The Flying Machine

'Kay, so I never really finished talking about traveling through Oregon. Or where I'll be living next year (I'll get to that soon). So first, the rest of the travelogue, in brief:

(By 'in brief' I mean I made it AS SHORT AS I COULD which is DIFFICULT FOR THIS LONG-WINDED SISTER.)

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Eugene - Portland: Woke up at Tom's place, ate baked goods, hiked, purchased shoes at Goodwill, headed to train station. Instead of train, large bus arrived. Sighed. Took bus to Portland. Looked at public transportation map and weighed 1-hour public trans ride + walking (cheap!) vs. 15 minute taxi ride (expensive!) to destination. Opted for public trans. Walked. Got lost. Asked woman for whom English is not first language for directions. Misunderstood directions. Wandered through sketchy neighborhood. Spotted a train! Followed tracks to station, intrepid problem-solving skillz! Rode train to airport. Arrived at hotel plenty early. Sat around. Attended RARE meeting. Met hotel roommate, fellow RARE person. Met other RARE persons, since we invited all to come over and 'party' which meant sit around and talk. Determined that RARE people are certainly interesting but some are a little kooky. Carefully dodged pigeonholing as Ivy Leaguer or Dirty Hippie. Slept.

Portland - Veneta: Woke up early. RENTED MY VERY OWN RENTAL CAR. Drove down Interstate. Decided to take 'scenic route' along the coast. Drove over small mountains, through little rural towns, scenic, etc, arrived at the coast! Hello Pacific! It's been a while! Leapt out of car with excitement to take pictures and feel ocean breeze. Ocean breeze being 60 degrees, quickly returned to car. Drove along coast. Drove BACK over small mountains and cute rural areas, arrived in Veneta. Had successful interview. Learned that Veneta is essentially bedroom community for Eugene, decided it was not what I was looking for, want 'real rural,' etc. Stopped on the way to pick blackberries. Stowed them in leftover baked goods bag for later. Arrived back in Eugene. Went for walk, picked wild strawberries. Met up with Tom for dinner + beer + Halo. Got ass handed to self on plate. Tried old skool "just push all the buttons a lot" Mortal Kombat style. Avatar stared at feet and missed target. Had fun anyway. Went out to get a drink with Tom + Lesli, cool librarian. Lesli and Tom insisted I live in Eastern Oregon and lead austere rural lifestyle. Thought to self, yes but would THEY live out there? Had delightful conversation and EXTREMELY potent drink that happened to be made with Hendrick's. I tell you what any bar that serves Hendricks is my kind of place. Left tipsy, returned home, fell asleep.

Eugene - Ontario: Longest day evar. All ze way across ze state! Woke early, said goodbye, stocked up on delightful scones for road, crossed big mountains (Cascades) over very tiny road. Waved to car from top of observation tower made of lava rocks. Oooh. Waved to 3 Sisters peaks in distance. Exited mountains into desert. Was struck by austerity of it. Drove a long way. Drove more. Arrived in Burns. County population: 7,000. County size: 10,000 sq.m. It looked the part. Had ok interview. Drove some more - decided that desert was lovely, if sparse, big sky, lots of color if you look closely. Kept driving. Listened to bad-but-funny British chick lit book on cd borrowed from mom's friend. Again noted the austerity. Arrived in Vale. Had good interview, liked the Vale people. Felt unsure about living in place smaller than Arcadia. Went to hotel in nearby Ontario, another small town, pop maybe 10,000? Checked in. Called cool fellow RARE person, also in this hotel for the night. On phone: Hi, it's Sarah. I just got into Ontario. Want to get dinner? Him: Sure. Me: I'm in room 102. Meet me here? Him: I'm in room 100. Sure. (room 100 was right next door. 2 feet away. lolz. Hopped in his rented mini van and toured the town. Thought, maybe I could do this? life here? Went to restaurant. They served no beer. Left. Went to another restaurant. Ordered omelet and beer. Other restaurant patrons stared openly. Enjoyed beer and conversation. Did not enjoy omelet. HOW do you mess up an omelet? Poor form. Talked a long time about RARE and jobs and life and music and things. Returned to hotel, said goodnight, puttered in room for a while.

Ontario - La Grande: Woke up early, drove and drove through big brown hills. Stopped in Baker City for lunch, found lefty-looking cafe, ate delicious salad, found a copy of the BOISE WEEKLY which gave me hope that cool people do exist out there. Got really excited. Sent blitz to Pam from cafe computer about how Boise is the new Portland, or something. Moved on to La Grande. Drove around, kicked up dust on dirt roads, took photographs! Went to bed.

La Grande - Pendleton: Woke up, interviewed with awesome lady, drove around some more, purchased cinnamon croissant. Delighted in the pastry. Onward! Made it to Pendleton, noticed extreme Old West vibe, lots of Western stores. Wandered downtown, ate mediocre sandwich. Interviewed with group of people. Decided assistant city planner was cute. Left with bag of goodies including bumper sticker that says: PENDLETON ROUND-UP: LET 'ER RIDE! Yeehaw. Had 2 free! beers at cocktail hour at motel. Luxuriated in large bed in motel room. Puttered. Slept.

Pendleton - Hood River: Drove along the Columbia River! Lovely. Spent time wandering Hood River, which was full of rich yuppies and super obsessed windsurfers. Had mixed feelings about the place. Had great interview. Ate gumbo at Southern food restaurant but it was not real gumbo, sorry folks. But waiter was nice to the dorky girl eating alone with hulking copy of Anna Karenina. Stayed night in The Dalles, nearby town. Accidentally drove in parade-of-vintage-cars with several other confused motorists. Fell asleep to the sound of hundreds of old white men beeping vintage car horns over, and over, and over while driving around the block.

Hood River - Laramie!: Purchased AMAZING SANDWICH from fancy bakery, in addition to cheap and tasty cherry tomatoes. Drove on. Took scenic highway, oohed over waterfalls, kept driving. Made it to airport. Returned trusty rental car. Waved goodbye to its nice red paint job. For the record however I do not recommend purchasing a Ford Focus. It's a little jumpy on the accelerator. Ask that mailbox that I h nevermind. Got on plane! Slept! Made it to Denver alive!

And then I went to Wyoming, but I already told you that story.

Love,
Sentence Fragments Girl