Taylor’s Blog

I have been meaning to write about my trip to Curitiba, Brazil for a long time now.. I went back in October with the UNCG Bryan school.. It was a 2 elective credit “course” – Experience Business Abroad.. I have to say the trip was amazing.. I had a great time, and I learned a lot about Brazil..

The trip was only for 10 days, 3 of which were spent traveling; We mostly did educational related stuff on the trip.. We did some tourism stuff toward the end of the week, but it was raining the last few days we were there so some of those plans had to get scraped.. Overall Brazil is a beautiful country, and I would love to go back.. My tourists visa is still good for 4 and a half years, so hopefully I can make it back before then.. The visa cost $140 bucks; Brazil has a reciprocal visa cost and since the states charges Brazilians that much for a tourist visa they in turn charge us the same.. Most other countries the visa is free, or significantly less costly.. The EU I believe it is around $30 USD.. Figures..

Day 1 & 2 – Greensboro to Charlotte to NYC to São Paulo to Curitiba

The first 2 days were mostly spent traveling.. We had to take a bus to Charlotte to catch a flight to JFK where we sat for 7-8 hours.. Most of the group went to Manhattan to do some tourist stuff, but I opted to stay in the airport and have some beers with 2 others from the group.. Nothing very exciting.. After that we took a completely packed plane to São Paulo and then another to Curitiba.. The travel plans were made by a tourism company, and we were not allowed to make our own plans for getting to Brazil, otherwise I would have never chosen such a strange and convoluted path.. You could go from Charlotte/Greensboro to Miami and onto Brazil much quicker.. No idea why we went the way we did..

Paul and I at some airport bar in JFK (Thanks for the photo Shelby)

When we arrived in Curitiba they took us to the hotel, and we were supposed to meet up at what I thought was 8pm to go somewhere; turns out it was actually 7pm.. Shelby and I ended up going to a bar down the street from the hotel (Democratas) and missed the group.. There was no way to contact them, so we went back to the bar.. At the bar it was very obvious that only knowing English and Deutsch wasn’t going to leave any means of communication.. To order a dark beer at the bar I pointed at the empty pint glass and said “negro”, which eventually got the message across.. Turns out “escuro” means “dark” in Português and that’s how the locals would order a dark beer.. At this point I decided that I need to at least learn Español, brush up on my Deutsch, and maybe why not learn Português if I want to come back to Brasil..

View from my hotel room of Curitiba.. I stitched these together from a few photos..

Day 3 – FAE

FAE was the name of the university that we spent most of our time at in Curitiba.. The group went there, and we had many presentations about Brazil, doing business there, how the country works, etc.. The main thing that I took away from everything we learned in the classroom is the family oriented nature of Brazilian culture.. In Brazil family comes first, not financial gains as in the states.. It may be one of the things holding Brazil (sort of) back from breaking into being a world power.. Business decisions are made based on who your parents are not your skills or experience.. It’s sort of weird.. America may be too centered on simply making money, and family comes second.. Look at our divorce rate, and how many people do we know who are not happily married..

One interesting thing that was very obvious about Brazilian culture was the openness of sexuality.. Walking to FAE from the hotel I saw a few couples making out on the sidewalk in the middle of the day.. PDA is accepted in their culture.. No one thinks anything of it.. I guess they aren’t nearly as prudish as American’s tend to be.. I can’t think of any other country I have been to where it was just that out in the open..

The group in the classroom where we would spend much of our trip (on FAE campus)..

More to continue later…

I took some pretty cool photos on the Seaplane(s) I took between Seattle and Victoria, BC.. I don’t
feel like telling you guys aboot my trip yet eh.. I thought the photos were wicked cool enough to waste you time though eh..

View from close to the top of some peak we hiked up
that kicked my butt

Plane I took from Victoria to Seattle when arriving in
Canada

Downtown and Puget Sound

I took some more that
are on Picasa too.. Just click on the photos for more..

I didn’t get many photos but here are the few I got that turned out worth a crap..

So hopefully I haven’t forgotten too much from the trip out west to go to the Sasquatch! festival in
George, WA..

