Hey Sun
When we arrived in Oregon it was late fall. The last seasonal color was only hanging on the most stubborn trees. We made it through December, statistically the coldest month, in which we turned on our heat once.
Now, two months on from our arrival, plants are sprouting (my allergies are raging) and the evenings are noticeably, ever so slightly, longer. I know it’s not springtime yet but we’ve had a few sunny days which sent sleeveless Portlanders to parks and rooftops to “soak it up” with enough zeal to make Sheryl proud.
In the spirit of newness that accompanies the season, we’ve officially adopted our foster pal Sadie.
She passed her audtion, exhibiting the correct combination of softness, aloofness and tolerance of stoner metal. This quietly opinionated lady wormed her way into our hearts and like the slowly returning sun, brought a ‘lil more brightness into our lives.
Soup Virgin
For anyone who may be in the mood for a swear laden, fishing and soup based adventure, Nate and I released episode #20 of Shorelunch yesterday. We shot this one on a brisk December morning back in Minneapolis.
It’s been fun to create and organically grow this program from nothing. From a global audience perspective our numbers are weak, but that’s not the point. From day one the mission has been to simply have a good time making good content and we’ve been immensely successful. Over time, I’ve come to realize that another positive of making the show has been the cool people that we’ve met along the way.
Speaking of cool people, Nate was recently invited on Joe Cermele’s Cut and Retie podcast to talk about our show. Joe is a podcaster and author who happens to be the former fishing editor of Field & Stream as well as, shockingly, a big fan of the program.
It’s sounding very likely that we’ll be out on the east coast in the coming months to film with Joe in a TBD capacity. This is a very big fish for our small potatoes.
Meow Friend!
Meet our ‘dorbs new roommate! Her name is Sadie and she’s a foster from Animal Aid in SW Portland. Sadly her former human had to be moved into memory care and could no longer look after her. She has a vigorous purr, loves belly rubs and being weird. Her “low walk” game is very strong (we’re speculating that she may have been a slinky in a previous life).
Holiday Hypnosis
I’ve just returned from a holiday whirlwind in the upper midwest. Here are some of my trip’s many achievements.
Shared food and drinks with many family members and friends
Luxuriated through a blizzard
Almost defeated The Oregon Trail card game (I died two cards away)
Forgot to pack pants
Found a plumber the day after Christmas to snake our sewer line
Sculpted a piece of ice into the shape of Texas
Went to the Mall of America to buy pants (not actually super proud of this)
Ate my first snap dragon (flaming raisins burning in a pool of fortified brandy)
Saw some exceptional snow suits
Bowled a 144
Subsisted largely on cookies and beer
Arrived considerably underdressed for a gathering
Pet at least twelve cats and three dogs
Maintained an aggressive social calendar but still didn’t get time with everyone I’d hoped
Watched a man get a haircut on a frozen lake
Lost decisively at Farkle
Constructed an ice hair altar
Called Oregon home for the first time in a sentence
Watched my annual 30 minutes of pro football
Returned to a place where “real feel” isn’t a used weather term
Happy 2023 😘
Silver Creek
We were going to ski this past weekend but all of the interesting looking trailheads were on roads that required snow chains and snow chains are not recommended for use on our Subaru.
So while we await the arrival of our car’s “snow socks,” a textile traction aid that is a regulatory approved alternative to snow chains, we opted to take a hike at lower elevations.
You’re easy on the eyes Oregon.
Mountain View
This is the view from our home office/guest room/bike storage room. As I work this enthralling vista sits just above my monitor. On clear days you can see a mountain peak up in Washington … kinda.
I’m sure every Portlander worth their high cuffed Carhartt work pants can identify the surrounding peaks instantly but as I’m still wearing my PDX trainee badge I needed to do some internet sleuthing.
Type. Click.
At first I was like, this is Mount Saint Helens the infamous stratovolcano! It sits about 50 miles north of Portland and tops out at 8,300 feet above sea level. Before the eruption it’s height was 9,677 feet, meaning that anyone sitting by this window on May 18th, 1980 could have witnessed the top 1,377 feet of mountain get blasted off.
But as I researched further I began to realize that the pictures don’t match and it doesn’t seem grandiose enough to be Saint Helens. Also it’s maybe a little too far west. So now, with 68% confidence, I’m thinking my office gazes out on Lakeview Peak a 3800 foot prominence of no discernable significance. I’ll update as I learn more.
I yet have yet to earn my work pants.
Free and Uninterrupted Use
Despite our typical weekend routine of sleeping in like professionals, we found enough daylight yesterday for a lil’ hike on the coast.
One of the cool things about the Oregon coast, outside of the dramatic meeting of sky, sea and rock, is that the entire coastline from Washington to California is public. It’s protected by legislation that creates an easement, guarantees points of access and allows, "free and uninterrupted use of the beaches."
I’d love to see Minnesota enact some similar policies on the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Cooking. Fishing. Internet.
