its suddenly the last day of my trip out west and im flooded with a zillion stories and memories everytime i try to instarecap. it was an entire month of moments. lots and lots of moments. a month of them. (but, you know, its saturday night, soooooo yeah)
today i hiked with john on mt rainier which was beautiful and cold and sunny and windy and great. and it reminded me of hiking last week on mt seymour in vancouver where you can see all around you from all three peaks and the last one is spiritual and it was also sunny. that was the day a small plane like one from the 60s flew past us and it was yellow and we were so close we could wave at the pilot and he waved back. that was also the day we met colette and christian and spoke french and spanish as they shuttled us down to the busstop before our night out with the couchsurfing hosts and the hungarian busmates we met on a greyhound from seattle.
that was probably just about a week after we sat on a hill, me and tolu, and watched a million or so birds (vaux's swifts aka "the swifts") funnel into an old chimney of an elementary school one at a time over an hour and a half. they filled the sky and some of them got pecked off by hawks and falcons. which reminds me of a million birds that stood on the pacific shore we found at the end of a long day hiking through the redwoods that are so big they could swallow you and really truly understand silence. and we walked through fern canyon with walls so high and covered with ferns you feel as though you are prehistoric. that was the day before we met deb and emma and they made us tea.
2 days ago we drank tea with an old taiwanese woman for 3 hours and learned about tea more than i ever thought was possible. we met a young white guy who was a monk in a past life and dropped everything in this life to drink tea all day and share its peace and wisdom. in a thai restaurant yesterday where you sit so close to the stove that the fire heats your face and makes you sweat, we saw a woman hold up a picture of herself on her phone wearing only lingerie and marveled at technology and (dis)illusions of privacy.
i'm suddenly reminded of the light coming into ted and chris and dereks house in arcata and how that song by bon iver (stacks?) was playing and the sun was hitting the garden just right and it hit the wood floor just right and we felt just right there. which reminds me of pottery and wood tables, and homemade tomato sauce and dairy-free vanilla frozen yogurt and chickens and walking and parks and farmers markets.
like the one oliver and kristyna took us to in arcata our first day where there was so much produce and music and dancing and color that we lost each other and reappeared with delicious things to cook and made an outlandish meal that night. and bread. that we made with them and i just made it again last night and now i want only to make bread and never to buy it because it is so much better that way.
tomorrow im flying to st louis to continue the journey.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
inspired by a post-birthday email from gramps, i'm blogging again, though spottily i imagine...
im back on the go... traveling for a month in the pacific northwest with my friend tolu.
so far this trip has been great... tolu and i met up in san fran last saturday and ran around the city for a week with aida for almost the whole time. we saw many an old friend, ate many a cheap delicious meal, and saw many a sight on the twenty-something budget! san francisco is an amazing city... super vibrant and diverse. it feels like every few blocks you walk you're in a completely different place. china town feels like the closest you can get to asia without leaving the continental US, hippy hill in golden gate park (and haight ashbury for that matter) is pretty much the closest you can get to the 60s without leaving 2009, and the mission feels like some mix of brooklyn and a city in mexico (keith is making a list of reasons why the mission is like a third world country, although we've decided not to call it third world because that is so on the out).
there are too many stories from sf to try to fit in the blog right now... but i will say that some real highlights were seeing old friends from st louis -- staying at kacie's amaaazing house in orinda, crashing with jake in the filmore, spending a day with colin, kacie, deb, and stephen, and a night at colin and stephen's warehouse in an old cookie factory (those really good pink cookies with rainbow sprinkles!), and of course, a cozy night at keith's new home in the mission.
yesterday we split on a greyhound bus, saying our farewells to aida who is off to korea. the bus was full of characters, and a few fights may or may not have broken out, but overall it was pretty beautiful despite getting in 3 hours late. now we're in eureka, ca with kristyna and oliver. this town is great -- the perfect combination of a small community and a place with lots to do. we went to the farmers market in arcata (aka. hippy heaven) this morning, took a long walk on the dunes by the ocean... and then played in the ocean!, made hot cocoa, explored a few used book stores, and went to the local co-op to get some last ingredients for the big meal we're making tonight. speaking of which, it's time to cook.
mrf
im back on the go... traveling for a month in the pacific northwest with my friend tolu.
so far this trip has been great... tolu and i met up in san fran last saturday and ran around the city for a week with aida for almost the whole time. we saw many an old friend, ate many a cheap delicious meal, and saw many a sight on the twenty-something budget! san francisco is an amazing city... super vibrant and diverse. it feels like every few blocks you walk you're in a completely different place. china town feels like the closest you can get to asia without leaving the continental US, hippy hill in golden gate park (and haight ashbury for that matter) is pretty much the closest you can get to the 60s without leaving 2009, and the mission feels like some mix of brooklyn and a city in mexico (keith is making a list of reasons why the mission is like a third world country, although we've decided not to call it third world because that is so on the out).
there are too many stories from sf to try to fit in the blog right now... but i will say that some real highlights were seeing old friends from st louis -- staying at kacie's amaaazing house in orinda, crashing with jake in the filmore, spending a day with colin, kacie, deb, and stephen, and a night at colin and stephen's warehouse in an old cookie factory (those really good pink cookies with rainbow sprinkles!), and of course, a cozy night at keith's new home in the mission.
yesterday we split on a greyhound bus, saying our farewells to aida who is off to korea. the bus was full of characters, and a few fights may or may not have broken out, but overall it was pretty beautiful despite getting in 3 hours late. now we're in eureka, ca with kristyna and oliver. this town is great -- the perfect combination of a small community and a place with lots to do. we went to the farmers market in arcata (aka. hippy heaven) this morning, took a long walk on the dunes by the ocean... and then played in the ocean!, made hot cocoa, explored a few used book stores, and went to the local co-op to get some last ingredients for the big meal we're making tonight. speaking of which, it's time to cook.
mrf
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