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With uncut hair and shabby attire, I am nervous when I visit my company's Seattle office for repairs to my laptop computer. Luckily, I attract no attention of consequence and I escape back into the streets. I meet my friend Wendy at the airport and we spend several days in the Seattle area. We attend the progressive arts festival, Bumbershoot, where we discover that breakdancing is alive and well and we watch a bluegrass band cover Ozzy Osbourne songs. We hike through fog in Mt. Rainier National Park and at Wendy's request we spend a night at a Wal-Mart where she wakes up early to watch the sun rise over our favorite store.
Griffin and I explore Mt. Saint Helens and I learn about the mechanics behind the eruption of 1980, which is considered small among geological events, even though the mountain lost 1,300 feet in elevation. I pick up my brother Doug in Portland and we tour Oregon and the northern California coast. We hike through a lava tube by lantern light, we climb to a peak overlooking Crater Lake and we stroll through groves of redwoods. Near Portland, I meet up with local hashers and attend a town-wide Oktoberfest celebration where I learn to polka, but not well. |
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