Day One – AA Cancels out flight shoves us on US Air instead

So Sheila and I drove to RDU to start our journey.. We stop
at Bojangles to pickup some Cajun Filet biscuits for Jake (which I will keep cold in my book bag) as the most awesome of presents from the Carolinas.. We
get to RDU with 2 hours to spare, and go to check in at the terminal.. Turns out one part of our flight to Seattle has been canceled so they try and see
who else they can book us on.. They are looking at all kinds of options.. Through Regan National, Philly, Atlanta, I even heard the lady mention
Anchorage.. So finally they get us re-booked on US Air.. Every time I fly US Air I hate them more and more.. This flight re-enforced my hatred.. The
flight to Philly was OK, then on the flight to Seattle for about 5 minutes at super loud volume they subject the captive audience to all of the benefits
of having a Bank of America US Airways Dividend Miles card.. It was so loud folks sleeping were woken up, the speakers were rattling in the housings, and
everyone was looking around at each other with “What the fuck?” looks on their faces.. i can understand a 15 second spin at the same volume as everything
else but a whole fucking monologue for 5 minutes? Yeah.. Nice shit.. Oh and there was no food on the planes.. Well you could pay 5 bucks for a “fun
box”.. I am pretty sure it isn’t my idea of a fun box..

Day One – The Hooker at the Airport

So when we finally get to Seattle (only
an hour later after major re-routing) we go to get our rental car.. We are on the “courtesy bus” with a white girl in her early 20s with an older Japanese
guy.. I mean he looked old, so knowing how Asians typically age he had to be 50 or more.. This girl was all over him.. Holding his hand, sleeping on his
shoulder.. It struck both Sheila and I as odd, especially when we realized his English skills were pretty much non-existent.. So he goes in and rents the
car.. Well more like the girl fills out the paperwork, and makes him pay for it.. He gets in the car and drives to the parking lot, and then she gets in..
Hooker? Thats all Sheila and I could figure out.. I guess she was too young to drive the car, or didn’t want a paper trail.. I dunno.. How much would it
cost to take a hooker on a trip like that? I can’t even imagine..

Day Two – Shopping and the Drive to Sasquatch!

We didn’t do too
much Friday other than drive around Seattle getting crap to go camping.. Whole Foods for food, Target for a cooler, Anthropologie for Sheila to go
shopping.. We got stuck in Memorial Day traffic driving out to the Gorge.. I think it took us maybe 4 hours to get out there.. We get there right at
sunset.. Unlike Bonnaroo there was pretty much no line to get in, but there was complete chaos parking / finding a camping place.. Once we finally got
parked we had a massive area to camp in.. We setup our tent, have a beer, smoked a joint and went to bed.. I wanted to stay up, but I didn’t have the
energy and that was it.. Maybe I am just getting old.. Oh yeah it was also maybe 50 degrees outside and windy as fuck..

View from our campground..

Day Three -
Day One of Sasquatch!

So we get woken up at 7am by some fucking high school kids who the night before had gotten super drunk and kept talking
in French with a serenade of Reggae.. In addition to the sun blazing in the tent, we didn’t really need the Reggae blasting so much to wake everyone up in
a 30-40 foot radius.. Bastards.. Funny thing is they went back to bed at 8 after waking up everyone else..

So I don’t really remember what we ate,
but we have some wine at some point before heading over to the Gorge..

The “search” at the festival is quite the
joke.. Nothing like just holding my bag for a second or two and saying “your good”.. I really think I could have brought a pound of weed into the festival
and it would have been a-ok.. So the first day it’s hot as hell.. Not hot from the air temperature, but from the sun.. We get baked, and fall asleep..

The view at the Gorge is amazing..

I
wake up all sunburned with Neko Case on.. When we first sat down it was the Saturday Knights.. Some rapper kids from Seattle that really aren’t that good
but KEXP keeps pushing them.. “I’m on the dance floor; and the DJ dropped my 45; I was so hyped that I dropped my 45; and everybody just danced danced
danced danced..” I mean thats really creative since a 45 can be a record as well as a gun.. Wow.. Anyway so that night Arcade Fire was outstanding.. It
was by far the best performance of the night.. I also don’t know what the deal is with Mano Chau.. There were all these people dancing all spasticly
tossing tortillas all over the place.. Whats up with that?

