the first days

Wow, has it really been seven days? KT and I left her front step on May 19, passed through Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, and then into Canada and have today arrived at Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. That’s more than 1000 miles in a week. Ok, so our time hasn’t been great, but we’ve been having a great time! Some highlights:

Portland:
We’re hanging out with Katie’s friends, and today’s itinerary included a reading at Powell’s, the country’s largest independent bookstore. We’re here to hear Jen Lancaster, a non-fiction author who’s currently promoting her latest book, Such a Pretty Fat. The reading was held on the third floor in the Pearl Room. This place is so ridiculously large one needs to pick up a map at the front desk in order to have any idea of where to find anything. A compass wouldn’t hurt, either.
The Pearl Room houses Powell’s rare books collection and a little piece of ludicrous called the ‘Velveteria.’ As KT put it, this was “everything that ever was terrible painted on velvet.” A painting of Kiss was positioned directly behind the podium, and just to the left of that, a depiction of Jesus gazing forlornly upon a pair of torpedo-like knockers framed next door. But the Lord could’ve had his pick of boobs—they were everywhere interspersed between jaguars, unicorns, and celebrities all on fields of black velvet. Just a tad distracting, these pictures did somehow seem to fit the tenor of Jen’s reading—an excerpt on her mortifying foray into Yoga and Barbie cosmetology. Her style had a confessional, yet familiar quality to it and her audience was devoted: the Q & A section following involved a lot of esoteric questions around her other writings, past life-experiences, handbags, expensive shoes, and somebody named Fletch. I may need to scope out one of her books, although I was told I had to hate her first in order to love her through her first work.

Seattle:
We’ve finally made it out of Seattle, after zigzagging north and south along I-5 for two days. I have one question for you Seattle: is the freeway ever free?! Rush hour lasted approximately from 1:30 pm to 1:15 pm. Of course, this is only important if you’re driving along the interstate within the city limits. Which we where. For three days. Don’t ask. But I got to see the Emerald City.
We were hosted by KT’s cousin and her roommate, and their two cats, one of which was antisocial and possibly homicidal. Our visits to the city involved a few romps.
Our first stop Queen Anne Hill for a nighttime view of the famous Space Needle dominated skyline. Although the night was cloudy, the view was clear and the Space Needle was lit up as it loomed above Puget Sound.
The next day brought us to Pike’s Place for the large public market. We lunched on smoked salmon belly from the famous flying fish market—the mongers shout your order through the whole stand before sending it aloft from the iced barrow to the scale and back. After a dessert of a dozen fresh baked doughnuts, we trekked up the street in search of the original Starbucks coffeehouse. Just outside the door was a group of men singing soul acappella and we sipped our macchiatos at the counter to the soulful grooves.
A short drive brought us back to Queen Anne Hill where we strolled along the locks toward Fremont. The neighborhood of Fremont has a tradition of peculiarity and it wasn’t long before we found a giant troll eating a Volkswagon beneath an overpass. We also saw the center of the universe, conveniently denoted by a street sign, and an old soviet missile that had been erected atop one of the buildings near the center of the universe.
Trying to leave the next day, we wound up getting stuck in REI trying to run some short errands. Ok, we didn’t get held up; we were drooling over the merch. But eventually we made it back onto I-5 to leave the city before....
“Oh, KT, I think I left my camera at the house!”
So, back down the freeway we went, ultimately staying an extra night in order to skip the traffic. We even got to see Prince Caspian in the deal!

Canada:
We made the border soon the next day and met the strangest situation we could’ve never expected. No, our piles of canned goods were not confiscated. No, we weren’t questioned suspiciously about our loose itinerary (“I guess we’re hoping to be in Alaska in a couple of weeks....”). It was, apparently, our employment histories that raised some eyebrows. OK, it wasn’t even my employment history. Here’s how it went down:
Border Officer: What are your occupations?
Us: We’re unemployed.
BO: What had you done previously?
Me: I worked in a kitchen in a therapeutic community.
BO: *nods* And you?
KT: Biology.
BO: *eyebrow* Can you be more specific?
KT: I worked in research.
BO: What does that mean?
KT: I was a research biologisit... I did biological research.
BO: You’re going to have to clarify that for me.
And on it went. Poor KT left the border now questioning not only the reasons for this crazy trip in the first place, but also her entire existence and purpose in this life.

So those were the first days. This post is getting long enough, so I think I’ll break the rest up into more for later. Enjoy! Oh, yeah, and stay tuned for pictures!