Day 141

i almost feel like there should be a second part to last night's post. here's a little extra.

we wandered around the clean streets and surprisingly tame night life of portland after i posted up last night. i went to a bookstore that don miller mentions frequenting in his books. i bought an awesome music book, a compilation of artist and film maker interviews about music and what it takes to get into the business, at powell's, the bookstore, for only a few, tax-free dollars. oregon has no tax, yet the prices are the same for everything as they are anywhere else. its wonderful. one dollar double-cheeseburgers mean one dollar.

from there went to one of the coffee shops, common ground, where miller talks about going to write books. while there, we found an entertainment publication and followed its leadings to a tea shop where there was a jazz band playing so we hit that up as well.



this morning we went to imago dei church, which also happened to conveniently be located only a couple miles from our couchsurf location. we went to two of their three services to get a perspective of the overall vibe of their flow. this church was the big reasons we'd come down to portland for the weekend. the church meets in a cool, old high school auditorium where vintage wooden stadium-style seats are anchored in straight, parallel lines to fill the floor of the tall maroonish room. the music and sermon were both relevant and interesting and, at the end of the first service, they ended with a banjo, violin, guitar, etc contemporary version of 'i'll fly away.' people all around were animated and, after the service, i went up to the music leader and introduced myself and we talked for a bit before i showed him my harmonica, the one that's always in my left pocket. i asked if i could play with them at the close of the next service we would be coming back to re-attend. the music was that good and i liked it, so i felt it didn't hurt to ask. they had some policy, he confessed, but he seemed willing enough to regret that i wouldn't be around next week so that we could practice something first. oh well. it really doesn't hurt to ask. i'm learning that in many, many ways this summer. little risks.

it's dark now and we're back at parker's house in washington after two nights exploring portland. we're both pretty tired, but i'm happy with the places, people, and things encountered this weekend.