Sara Silverman who was supposed to host the festival only made 2 appearances.. The
second one was a joke about doing lines in th bathroom.. Then she never showed up again.. Did she get so coked out they had to send her home? No one
knows, but I am sure there is an awesome story behind it..

So Bjork came on at the end of night one, and she is so well rehearsed that it was like
listening to the CDs, and the stage show was like watching a video.. Maybe I should have been more interested but after being burnt to a crisp we bolted
after a few songs..

We went back to camp, and passed the eff out.. Well there was some drunken ramblings from the guy next us about goin’ out and
killin some folks or something.. Yeah White trash is everywhere not just the south.. I forgot his name, but he was a high school drop out from Seattle
that seemed to ruin the trip for everyone in his group.. Anyway he sucked but that’s what you get camping at these kinda shows I guess.. I can say “we were
all young” and dismiss some stuff, but i can’t say “we all got wasted and talked about killing things”.. Enough of him..

Day Four – Sasquatch!
Day Two

We took our time getting over to the festival the second day.. I didn’t really have that much interest in the first bands so we just
cooked out, drank more wine, hung out with our cool neighbors from Portland who are moving back to Austin.. They were in a band.. The Twin Nites.. Their
band sounded like Tool sorta.. Cool kids..

Day Four – Runnin’ From the Law (If you don’t read anything else of this blog read
this part)

So when walking to the amphitheater you get to a point where you can’t have alcohol anymore.. I guess it’s the property
line.. Well on Day One we pounded our drinks and then stood in line for an hour in the sun waiting to get searched.. So we decided on Day two we would
bring some beer along and just sneak it across the line.. So Sheila and I are walking over with our trusty cans of Miller Lite.. Sheila has a few more in
a bag.. We get to the checkpoint and the “security” folks (they looked to be younger than us just some college kids working for the summer) tell us we
can’t have our beers and we need to finish them.. Sheila says “What are you going to do?” and puts the extra beer in her bookbag right in front of the
security girl.. I notice there is a huge crowd coming which we could easily get lost in, and the security girl says to Sheila “I can’t let you go through
with that beer”.. I am about to suggest to Sheila that we just wait for the crowd and get lost in it and we’ll be fine, and she says “Lets run!”.. I am
about to say something, blink my eyes, and the streak known as Sheila is off running to save her 1/2 can of Miller Lite.. I decide I had better just stay
put.. There are 3 rows of security folks, and really it seems like she has no chance of making it anywhere.. The security guard immediately gets on her
Walkie Talkie and says “We got a runner.. Catch her” to which the third row of security springs into action and is in hot pursuit..

Now this is
where it gets even better.. Sheila makes a right turn down some other road, not the path to the festival.. Security follows her down what turns out to be
the driveway to the property owners house.. At this point the security girl who radioed ahead for backup turns to me and says “Looks like your friend is
gonna be in a lot of trouble and won’t get to go to the show now.. She has alcohol on private property, an open container, and now is trespassing”.. i
just reply back “Yeah OK.. We’ll see..” and proceed to walk a little bit toward the access road to see exactly what is happening..

Sheila by this
point has been caught (more tapped on the back from behind from the security guard who chased her).. She is being walked back to “The Trailer” for
questioning.. I at this point decided to just wait outside and not get roped into this mess and possibly have my bag searched.. Sheila is laughing
hysterically at this point and it is about all I can do to hold back my laughter as well..

I am not sure what happened in the trailer.. I’ll let
Sheila blog about that, or tell you in person.. Basically she said they didn’t give her a citation cause she was laughing the whole time, and some guy was
hitting on her.. After a few minutes Sheila is walked back to where I am sitting and the “escort” is laughing his ass off, I shake his hand, we have a
laugh or two, and he tells us something like “Try and stay outta trouble” cracking up the whole time.. The best part is they never searched Sheila’s bag
so we still had the beer!

Day Four – The rest of the festival

We freeze our ass off in the wind waiting for Spoon and Interpol to
show up.. Apparently the wind was so bad they had to cancel Spearhead and put them on another stage later..

