five thousand shades of blue
Monday, June 17, 2002
We hoofed it (not literally) up to Portland on Saturday morning to spend the day there before seeing Cirque du Soleil Saturday evening. My car really really hates driving long distances, and by the time we got to Portland it kept stalling at every other red light or stop sign. We caravaned with another carload of friends, or should I say, we tried to, but we lost them at the gas station even before leaving town! Turns out they had been behind us and over a row at the pump, so I didn't see them. I guess her car is so nondescript and ordinary that I just didn't even notice it!
We finally rolled into Portland and met up with our wayward companions, pausing briefly to drop some stuff off at the house we were crashing at. We each had our own plans for the day, so we (An and myself) met up with a friend from a mailing list for... well, it was supposed to be coffee, but we decided to have lunch at McMenamin's across the street instead. It was a good thing we did because I just about inhaled my hamburger, I was so hungry by the time it arrived. We had a great time, albeit it too shortish. I still feel terrible about the parking ticket our friend got (pay-in-advance parking ran out :( )! (I will never ever ever ever complain about parking in downtown Eugene again. Ever.)
After that we backtracked to a Goodwill we'd seen and found some really cool stuff -- a Chinese chop (which mysteriously says "W.C.") and matching ink pot; a laquer bud vase with goldfish on it, and An got one of those silly pin-impression things that were so big in the 80s-early 90s.
We then headed to the
Portland Classical Chinese Garden, where we'd arranged beforehand to meet our fellow Cirque'ers. We pulled into a metered parking space just as it was vacated, only to find that over an hour remained on the meter! We hung out waiting for our friends at the beatufiully decorated, carved granite entrance gate. Turns out they'd gone inside already. We only had about an hour to enjoy it before it closed, and luckily we got to see the whole thing. It's only about as big as a city block but, as a friend put it, the further in you go, the bigger it gets. I wish I lived closer -- I'd volunteer all the time! It's beautiful and serene and my only complaint is that I wish the tall buildings in downtown Portland could vanish because it's the only thing really that shatters the illusion. (Well, that and the bathrooms.) I also wished it had been just us in there, though it wasn't as packed I'd heard it might be.
After enjoying the beauty and serenity, we had dinner at the nearby House of Louie (Chinese, YUM). Then we realized we would never have time to go back to our friends' apartment to change and still make it in time for the show at 8, so we grabbed our evening wear and changed in the ladies' room at
Powell's bookstore! They must have thought we were insane. (The men in our group were all set to go, of course. :) )
The show itself was amazing. Those performers ... not human. Can't be. I had seen the show on DVD and
love the soundtrack (happy to report that the main singers appear to be the same vocalists as from the DVD/soundtrack... that man's voice is AMAZING...) -- but seeing in person is a whole different ball game. WOW.
Hit a bit of a traffic snarl on the way home, and found out today it was because someone had driven their truck onto I-5, gotten out, and committed suicide by jumping into the path of a truck (big-rig I assume). Yoiks.
So it's Monday, and it's raining. At least the pollen will get washed out of the air. Grass season. Grass seed capital of the world. You do the math. :)
is
this just not enough…?
