micah :: oregon_trip
Let the trippin' begin!Packed up in the morning, drove to Pitzer. Got there a few minutes early, so I walked around Mudd for a while. When I got back, Shirley scolded me for not being on time, hehe. Drove off to San Francisco, stopping briefly at a rest stop to rest. Snacked on apples, bananas, and Oreos. We had no trouble finding the place, as Kartik's directions were slightly ambiguous but technically flawless. Parked in a garage near Julie's dorm, and met her. To get into dorm at Berkeley between 2pm and 11pm, she had to show her ID, sign us in, and show our ID. Crazy. We walked to La Burrita and dined on chicken burritos. We went to Kartik's dorm and hung out for a while after he got back from OChem, all frantic about his midterm on Wednesday. So we drove over to Bowles, but Aaron was not there. Kartik was famished, so we accompanied him to a pizza place. Trying not to be indecisive, we went out to coffee at Strada's, sharing a peach Italian soda. Then off to bed. |
Day 1 |
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Day 2 |
Trippin' at Berkeley!(not a hard thing to do, if you catch my drift) |
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Trippin' to Oregon!With Kartik and Julie both up to see us off, Shirley and I started the Oregon leg of the trip at about 9am. Most of the day was taken up with driving. Went for a long way on LOW FUEL once. Saw a LOT of road kill. Gawked at Mount Shasta. Passed by the towns of Weed, Drain, Riddle... Stopped by a tourist information booth where we were virtually accosted by a helpful lady offering us maps and brochures of Oregon and Portland. Ate two day old sandwiches without meat, 'cause we ain't scared of no stinkin' germs. Ran around the car at rest stops to get our blood flowing again. Bought gas for high prices, despite reports that gas prices are at a record low. Ate soft tacos from Taco Bell. Drank Pepsi to stay awake. Cruise controlled often. Listened to Weird Al, Slayers, Ranma music, Smashing Pumpkins, Julie's mix tape, Will Smith, Mariah Carey. Talked about old days and new ones. And slowly but shirley we arrived in Newberg, Oregon. I even stopped at a gas station (at Shirley's prodding, I must admit) to ask for directions. A friendly guy at the George Fox student center pointed the way to Dave's dorm, capping our 10.5 hour trip. After settling in and changing into warmer clothing, we packed into a Civic destined for Portland, about an hour away. Portland was a very clean city, and the public transportation was futuristic. We walked along the river with a bunch of Dave's friends and saw a fountain in the middle of the walkway that claimed to be able to launch a man with its powerful jets. The Portland clubs were bumpin', this being a Saturday night. But we finally settled on a Greek restaurant, where we enjoyed a light dessert and scintillating conversation, all to the beat of the dance floor on top of the ceiling above our heads. Back on campus, we saw Shirley off to her room and proceeded to raid the Mariott cafeteria for a midnight sandwich. |
Day 3 |
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Day 4 |
Let's trip, eh!While Shirley slept in (sounds familiar...), Dave and I got up at ten for breakfast at the cafeteria. Then we walked over to the Newberg Friends Church, one of about 5 dozen churches in the town. Upon our return, we made a wake-up-call to Shirley's room, and met with her in the lobby. After a quick lunch, we decided to visit Powell's in Portland, "one of the largest bookstores in the world". Parking in the warehouse "ghetto" we spent an hour looking at the millions of books. Shirley came away with a couple fantasy/adventure books, while I escaped with only a katakana dictionary and a postcard. Our parking meter having expired, we left to a top-rate Mongolian barbecue that Dave had been to. It had seven or eight different kinds of meat, and you could use two bowls for one serving. We drove south to the Klackamus Mall ("where are we, Dave?!") intending to watch "Rush Hour" at the theatre. However, this particular theatre was not showing the movie, so we snuck inside the mall and watched from the second floor a hockey game going in the rink below. A security guard walked by and told us to leave, but we stayed a few more minutes. On the way back to the car, Dave gave Shirley the ride of her life on a public stroller that had been parked in front of the mall entrance. Back at George Fox, we started to watch the movie "Strange Brew" in Shirley's room. It stars Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as Bob and Doug MacKenzie, two daft Canadians whose speech is spiced with Canadian slang, e.g. "let's go hork some beer from that hoser, eh." But halfway through the movie, the hall RA showed up and informed us that hall hours were up so I had to leave the room, being in the girls' dorm. So Shirley and I stayed up late working on a puzzle while Dave chatted with his friends. But not too late, because we had to leave the next morning. |
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Trippin' back!Getting up at seven, I took a shower and went down for breakfast with Dave and Shirley. Dave left at eight for his class, but Shirley and I stayed to stealthily "hork" food from the cafeteria for the trip back. Bagels, sandwiches, bananas, and cinnamon rolls found their way into her backpack. After checking the fluid levels and refilling the gas tank at Tesoro Alaska gas station, we shoved out of Newberg. The return trip seemed shorter than the first drive. Doesn't it always? Having lost the map of Oregon to Dave, I navigated using the Force. More Oreos, the bagels, a banana and a peanut butter sandwich disappeared during the trip. Saw more roadkill. Made daisy chains at an Oregon rest stop. Discussed possessive brothers, the male obsession with jumping high, and my so-called "Mariah Carey fetish". Refuelled in the city where Shirley was born. Ate lunch at Taco Bell in a random town. When we got to Berkeley, Shirley suggested that we deliver my brother's stuff while we could. So we parked in an illegal zone above the football stadium and walked down to Bowles, where my brother lives. On the way we saw three deer, a buck and two does. Found my brother in his room, and delivered the goods. Julie was away watching anime, so we went up to Kartik's room. Waiting for Julie, we called Taiyaba's room and left a message. Then we went down to Myra Chen's room and had a delightful conversation with her about current events, high school, and future plans. After convincing Kartik to join us, we ambled over to Julie's dorm and met with Taiyaba, who is the security advisor for their dorm. She introduced us to some people on her floor and we talked for a while in her room. Saying goodbye, Shirley, Julie and I literally dragged Kartik with us to Strada's to keep him from going back and studying OChem, stopping on the way to look at some Korean music. Of course, he enjoyed himself immensely by availing himself of our ephemeral company (the white mocha and boysenberry soda helped, too). When the waiter told us that the cafe was closing, we (minus Kartik) went back to Julie's room to hang out. Then I returned to Kartik's room and slept. |
Day 5 |
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Day 6 |
Trip No Mo'!On Tuesday I enjoyed a rather lengthy sleep of eight hours. Woke up at nine, packed, and met Julie and Shirley in front of their dorm. After stowing our baggage in the car and feeding the meter, we broke our fast at the Durant Cafe, Julie, Shirley, and I having white chocolate and strawberry pancakes, egg sandwich and potatoes, and orange pancakes, respectively. Then it was back to LA. It was a rather silent six-hour trip that I don't remember very well, except that I was surprisingly tired after my eight hours the night before. We met our first heavy traffic of the trip on the 210 past Pasadena, but the carpool lane helped us out. Back at Pitzer, Shirley made me sit down and watch "Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail" as part of my cultural literacy education. Finally I can put a picture to "It's just a flesh wound!" We ordered pizza from Dominoes for dinner, ham for me, mushrooms for Shirley. Stayed for a while, watched television, wound a yarn ball, crocheted. Said goodbye. Drove home. |
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created by
micah@earthling.net
on 9/23/98