Here are a buncha folks freezing their ass
off..

Spoon and Interpol were pretty good.. Spoons
set was VERY short I guess due to the wind delays.. We opted to skip the Beasties after having seen them a billion times before and skip town back to
Seattle.. We get back to Jakes around midnight, and crash out hard..

Day Five – Memorial Day

So we wake up late, Jake checks to see
if he has to go to work or not, and it turns out doesn’t have to.. Heh.. So we just hang out on his roof, and go on a quest for beer drinking.. Eventually
we go out that night and have a few drinks at some bar with Pool Tables and Shuffleboard.. Nothing to exciting, except hanging out drinking beers with
Jake is always a good time since I only get to see him once or twice a year..

Day Six – The Aquarium
We went to the Seattle aquarium
Tuesday since we had time to kill before the redeye at 11pm.. It was pretty small, and the only cool parts where the otters and the octopus.. We had some
chineese food at Pike Place, and then have the most awesome Sushi with Jake after he gets off work..

Day Seven – Flying Back (felt like 3 or 4
days)

Between delays, turbulence that really scared the shit outta me (I am normally fine on a plane, but I swear we dropped 100s of feet),
screaming babies, layovers at 5am in Texas, Driving to Greensboro, Park and Ride busses, it seemed to take forever to get home.. It did actually take us
20 hours door to door from Seattle to Greensboro.. So yeah that part sucked.. We made it home and started the frantic cleanup to prepare for the party on
Saturday..

Summary

I always love going to the Pacific Northwest.. I really want to go back.. Hopefully I can get Sheila to go to UW,
UBC, or someplace out there for Grad school instead of NYC.. I won’t complain about NYC, but something about the feel of the Pacific Northwest.. I guess
it brings out my inner hippie..

If you ever go to the Gorge bring your own food.. That was the worst part of the festival.. Your had pretty much
no food options.. It was just overpriced shit like Walnut Creek with hour or two long lines.. If we brought our own food in it would have been WAY
better..

Well i don’t have much to blog about, but Sheila and I went to the National Zoo (in DC) today.. The
main reason was to see Tai Shan (baby panda cub) before he gets shipped back to China in the middle of this year.. Tomorrow we are going to see the
holocaust museum then Ikea.. Yippie! I can’t wait.. Hopefully the snow here won’t cripple 95 tomorrow..

So I guess with that said I’ll let the
photos flow.. All I can say is yeah I love narrow depth of field photos..

Here
is Tai Shan going to town on some bamboo

Hippo who seemed to be pretty
depressed and in quite a small cage/pool..

Lemur!

This still photo doesn’t really give you any idea how trippy the invertebrate house was..

So the Sasquatch! Festival Lineup was announced
today.. Screw Bonnaroo.. Coachella would be a pain in the butt to co-ordinate.. Sasquatch it is.. Jake says the venue is awesome.. Music festival on the
Columbia river.. Talk about rad.. I just got plane tickets.. Buying the event tickets on March 3rd when they got on sale.. American has some seats for 200
+ tax out there (RDU->SEA) at least right now..

Anyway I am excited.. Should be fun.. 20k people is WAY less than the stinkin’ 80k for the ‘Roo..
Screw Tool (yeah hbomb you can like em, but I don’t)..

Well that’s what i’m doing for Memorial day.. Who wants to give us a ride to/from RDU, let
us ditch a car for a week?

So this is where Sheila and I
will be..

Until next time..

I figured I might need to get the rest of the trip documented before school starts tomorrow.. I’m
pretty nervous about it, but i’ll be aight..

Moving right along..

Here are a few photos from the Sea Ranch.. There was this little chapel
at the Sea Ranch.. The wedding didn’t take place there, but it was quite interesting.. Sheila and I went and took some photos of it.. Its sorta like a hat
or something.. Anyway..

Sheila and I after the wedding.. All dressed up, the pacific behind us.. You can see we are
already priming the hangover from hell..

My rents.. See they finally made
myspace..

