In Portland, Oregon, we were visiting some more Inca Trail compatriots, Barb (and John), Dick (and Tsuru). We were greeted by torrential rain that barely stopped pouring the whole week we were there. Great. The rain didn't stop Barb and John from showing us the Oregon sights, however. The whole area around Portland is tree-ful and beautiful (we could tell through the rain) - filled with conifers, gorges, waterfalls, rivers and the like. On the first day they took us to a science museum where Paul re-discovered his inner 10-year-old (a regular thing these days) and I had an encounter with an axolotl. I never realised what an intensely sinister-looking creature it is. My only other experience with them is through a painting of me which hangs in a gallery of the same name!
That evening we met a friend of B+J's who'd once studied in Edinburgh, and the next day we went out for breakfast - which is something Paul's been looking forward to for ages. Those American portion sizes we hear so much about are no exaggeration. I could barely make it through my 'small breakfast'. Bloated, we went for a drive to have a look at a mist-shrouded gorge, and several waterfalls including Multnomah Falls, which was swollen to a massive size. In the evening we were re-united with Dick and Tsuru, and reminisced about the Inca Trail, Freddie, and 'coca leaps'.
I have to make a comment about B+J's house. It has a library! I've always wanted one - and they've got one, with rows of shelves and everything! So exciting. Anyway, Saturday was so washed out that we cowered in the house whilst Barb bravely went out to help her daughter-out-law (called this because she's not actually married to B+J's son, so not 'in-law') set up her stall for the Saturday market (she's an artist). We waited cosily inside, before heading out to see the new Narnia film (incidentally, for those who've seen it - what's with the cheesy theme song, eh? Also, what's with the plot? The one strong(ish) point seemed to be Eustace, and he was CGI for most of it.)
Sundays B+J's family go out for breakfast together (Paul is very excited about all this breakfasting) - so we met their son David, daughter-out-law Sarah, and Barb's mum. Sunday afternoon was something which is becoming one if their winter traditions - we went to the house of their friends Max and Leslie to make tamales. Max is from New Mexico and gets his beans straight from there, I'll have you know. The men sat around watching the football (Paul participated in order to try and understand its appeal - it still looks like wussy rugby to me) whilst the ladies made the tamales. It involved rolling some shredded pork and some corn stuff in corn husks to be steamed. We're not sure how many we made, but it was enough to last 3 households the winter! Tsuru's were the prettiest. We finished up with Paul and I doing a bit of music - we must sing for our supper after all!
Monday Barb was busy learning about taxes (zzzzzzzz), so it was Dick and Tsuru's turn to babysit us. We took a drive out to the coast - it was like being back in Scotland, what with all the rain and the bleak looking waves. Still more gorgeous scenery though. Then we visited Astoria, renowned for its bridge, but more exciting to Paul for its movie locations. We trespassed at the houses that were used in Short Circuit and The Goonies. That evening Tsuru made Japanese things for us, and we drank their wine (they have a vineyard). Tsuru also spent time helping us work out the Japanese leg of our trip, which was no end of help and for which we shall be eternally grateful. It's no longer such a scary and expensive place. It's just an expensive place now.Tuesday night was another dinner with more people to meet - this time Sarah's parents. Her dad is a banjo player in a bluegrass band, so we got some good tunes with him. He's also a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. I just love the term 'creative anachronism'!
Weds it was time to take our leave, and as an up-yours to us, the rain stopped and the sun came out a teeny bit. Our bus wasn't until the evening, so we took a walk around Portland - which we discovered is a really nice city! All the shops were in full Christmas bloom (which made Paul happy - I forgot to mention that he'd managed to print out a new Advent calendar so all was right with the world again). My favourite part of the day was discovering a gorgeous shop full of beautiful things (www.mystiqueartisangallery.com) - I was so sad it wasn't in Edinburgh. Lots of lovely artwork (a lot not mentioned on the website for some reason, my favourite stuff was by this artist: www.daviddelamare.com) and carnival masks. But not falling into the cliche that those kinds of shops are prone to do. Just really interesting artwork.Sadly we had to say goodbye to Barb and John, but it was fantastic to see them again and to get to know them better. It's been so nice to have been able to meet up with so many of the Peru people. This was also to be our last Greyhound journey, and not one we'd forget in a hurry! For a start, Paul nearly got himself arrested in the station for trying to take a photo of the jaunty Christmas hat the staff had put on an effigy of the Hound. Bad Paul. Obviously that sort of subversive act is illegal. Then, a few hours into the journey (an overnight, I might add), our bus broke down. Luckily it was only about a mile from a station, and we were able to half crawl, half coast in. But then subdued chaos arose.
We all got off and mooched around in a sort of concerned indignation. There was a bus behind ours which we'd be getting on, but it was clear that there was no way we'd all fit. The sharper of us made sure we were at the front of whatever queues there were. I left Paul with the bags and got onto the new bus just as a lady was moving out of a double seat carrying a 2-year-old and joined her 5-year-old opposite. She let me claim her original seat, before the driver told us all to get off to let the original passengers find their places again. I knew that double seat was now free, so I sneakily left my stuff on it and got off the bus with everyone else. Quick thinking, eh? The whole time I was terrified I was going to be discovered and the driver was going to shout at me. It's a lucky thing I did do that though, as there weren't enough seats and there was no way Paul and I would have been sitting together otherwise.
More and more people got on, and then there were the new passengers to account for. They had to stand in the aisles, and that mum ended up with both kids on her lap as she gave up her last seat. I am very grateful to her - that was a long night, worse for the people in the aisles. What a way to end our Greyhound odyssey!
The bus took us to Sacramento, California, where it finally wasn't raining and where Casey (another uni folksoc friend) was waiting for us in his car. Casey currently lives a ridiculous lifestyle which meant he hadn't been to bed the night before as he'd been up finishing prototypes for a Useful Thing he is about to make millions on. He does 12 hour shifts at a petrol station multitasking by developing his company there, and the rest of the hours he can force himself to stay awake for honing the product. Suffice it to say, we were quite privileged that he had time to pick us up!
California is becoming one of my new favourite places, and I especially love Casey's family home in Fairfax near San Francisco. It was gloriously sunny and we drove up a super-steep driveway through woods to the house (pausing to nudge the deer out of our path). The house is something that is continuously growing (Casey's dad is an architect) and is full of graceful mess both inside and out (and a swimming pool!). Anyway, it's beautiful - I wish I lived there. Paul was particularly pleased about the Christmas tree in the living room.
Casey had things to do (are we surprised?) so he dropped us at the bus station and Paul and I ventured into San Francisco (barely awake, but sensible enough to make the most of the sunshine... in our heart of hearts we knew it wouldn't last). We discovered that rightly is San Francisco reputed for being a Really Cool city, and spent the day wandering around and enjoying the sunshine. Casey took us out for Mexican in the evening (apparently, outside of Mexico, California is the place to have it) - but even then the rain was setting in. The sunshine was misleading. It was downpour from then on.
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