Sunday, November 2, 2008

Halloween

Well, I'm still here in Portland. Things have slowed down a bit in the jewelry department. I attribute this to the change in the season as the plentiful North Western rain not only drives out a lot of the tourists but creates a different, and possibly macabre mindset in the locals. That isn't to say I haven't been having fun. Some of those whom I've met that have lived in Portland for a while have told me that you're not a real Portlander unless you get wet. I personally love the rain, so it isn't getting me down.

For Halloween I had the distinct pleasure of partying with a group of some brilliant musicians and beautiful gypsies that form three of Portland's finer bands; NIAYH (Stands for: Now Is All You Have, check out their music video), Def Kids, and Shelter Kids. They performed at Reed College which is supposedly known for "rich hippies", whatever that means.

Also, in the time since my last entry, I've been hard at work building a more permanent urban camping shelter as packing up all of my gear every morning has become a nuisance. It would be nice to have a place where I could store my belongings instead of carrying them around with me all day. So I've moved out of Washington Park and into the much larger Forest Park. After doing several survey trips through Forest Park, each trip taking two or more days, I found a nice secluded place at the very top of the hill. To give you an idea of what this means, you really need to visit Forest Park as it is almost entirely comprised of hills that would make San Fransico jealous. My entire effort to survey the park was to merely find a flat spot that could hold several people through the night, away from the mainstream trails. Since everything to either side of any trail through the park is at a 45 degree incline or more, the only spot I could find was at the very top. This, however, means a 6 mile hike up one of Portlands highest and steepest hills to find it, with 100 foot drops-to-your-death along most of the trail. You can also get there by car and about a 1 mile hike, so getting supplies and people to the camp isn't necessarily hard. Only if you are coming by bus or streetcar. I hope to get more people up there soon. It's very peaceful and a bit exciting at the same time. It isn't completely city noise free as I can still hear the freight boats loading an unloading cargo along the Willamete River, and a few nights ago a pack of coyote came near my camp and began howling!