So the food and drink was amazing at the reception as well.. There were 4 or 5 courses.. Sheila and I probabbly drank a few bottles
worth of wine.. One of my cousins and his wife fell down on the second song.. I danced with my mom.. You know.. General wedding tomfoolery.. I got to
meet my new cousins.. Dan was one of them who insisted we call him Bobo.. I met other cousins I never had met before at all.. Jen and her husband
Mike..

Here is Mike twoard the end of the night, or at least where it gets very
hazy.. Mind you Sheila just pulled out the Tequilla shots.. I think shortly thereafter I asked the bride if she got high (knowing full and well she
doesn’t)..

So the next day we wake up wondering what has happened, realize we left Dan / Bobo sitting in the grassy field.. We also realize we left
a bottle of wine or two out there and some glasses.. I can see it now.. “Hey mommy.. Whats this?”.. So with the help of Naproxin we drive to San
Francisco..

It takes forever.. CA1 is the worst road to drive on hung over.. Man it was horrible.. I mean its terrible anyway..

So we get
there after what seems like eternity.. Take the car back, drop off all our stuff at Lauras place, and proceed to sleep the rest of the hangover off..

The next day we tool around San Fran with Jon some.. We go to the coast, and Sheila finally touches the Pacific for the first time on the
trip..

Then after that we have some brews and get a tour of the coolest
printing place in the world (Lauras old job).. We wimped out of going out that night again.. The next day Laura, Jon, Sheila and I head to a beach
somewhere south of San Fran.. The water was cold as hell and it was windy.. We still got some sun, so I don’t look quite so white..

Jon and Laura..

Jon, Myself and Sheila at a Pacific beach..

So after that we have a few beers back
in town.. Shoot some pool.. Sheila and I burn a buncha brain cells.. I am pretty sure Jebus was there.. Our last day we slept it all away cause of the
previous evening..

We get a ride to the airport, and leave on the redeye back to NC.. We left before the “no liquid” crap started, but it went
into effect for our connection in The City where Fun Goes to Die and Raleigh.. This evil fucking bitch at the airport decided pizza and cookies also were
“gels and liquids”.. Sheila and I were rude as hell to this lady.. In retrospect we were a bit out of line, but her demands were constantly changing..
First its liquids.. Then its toothpaste.. Then its pizza.. Then its a bottle of naproxin (which saved my life after the wedding).. Of couse Sheilas
vicadin was OK cause it had her name on it.. Anyway.. We were pissed.. We get back to raleigh finally after what seems like forever.. Of course cause of
the craziness of the airports that day and barely mising our connection our bags show up about 12 hours later..

All in all it was a crazy and fun
trip.. It was great to see some of my old friends (Jake & Jon), meet some new friends (Laura & Jen), meet new and old family (Cousins (AKA Cuzlos – This
term was created around the time the Tequilla came out at the wedding.. It means cousin..) and what not.. Too many to list, but Jen, Mike and Dan were
really fun)..

Anyway.. I have homework to do.. Classes start tomororw.. Tonight I will eat what may be my last meal at Thai Villa.. Raleigh I will
miss you.. Greensboro starts tomorrow..

McMenamins Kennedy
School in Portland was really awesome.. Here are some photos from it.. It’s like a resort for cool people.. Bars, Movie Theatre, and great food all
under one roof..

This is the room we stayed in, complete with
chalkboard..

One of the many hallways.. It was decorated with salvaged stuff
from a building in Portland in an elementary school theme..

Outdoor patio
where we ate lunch, dinner and a tipsy midnight snack..

After the Kennedy school we drove twoard Crater Lake, and camped somewhere about 50 miles
north of Crater Lake..

The campsite along with the hood of our piece of crap
rental car..

So the road up to Crater Lake is quite scary.. There are no guard rails and the edge of the road is a drop off into oblivion that is
maybe 2 inches from the side of the road.. We head up there take a quick look.. Its as pretty as I remember it from when I went to Oregon as a kid.. We
stop in the Crater Lake Lodge resteraunt I have the best scone I have ever had in my life.. Ask Sheila.. I couldn’t stop talking about it for days.. It
had some lemon and orage zest in it, and some cranberrys.. Man Oh Man..

