The City of Roses and Rain

From Sasha

It had been too long since I visited my soul sister and oldest friend Automne. You know, the kind of friend that makes you feel like this:

 

Automne lives in Portland, Oregon, and so I packed a lot of wet weather gear. Portland owed me some grey skies, since the last few times I'd visited I'd had some seriously unseasonable (and unreasonably tempting) sunshine. Well, the gods of the Pacific Northwest complied, and all of my pictures have that gothic "low light" look. (I will thank those same gods for not raining on me...)

 

Portland has a lot of lovely, e-commerce-shiny buildings (come to find out, according to a poster in the airport, that P-Town is part of the "Silicon Forest"), but I prefer the well-loved areas best:

 

Evidence of the impressive annual precipitation can be found everywhere. Check out the carpet of moss on this wall (and mad props to Automne, who was only trying to take the dog out for a pee, but got accosted by my inner paparazzi):

 

No one in Portland wants for live music. In fact I got to see Automne's awesome band, Fever (for whom she rocks the keyboards), play at The East End on Saturday night. The place was packed-- Imean PACKED, girls-- with cute boys in tight pants and 70s haircuts. If this is the dreaded realm of the Hipsters, then sign me up! I was loving it.

Great flyers, typical of every lamp post:

 

Anywhere else in the world, it would be strange to see this painted on a garage. In this land of Socialist Co-operative cafes, vegan grocery stores, and a famous DIY ethic, it is completely normal:

 

...as are these stickers, in a typical bathroom. Does EVERYONE in the Pacific Northwest have their own sticker? Or at least their own Sharpie?

 

Just for the record, YES, I did some vintage shopping (if you are going, try House of Vintage on Burnside, but don't say I didn't warn you-- the place is massive! I almost got lost), but Portland for me is about my peeps. Old and new-- like Natalie, lead singer of Fever, seen here with me and Automne. Yes they DO have photo booths in their bars! And yes I did think I had died and gone to heaven.

 

Beer, Rock n' Roll, and Good Times. I heart PDX!