Uhh...ok

Huge, inflatable crawdad, Jake's
Photo by Lawrence

Portland was great. And not just because every time I left my hotel room someone was offering me a beer. That was great - don't get me wrong. But Portland had so much more to offer.

For one thing, there was the seafood. I ate most of mine raw, but you can get just about anything you want, from Dungeness crab to King Salmon to Pacific tuna to...well anything.

And you can play tourist or be super cool. We intended to do both, eating sushi one night at Masu and crab the next night at Jake's. But Jake's hung out a huge, inflatable crawdad that morning. And wouldn't you know it, every tourist in Portland (which that day included a posse of physicists) flocked down there. Phooey. So we just walked back to Masu and told them that we'd had such a fabulous time we wanted to ride again. They were cool about it.

I think they welcomed us back because they knew - somehow - we'd just come from The Strangest Shop in Portland. No, I don't remember it's name. It's an import shop full of pottery, furniture, jewelry, shoes, expandable Chinese dragons, paper lotus blossums, pencils, and members of the Worker's Party riding to the Moon on a rocket, while holding scythes. Yes, scythes. Because there's a harvest to take in on the Moon, didn't you know?

We liked it. And we were a little weirded-out by it. So we needed warmth, sake, and an adorable waitress with pink hair and a green flower over her ear. Naturally, Masu obliged.

Did I mention the "fantasy sauce"? Yeah. If you're ever in Portland, Masu's the shizzle. That's all I'm saying.

Gotta motor, the hoos wants to watch a movie...