After crater lake we drive to the Redwood forrest in Cali.. The trees are
so big.. I mean you hear about how big they are, but you really get no appreciation for it until you are there.. I mean look at these guys..

Yes I am
humping the tree if you are wondering..

So we camp in the Humbolt county
state park that night.. On our way to the Sea Ranch we see a bunch of hippies at a festival right at the county line.. Coincidence? I think not..
Heh..

The wedding was beautiful, as was the condo we stayed at with my folks.. I forgot to take pictures of the condo we stayed, but it was the
“Moore Unit” which was Charles Moores personal condo.. He was a famous architect, and it
was still decorated as he had it.. There were nick-nacks from all of his world travels in the entire place.. Whenever I get the rest of hte photos out of
my camera I’ll post photos from the wedding and San Fran..

For now check out the photos of these seals that were hanging out by our condo one
morning just sunning themselves..

Sheila and I flew out last Wednesday at the ass crack of dawn from RDU.. Taking my favorite airline
(US Airways) to Seattle.. The flight was as to be expected.. Crappy, long, not sleep inducing (the 1 vicodin didn’t do anything.. waste of time I guess)..
I did get to try out the guys neck pillow next to me, and I am getting two of those puppies before I get on a plane again, it really feel like it is the
trick to sleeping on a plane..

So day one we arrive and stay with Sheilas very kind friend Jen who takes us to Upper Queen Anne to get a good view
of the skyline.. We then go down to Seattle center wander around.. Then we are getting sleepy, so whats the cure for being tired? Alcohol.. Of course..
We started drinking at around 4, my buddy Jake (who I haven’t seen on the west coast since he moved here 10 years ago) shows up at some point, and well
much of the rest of the night is a blur.. We play pool, drink, make merryment and what not..

The view from Upper Queen Anne.. The mountain is out too..

So the next morning
we go and see the “Troll” under the bridge that I have had numerous people tell me we have to see.. The bridge that 99 runs across has this art troll
holding a vw bug.. And well just look at the picture.. Pretty cool..

So then we take the “underground” tour of Seattle.. its a pretty tourist tour of
some underground parts of Seattle.. I did learn a good deal about Seattle.. Who it was named for (Chief Seattle), and about the sewage problems they had
here for some time when it was being founded, etc.. To sum it all up the city raised the streets tfor some reason with the tides and the buildings weren’t
at the same level for a small area of town.. They the city made the building owners make their entrances on the new street level.. It was cool, and we saw
this really trippy parking deck, that I don’t think my photo gives justice..

Part of the “underground”..

The parking deck.. You get the impression at first it is level, but it actually is
angled opposite of the street so it looks like its sunken down in teh back, or like a ship about to crush you.. Both Sheila and I were still starting at
it going “what the fuck” when the light changed and the pedestrians started to keep going..

So Friday we do what we vow to be the last touristy
thing of the trip.. We went to one of my favorite countries.. Canada.. We took the Victoria Clipper up to Victoria, and did the tourist thing there.. We
took a bus to the Butchart Gardens which were absolutely amazing.. I won’t bore you with the details as you can read their website and or Wikipedia Entry.. It was nice to show Sheila Vancouver Island, and the gardens were really
amazing, but it was not worth the money.. The Clipper was expensive, and had the worst food on it.. Nutrigrain bars, and other packaged schlock all
wrapped up together in a basket for 5 bucks.. We passed on the food and just made mimossas with the Champagne and OJ they were selling..

The sunken garden.. One of the colorful gardens..

After being driven around
on a tour bus on what was probably the hottest day since we got here (It almost hit 80F).. Hahahah.. You suckers back in NC must be melting.. I love the
climate here.. I have worn jeans everyday..

I digress.. After the gardens we wander around the more touristsy part and look at the totems that are
everywhere in BC.. I didn’t really get many good pictures cause they were all facing away from the sun in the afternoon and it was hard to not get a
washed out photo.. The colors were amazingly bright, and beautiful..

Sheila at the base of a totem pole..

