Michele is my best, best, best friend. She has been laughing at my jokes and listening to me ramble on and on for the past 25 years. That alone should get her sainthood. But there’s more! She’s humble, wise, sincere as the eye can see, patient, gentle, kind, loving, brilliant, tender-hearted, funny as hell, and pretty much the most wonderful person you’d ever be lucky enough to have as a friend. I would go on for pages more, but she hates that sort of thing and would probably slug me.This is a mini diary of our trip to Portland and Seattle in October 2010, when she was nice enough to come out here and help me celebrate my birthday. It was, without exaggeration, a completely perfect week. I am incredibly blessed to have Micheley in my life. As I'm sure anyone who knows her will agree.
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| The City of Seattle, as reflected in the window of the Space Needle. |
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| Sellwood district of Portland, where food carts rule and Buddhists make unagi in their Airstreams. |
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| Standing on the dock of the bay, Portland |
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| What a time we had at ol' Brick's. It's simply unimaginable to not stop when you see an octopus and a chicken outside a barbershop, and a mad Russian beckons you in for an eyebrow wax. Surrealism at its finest. |
The hearse at the mausoleum. It was all going so well, until...I got snagged. And snagged by a mortician is harsh, I gotta tell ya!
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| An incredible store in Sellwood called Justin & Burks, a mom/gay son operation in which taxidermy and chandeliers huddle side by side. It's kind of like a date between Truman Capote and Annie Proulx... |