Most of you know that my pal Nate and I make the 976th most popular Midwest based fishing and culinary show on the internet. Well, we recently dropped a new light episode …
We also have a live Q&A in the works. Tune in.
The First Last Call
We were out exploring our new hood the other night and stopped in at a spot called Sloan’s Tavern. Upon entering I was sure this place would become a regular. Mirrored ceiling, a stone bar back, big porthole windows and warm wood throughout.
They had a vinyl juke box that was (literally) spinning old country-western 45s. It was connected to this 1950s animatronic big band. The little figurine musicians primitively swayed and jerked to the low-fi Hank and Patsy scratching out of the speakers. One of the cozy wooden booths was built into the cab of a 1970s Freightliner semi truck. It’s the kind of place that you can’t design, it just happens over time and the effect was beguiling. This was going to be a regular stop and we’d surely take all our friends.
“She’ll be able to sell that for ten or fifteen thousand” the bartender said when I asked about the animatronic band. “Why would the owner want to sell that?” I incredulously asked as if the place only existed for my amusement. “She’s selling the whole building, we close at the end of the month.”
The 85 year old proprietor, who still works lunch shifts in the kitchen 5 days a week, is retiring and selling off the property.
I’ve lived in Portland for two weeks and am already lamenting change.
Moving On Up
We were reunited with our possessions yesterday! Due to our impatience and the time it takes to get a street permit for the POD, we just rented a truck and transferred everything at the storage facility.
With the generous help of Amy’s cousin Mike it only took us five hours to do the transfer and get everything in our place.
Our living room yesterday at 3p
Our living room yesterday at 8p
Running Up That Hill
For funzies, here’s the elevation profile from Strava of a roughly 4.5 mile run in South Minneapolis. Note the range on the Y axis is 60 feet top to bottom.
And here’s the elevation profile from Strava of a roughly 4.5 mile run in SW Portland. Note the range on the Y axis is 700 feet.
Not depicted is me doubled over on the side of a trail panting wildly, then attempting to pull it together and act cool as a dog walker rounds the corner.
Here’s the profiles blended together, scaled proportionally, with Minneapolis in black.
Also Portland is further north than Minneapolis. Let that sink in along with the awareness of my complete nerdiness.
Bless This Mess
We were having a drink at a midwestern themed bar on Friday when we got the news. We’ve secured a place to live! It’s a fairly large, semi carpeted apartment in a strangely remodeled 1960s dairy building. We’ll be living in the Irvington neighborhood of Portland which is bikeable/walkable to everything. While the place exudes 90’s remodel, contractor grade vibes, we’ll have a guest room, outdoor space and a chance to be reunited with our possessions.
With the apartment search wrapped we were able to get out into the world a bit, climb a hill, drink a beer in the woods and gaze upon some off-season majesty.
Whelp, we made it to Portland
North Dakota was all windswept roads and damaged trucks oddly parked sideways and upside down in ditches and medians.
Montana had shockingly good pastries and a sky so grand that Amy and I debated if it was truly grander than other places or if we are just susceptible to ideas implanted by state slogans? We had some pseudo scientific discussions about the arc of visible sky and how, if you were on a high plateau or mountain, the horizon would be lower all around and how, maybe this vantage point would make the sweep of visible sky “bigger.” Amy soon tired of this ill informed nerdy blathering and put on some David Byrne.
Idaho is beautiful and weird, grand one minute and depressing the next. We traversed some of the longest and straightest roads I’ve encountered outside of Nevada.
The last 100 miles of the journey were a fairytale as we descended off the Central Oregon Plateau and tucked in between towering cliffs of pines along the river.
The temps were about 35 degrees warmer than when we left Minneapolis and the fall colors, although well past peak, were vibrant to eyes already addled by early midwestern winter.
I know, I know. The rain will come.
We’re staying with Amy’s aunt Ellen in SW Portland. I set up my workstation on her ping pong table in the basement and promptly slept for 10 hours. This self inflicted life upheaval is exhausting.
I took a quick “run” over lunch yesterday. Actually it was more of a labored trot up to Council Crest, which I’ve learned is one of the highest points of the Tualatin Mountains and the highest point in the city of Portland. These hills are gonna kick this flatlander’s ass for awhile.
Amy’s been furiously buzzing around town looking at rentals and interviewing for jobs while I work. We’re looking forward to landing and having a place to call our own. This will let us slow down a bit and allow us to actually explore the city which we now call home.
This will make a great story, someday.
This seems forever ago but it was just a month back that Amy and I trounced around Italy for two weeks.
A lot has happened since then, a YouTube program I make with my pal Nate was invited to a small film festival in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Then Amy and I packed all our worldly possessions into a shipping container and sent them to Oregon only to have the sale of our house fall through at the last possible minute.
After two sleepless weeks of scrambling and wearing the same outfits, aided by the support of our kind and generous family, friends and colleagues, we’re finally poised to head west.
We leave tomorrow 4am sharp. Maybe 6.