Day Two - Getting Started

Upon leaving the Seattle area it became evident that the problem of not having a way to listen to our I-Pods is becoming increasingly annoying. Just when the vibe of a song starts to kick in, it is lost in a sea of static.

Anyhow, we started our day at the Safeway Grocery Store where we purchased food for our trip including my new favorite road food, Ranier Cherries. We eventually arrived at the sight of Mt. St. Helens where we observed the decapitated mountain from a lookout point. After a short stop at the museum we continued to Portland where we are staying at another Guest House Motel. This one is a little less stellar but it'll work.

After a bit of down time, we ventured to Downtown Portland. On the way we were able to see a magnificent Mt. Hood in the distance. We took a short river walk where we were stopped by a British girl who claimed to be part of a radio show and wanted to question us about virtual reality. After fumbling through some "answers" we kind of lost ourselves getting back to our car. We then sought out our only obligation for the evening, Powell's Books. It is a wonder unlike anything I have every seen. A full city block, four stories of over one million new and used books including many first editions and rare collections. We spent several hours hacking our way through jungles of paperbacks, hardcovers, reference, fiction, philosophical and otherwise. While Lloyd was being swallowed by the philosophy section, I ventured over to the historical and U.S. war area. There, while looking over their Civil War collection I was asked by a bystander if I knew much about said war since he was taking a class pertinent to it. Being from Springfield, Illinois I was only happy to point this guy in the right direction. It was nice to finally have some personal interaction with someone out here.

After reconvening with Lloyd we decided it was time to make our exit and find some dinner. This turned out to be a local pub known as Blitz. After a couple of good sandwiches, fries and otherwise, my friend and I returned to our motel where I finished my Humanities final.

H.