Housing Bonanza!

It’s proving difficult to find decent housing in this little college town of
Stillwater. Granted, I’ve not been spending any significant amount of time
looking, but I’ve never needed to before. It seems, though, that every
place I’ve contacted this time around becomes immediately disinterested when
I mention that I have a dog.

Of course, I can understand a landlord’s hesitation to lease to pet owners.
Not everyone is very kind to their landlord, and the mess a pet can leave
can be the worst hassle a landlord has to deal with. But it’s still very
frustrating when you’re presumed guilty of the same offense simply based on
the actions of others.

If there were some way to prove to them that I’m a decent person and won’t
ruin their property, I’d do it. Sure, references can help and all, but if
a location has a pet policy, they have a pet policy- end of story. They
don’t need to change it in order to make money. Stillwater provides every
landlord an endless supply of apartment and house hunters.

That’s why the pet policy issue is only one of many that I’m facing, such
as overall quality, landlord reputation, availability, proximity to campus,
and whether or not I can fit at least most of my stuff in it. This isn’t
even mentioning this biggest and probably most limiting factor of them
all: cost.

Oh how they change their minds when greenbacks are waved in their faces. It’s
just a shame I don’t have a whole bunch of them to wave. It would seem as
though many of these landlords would let me use their finest properties as
my dog’s lavatory.. for the right price. This isn’t to say that all of the
landlords are like this, but I get the impression that the vast majority of
them are ready and willing to sell their first-born children to make a
dollar.

Half of the people I’ve called about listings have bordered on being rude.
The other half seem indifferent, and really, have no reason to be any
other way. Why should they take the time to be friendly, outgoing, and
eager to help, when there are hundreds of other people ready, willing and
able to lease from them?

Because it’s the right thing to do. But that’s none of their concern. Their
goal is money and money alone.

Many people across the U.S. have addressed similar problems in the grocery
industry by creating co-op grocery stores, run by a community of fellow,
like-minded shoppers. What would happen if the same principle were
applied to the housing industry? What about some kind of housing co-op?

The devil would be in the details, naturally, but at this point, my brain
just needs to have hope that something could be done to make all of this,
at the very least, a little bit better.

Mein Geburtstag!

Ich weiß nicht warum, aber ich mag meinen Geburtstag nicht. Aber ich benutze den als einen Grund, um ein paar Dinge zu bekommen, die ich haben möchte.

Zum Beispiel: Jedes Jahr möchte ich eine Party haben, nicht sodass Leute meinen Geburstag feiern werden. Trotzdem will ich mit allen meinen Freunden herumhängen und will dass sie mit einander herumhängen können.

Die meisten meine Freunden gehört zu verschiedenen Cliquen. [Vom Thema abzukommen: ich konnte da "Gruppe" oder etwas anders schreiben, aber "Clique" klingt mir besser hier.] Sie hängen mit einander selten herum, und ich sehe die meisten nimmer gemeinsam. So, man kann sehen, wie es mir so besonders ist.

So, wir alle essen bei Crepe Myrtle heute abend, und ich kann nicht warten. Es wird vielleicht nicht vor nächstem Jahr wieder passieren, so ich halte es in Ehren. :)