At risk of sounding like a total fanboy for the region, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say not nearly enough time can be spent in the Pacific Northwest!
Cities and scenery alike, the place is damn gorgeous.
We wrapped up our stay in the area, and second week of our cross-country roadtrip, in none other than Portland, Oregon.
We nixed our plans to visit Mt. St. Helens to spend some extra time with our friends Hannah and Steffen, who graciously lent us a place to crash and showed us some of their favorite spots.
But let’s rewind a bit. We’re not there yet.
We’re approaching Portland, and fixing for a breakfast fit for a king.
We call Hannah and she recommends, as an entry point, we check out the Alberta Arts District — a bohemian neighborhood with no shortage of java clubs, bars and secondhand shops.
Lis discovers we’re in close proximity to a breakfast joint called Pine State Biscuits, and it’s on!
This place, man. Everything there is a biscuit, and their Reggie Deluxe is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever destroyed. But let’s stay focused!
Once we’re carbed up and caffeinated, we proceed to explore this urban hipster playground, filled with some of the most oddly specific specialty stores.
A lot of them were out of our budget, but it provided us with the perfect time to scope out shows in town — and among them was a THREE. DOLLAR. COM TRUISE SHOW.
Oh, you haven’t heard Com Truise? Well, you are in for a treat!!
Anyways, he’s the best, and he was playing a crazy cheap show the next night. More on that later.
AROUND TOWN
We unloaded our stuff at the casa, and enjoyed fresh raspberries, grapes and apples from Hannah and Steffen’s edible fruit garden.
After slogging through Mt. Rainier the day before, getting the chance to hang out on their back deck with libations and the company of quality people was the best decision we could have made.
We got an early jump on the next day, hitting the food carts for an inexpensive and delicious breakfast, and we drove out to Multnomah Falls.
Given it was a Saturday, the place was crazy busy, but it just blows me away how close such a beautiful waterfall is to the city.
We drove out a bit further for hiking at a place they called Lookout Mountain, accessible only by a maze of back roads, with a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood.
The hike was actually quite leisurely, and the view from its summit was insane, as you could see the various different microclimates.
Our hosts made us dinner, but, unfortunately, were unable to join us for the synthwave show.
DOWNTOWN PORTLAND
Okay, this is my favorite part of the story to tell.
Driving downtown isn’t too intimidating. Well, except when you almost get creamed by those weird buses, but that was partially my fault.
We arrive, unscathed, at a parking lot caddy-corner to our venue, and we’re like fish out of water as we try to make sense of the self-pay instructions.
Out of nowhere a nice middle-aged couple stops us to ask if we’ve paid yet. Apparently, they came downtown to see their son perform, and at that point had no use for their parking ticket, which was still valid until the end of the night.
So score! Feel good, Portland. You’re home to nice people!
Anyways, as we’re waiting in line outside the venue, this truck pulls up with a flat-bed trailer, and comes to a stop along our side of the street.
In the trailer of the truck, you can make out two figures, cloaked in black and masked with weird cylon-like hoods, and what appears to be a couple stacked amps.
One of these guys has a guitar, and the other dude? A fuckin’ keytar, man. And the two just fucking jam out with this ambient, psuedo-industrial synthrock for a solid ten minutes. Also, there was a smoke machine.
This band never identified itself, and to this day I have no idea who they were. All I know is that it was fucking rad.
The rest of the night was chaos. We got into the venue for crazy cheap and spent too much at the bar. Com Truise killed it, and it was one of my favorite things to happen to me.
CONCLUSION
Thanks to Hannah and Steffen for housing us and showing us around town. We’ll have to swing by again, and ya’ll are certainly welcome to the new house whenever you find yourself in the Quad-Cities.
Portlandites… er, Portlanders? Your food cart scene is a national treasure. Holler in the comments if you have a favorite cart we ought to check out next time we’re exploring the city.
Also, what are some other good hiking spots in the area?
Finally, if you know who this mystery trailer band is, I award you all of the internet points. They played outside the Star Theater on August 16th, and I’d love to know who they were.