Birthday Blog!

Good day to you! And happy birthday to ME! It is the big 2-1 and I am quite enjoying myself so far.. still sober! I made myself some scrambled eggs this morning before I went to Top Pot to get myself a grande mocha and a dozen donuts (to share with my sister of course). I visited Ashley at work and we "cheers"ed our yummy, sprinkled donuts. I went home to watch some videos and listen to music of my favorite band, Family Force 5, until the donut settled in my tummy. Then I went for a birthday jog, and now I'm here!

A few exciting things, besides my birthday, have happened since my last post.

The day after the hike, I went to Portland, Oregon. Why? Well, a few years ago I saw a small add about visiting Portland in some magazine, and I never forgot about it. I couldn't get Portland out of my mind so I figured while I'm in the Northwest I might as well succumb to my curiosity, get on a train, and go there. Quinn and I took the train down together. We parted at the Portland train station where he was met by a friend and I went off on my own in search of the hostel I would be staying at. It took me about an hour to walk the hostel from downtown Portland. It was a really beautiful walk. I crossed Hawthorne bridge over the Willamette River which, according to Wikipedia, is a major tributary of the Colombia River. (info for dad ;) I stayed at the Hawthorne Hostel in the Hawthorne village of Portland. When I went inside I was in line to check in behind 4 kids my age who had been sitting in the row in front of me on the train. We recognized each other and they told me that had taken the bus to get from the train station to the hostel. "Oh, nice. I walked.", I said somewhat boastfully as I dropped my 20 pound backpack and watched their eyebrows raise and jaws drop. "No big deal.. I've been dominating Seattle hills for a few weeks AND I did a 9 mile hike yesterday so.... it's whatever". (I didn't say that.. but I wanted to)

My Ducky Friend at the river

I spent my first afternoon exploring the Hawthorne area before retiring to my bed in the hostel. The second day I took the bus downtown to see some of the major Portland attractions, the first of which was Powell's City of Books. I ended up spending most of the day there. My friend Tyler, a fellow AIFS student I met in London, met me at Powell's before we went to lunch. (Hi Tyler!... you're probably not reading this so, never mind) After lunch he Google Mapped our way to Voodoo Donuts, a famous donut shop. I had one triple chocolate with Coco Puffs and one topped with Oreo cookie crumbles. Tyler got a maple bar topped with crispy bacon. (..... boys) We went back to explore the travel section of Powell's before parting. Now Tyler is in Italy for another AIFS study abroad semester. (JEALOUS!!) I had bought some Oscar Wilde material at Powell's so I found a little spot by the river to read some from a book of Wilde quotes. There, I made friends with a duck and marveled at the peaceful energy of Portland.

 From there, I went back to Hawthorne to eat tacos and do a bit of writing. I went to bed at 11 but I didn't fall asleep until 5 the next morning. I was sharing a room with 7 other women who were taking turns snoring all night. I had my iPod on and listened to my entire collection of Glee music. (2 hours worth.. I could have listened to it three times, but my iPod ran out of battery) I got up at 9, packed my things and bussed downtown. I walked 20 minutes to the train station, bought a ticket back to Seattle, and found a nice little coffee place nearby called Pints to get my pick-me-up for the day. It was much needed because I walked, for the third time since arriving in Seattle on Sept. 9th, from the train station to Ashley's apartment. (this time with a giant backpack and a shopping bag full of books... but no big deal, I didn't sleep the night before so, it's whatever ;)

The infamous Fremont Troll

Ash tried many flavors :)

Quinn's new favorite shirt

Quinn came back from Portland a day after me and two days before his return home. We spent our last full day together hanging out in Fremont and Ballard, AFTER having a full breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes. (we watched an episode of Inspector Gadget too.)  In Fremont we found the Troll and did some shopping. We walked from Fremont to Ballard to find the ice cream truck Ashley's friend works at. We had some REAL great organic ice cream there. Then went home to have a mini fashion show of our new threads and watched The Hangover. (which reminds me.. I need to bring my camera with me tonight in case I forget everything that happens by tomorrow. What if I wake up to find a tiger in the bathroom!?)

Mt. Rainier as seen on a clear day

Ashley left early the next morning to go camping with some friends. I took Quinn up to the Volunteer Park water tower because it was a very clear day with GREAT views of the surrounding mountains. We saw Mt. Rainier! (my favorite mountain: last year when I flew into Seattle I awoke from a little snooze as we started to land. when I looked out the window I saw the peak of Mt. Rainier framed by puffy, moonlit clouds. it was probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen from the sky.)
Later, Quinn headed for home and I headed to the beach! Another long walk on a beautiful day. I stayed at the beach for a few hours. I even took off a layer to soak up some sun and got a wee bit burned.

BEACH!

I had planned to take the bus back home because my journey to the beach had been mostly downhill. I wasn't sure if I was up for an up hill battle after relaxing on the beach for so long. But when I got half-way home without seeing a bus headed my way.. I decided to just keep my two dollars and burn a few more calories. (have I mentioned recently how much I LOVE walking?)

Since then I have mostly just been watching movies and enjoying this last, relaxing week of vacation. The ever anticipated 21st birthday celebration will be tonight at The Triple Door stage having some drinks and enjoying some traditional Irish music by a band called Lunasa. ( I have a feeling my memories from O'Neill's will come flooding back to me!)

Cheers!