So Saturday we hung out with Jake and get the best Sushi I have ever
had.. Mind you this is after being stuck in traffic all stinkin day.. After the Sushi we headed back to Jakes place for a short “nap”.. Ha! That didn’t
exactly happen.. We woke up the next day.. This is after killing 2 pitchers in maybe 45 minutes, and then heading to the Sushi place.. If anyone wants a
good suggestion for a sushi place in Seattle i’ll get you the name from Jake.. Man it was great..

So Sunday we tool around, eat breakfast in
Freemont, head to the U District, go to Gasworks park (I forgot my camera, but the view of the city was awesome).. I got a really cool Adidas jacket at
this thrift store.. We say our goodbyes and hop the train to Portland.. We get to portland pretty late walk to downtown NYC style with all our luggage and
get a hotel room at some overpriced hotel.. You know the kind where they charge you for everything? 9.95 for Internet, 24.95 for breakfast, 5.00 for
some old ass expired rolaids in the minibar..

Monday night we stayed at this McMenamins Kennedy School.. I will post pictures later, but its
basicly a brewery, hotel, movie theatre in an old elementary school.. Its cool as hell.. We are staying in “Mrs. Drews Room”.. We had drinks at the Honors
bar, and then the Detention bar.. Mind you this is all walking (or wobbling / stumbling) distance from your hotel room.. Check the Wikipedia Entry.. If anyone comes to Portland this is the place to stay..

Today we are going
to drive to Crater Lake.. Hope everyone back home is doing OK and hasn’t melted yet.. If you want a postcard email me your address and i’ll be sure to
send you one..

So last night after work I met some fellow co-workers at this “sports bar” called Dugans between the
office and my hotel room.. My friend / co-worker Sue was in town as well, so we at least had someone to hang out with.. I head over to this “sports bar”..
I park, and walk up and can smell the moldy dankness as I turn the corner to head to the front door.. Walk in the door and see a bunch of crappy pool
tables, and a bar complete with the finest of beers on tap.. Bud.. Bud Light.. Bud Select and something else.. The music is the Columbia K97.5 station..
Booty jams 24/7.. A little Kanye West thrown in for good mix, but you should start to get a good picture of what this place is like.. The 4 of us split a
5 dollar pitcher of Bud.. They don’t have enough pint glasses, so two of our group has to drink out of highball glasses..

Sue had them put Curling on the TV so we could finish watching the Japaneese and USA women.. I barely understand the game myself, but Sue starts
explaining it.. This incredibly high dude walks over and starts rambling about how he loves that game with the “you know..”.. He starts makign a sweeping
motion with his hands.. His name turns out to be Steven Tony.. He had dreds, and sort of reminded me of a parliment reject.. He started telling Sue how he
liked it when the women swept.. He also had this strange facination with the movie Blade (which I recently saw on TNT for the first time in years) or just
everlasting life in general.. He said one of the guys I was with looked “like the dude from blade”.. I have no idea which one.. It could have just been
cause all white people look alike, cause I didn’t see any resemblance to anyone in the movie.. The older guy Dean who was with us was “about 10 centuries
old” according to Tony.. He didn’t say anything about me or Sue..

He kept asking for some of Deans blood so he could live forever.. He also propsitioned Sue for her blood, but she didn’t give him any.. I wanted to get a
few drops of his blood.. I figured that would easily get my high for a few weeks.. Twoard the end of our stay at Dugans this guy with no teeth comes over
an started asking if he could borrow 2 dollars.. I was waiting for the typical story “I need to borrow 5 bucks so I can get back to Winston Salem thats
where my wife and kids are and my car is outta gas” story.. Nope.. This guy wanted to borrow 2 dollars so he can bet on his pool game.. He claimed when
he bet money he played better.. I don’t know why we kept meeting these interesting people, but we decided after 2 pitchers it was time to go..

We tried to eat at Outback which had a 2 hour wait, and went an actual sports bar that had 2 dollar black and tans, and a horrible patty melt.. We get
back to the hotel, I have a few more beers and fall asleep.. I woke up at 4am with all my clothes on, lights off, and some local bible show on TV.. After
fumbling for the remote I turn off the bible dude and go back to bed..

So in Columbia, SC don’t be fooled by the name.. Dugans has nothing Irish about it, and I don’t see how its a “sports bar” at all..