Loco Locos

Well, here I am in Hollywood...the Hollywood District of Portland, OR, actually. If I had a nickel for the number of times in the last month that someone has spoken words of high praise for this city or said "oh Erinn you'd love it there" in the last month, I could support my drinking habit and sponsor my travel bug. So I had to investigate. I'm staying with a friend of my mother's, exploring the various neighborhoods, city parks and art & music scene for which the city is known. Along the way I have also learned a few interesting facts, selling points which place Portland on the top of my list of "places to live in my lifetime" (well, the top of the "...in America" category anyway).
First, Portland has a car share program, called Flexcar, allows people to reserve and use a car whenever they like or need...for grocery shopping for example. I know I hated hauling my groceries home on the rush hour subway to 94th Street from 14th in New York City just because I liked shopping at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. You become a member and just estimate how often you will use a car each month and pay the corresponding fee. Turns out several other cities, like Seattle and Atlanta offer this service too. Who knew?
Portland really seems to have a green approach to things. My hosts even picked me up in a Prius...
Another interesting fact: Portland has a large immigrant and refugee population, including groups from Mexico, Russia Asia and all around Africa. There is an organization to support these individuals and foster easy transitions to American life...This makes me think of documentary about the Lost Boys of Sudan. Some were placed in cities like Buffalo, NY and Pittsburgh and were given a tour of the American grocery store...they were completely confused and appalled by the donuts with colored sprinkles. They couldn't believe we ate that stuff. Sometimes I can't either.


Word to the wise: if you're ever in this cool-ass city, hit up Powell's books. It's impressive.


My final comment for this entry: Is anyone even reading this??

At least it will serve as a historical travel log for myself in the future...

And the World Spins Madly On

Fairbanks, Alaska has a way, as I've been told an innumerable amount of times in my short span here, of latching on to you in ways that no other of the fifty states can. Despite its extremes in weather and tagged winters, this town inevitably tugs at your heart-strings and musters a certain "saudade" in one's psyche, thus causing one's perpetual stay. I've been reading up on the "Fairbanks winters" and poking my nose into others' conversations that always include some version of the phrase "...so this is your last Fairbanks winter, then?" or "(Fairbanks') winter's here! Are you ready?" and name-dropping low temperatures, like "minus twenty" or worse...and to the leyman these phrases can be intimidating. This might be especially so with continued knowledge that the towns you grew up in are now enjoying a lengthy and quite mild fall season, while here its already been flurries since Friday.

I have been an unbalanced scale of weights and measures this past month bouncing between musings of my first "Fairbanks winter" and anxious interest in getting the hell outa' here, bound for more familiar (i.e. "easier"?) climates and conditions. My intention literally changes day-to-day and I am certain that more than a few have begun to classify my whimsy as flakiness due to this constant limbo.
A valued friend's opinion is that this decision will not make or break my impressions of Alaska, and to some degree he's right. No matter where I'm goin', the world spins madly on... (check out the Weepies "And the World Spins Madly On").
But its that draw inherent only to Fairbanks (or maybe, I risk assuming, Alaska-wide?) that initiates this fickle-ty and prevents me from feeling satisfied with a committed decision to go or not go.
...I bought a plane ticket back east the other day and have plans to load up and haul out next week. Let's see if I actually board....or how long I'm gone.