Colorado/Iowa/Minnesota/Oregon Dash
It was recently pointed out to me in a polite, but firm tone (thanks Dawn) that my journal has sat idle for some time now. In fact things have been quite busy, including a great westward swing to see Laura in Denver, a couple trips to Minnesota, and then an even greater westward swing to Portland.
Laura moved out to Denver about a couple months ago (Dad drove the van out with her) and is settled into a cozy little apartment there. After helping out my grandparents for a while I got ready to head out for a visit myself. My parents and I drove down to Des Moines to see Wicked (well worth it and great music and set, though the book may be better), get a nice dinner at Django in Hotel Fort Des Moines, and tour the new sculpture garden at Gateway Park. From there we drove the hour south to Osceola to drop me off at the Amtrak station and then they drove back to Waverly. Took the train through Iowa and Nebraska and met Laura the next morning at Denver Union Station.
It’s actually the second time I visited her there, the first being back when she was interning over the summer there a year and a half ago. But it was great to be back, I enjoy it there and now I got to see her new abode. It’s a cute little three-story brick job, she has a studio on the second floor with plenty of space, a patio, and even a view of the downtown skyline. So she’s not suffering any.
I’d done the Liebeskind designed art museum and a couple of the hot spots on my first trip so this time was more relaxing, spending time with Laura and her friends, cooking a little, going out a couple times for some nice meals. I also found this amazing used bookstore, Kilgore’s I think. It’s small but they’re very particular about what they stock so everything on the shelves looks really interesting or is a popular title. Bought a couple things at Buffalo Exchange, lounged in Cheeseman Park, biked and ran around town, checked out the Stapleton neighborhood (a New Urban-ish place that came up in my architecture classes), went to a haunted house, toured a small contemporary design museum, and drove her friend Betsy’s truck for dinner in Idaho Springs and a short hike in the hills nearby. Laura and I also met up with my college friend Clint and his partner Deryk for dinner at Watercourse, and got to have drinks with Liz, Niner, Betsy, and some other friends of Laura’s, and went bowling with her co-workers (I got a personal best, 147 I think!). Oh, and I best not forget Sullivan, her rabbit!
Took the train back to Osceola, Iowa again. I had breakfast and read my book until my friends Katie and Carl drove in. They were in Kansas City and were happy to pick me up on their way back to Waverly. So that worked out really well.
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Next couple weeks were mostly quiet, spent some good time with my parents and dogs, including one night at Harmony, a contemporary American style place that recently opened there, great chef and an impressive restaurant for such a small town. I also drove to Strawberry Point to go for a run in Backbone State Park, always a nice escape in northeast Iowa. And the last weekend before my Portland trip I made a couple drives to Rochester, Minnesota with my Grandma. First day it was me and Dad, I took Grandma into the Mayo Clinic for her appointment while Dad drove the rest of the way to Minneapolis to pick up Laura at the airport (she was coming back for the weekend to be in her college friend’s wedding). Then the next day I drove to Rochester for my Grandma’s next appointment, this time with Mom. Rochester is actually a fairly cosmopolitan little place, I roamed a little downtown through an antique/relic store, went in the Barnes and Noble that’s in a beautiful old theater, and got a portabella sandwich at a swanky little bistro. Meanwhile the temperature dropped and we got pummeled pretty well by a thick blanket of snow, leaving town was a little sticky.
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And then Portland. I’d been itching to visit ever since getting back to the States. I thought about taking the train again or a flight, but decided that since I had the free time I felt like making the road trip with my parents’ spare car (after wrangling with some misgivings about using all that gas). So I arranged places to Couchsurf in Gillette, WY and Missoula, MT. The trip went smoothly, zipped across Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota the first day and got to Wyoming just in time with snow flying and making for tough driving. Great hosts there, chatted for a while in the evening, had some of their vegan chili, and was off in the morning. Stopped in downtown Gillette for a coffee on my way out and tread slowly across the snow-blown interstate. Luckily the weather warmed up and the snow petered out, it was a good thing I’d taken I-90 because I-80 was closed through Cheyenne.
Montana is such a vast place and an amazing drive just north of Yellowstone. It took me that whole day to reach Missoula with a couple stops along the way. I pulled into Billings for gas and a look around, even stopped in the St. Vincent DePaul’s and found a great $4 sweater. Got into Missoula and called my Couchsurf host there, a University of Montana student. I met him at his friend’s house where there were about 10 or 12 people milling about having a drink and making dinner. I was tired but enjoyed mixing in, I think only one of the students was actually from Montana. There were dogs running around everywhere, including the two biggest huskies I’ve ever seen. The owner was actually taking them to Alaska the next day for a mushing competition. Went back to my host’s place where his roommate introduced me to Flight of the Conhords TV series, somewhow I’ve never heard of it but was definitely amused. He also took me to the store across the street to buy some Kettlehouse Scotch Ale, which he said was the best of the local Missoula brews. In the morning I drove by campus and around downtown, grabbed a breakfast burrito at a buzzing little cafe and made the final drive to Portland. More Montana mountains, a stop in the little panhandle tourist town of Wallace, Idaho, through Spokane Washington, down to the Tri-Cities and finally across the Columbia into Oregon! Weaved through the gorge and finally pulled into my second home.
So I’ll be staying here two weeks or so before heading back to Iowa for Thanksgiving at the farm. My friend Dawn graciously put me in her guest room and it’s been exciting to see so many friends again. Went to a Halloween party, watched some football, ran the Wildwood trail, met Whitney for Happy Hour and spontaneously ran into friends from my old office. Plenty more people I want to see before I leave too.
As usual a longer entry than anyone wants to read through but eh…it’s as much a chance to write for myself as anyone else. But I’m looking forward to the next few days back in Portland and seeing some more people, feels all warm and tingly to be back here again.
