Ahhhhhh Portland! My hometown of the heart, so to speak. Stumptown Coffee, of course, is one of the major reasons to go to Portland, but instead of going to the original watering hole or any of the satellite Stumptowns, I prefer to get my fix at the Fresh Pot. Attached to the Powell's Books on Hawthorne, the Fresh Pot is the perfect place to get a cup of coffee or an espresso drink (pictured here) and settle down with a book or your laptop. 
Taking MAX back from dropping Jesse (the boyfriend) off at the airport and reading John Berger. Portland has pretty excellent public transportation, with buses that go all over the five (yes five) quadrants of the city. And MAX, the light rail system, is reliable and also goes pretty much anywhere you need to go.
We took a trip out to the coast - the drive was incredibly intense since we drove out of Portland drizzle and into a snowstorm. We drove to Seaside, which is actually a horrible little carnival tourist town, but luckily we escaped quickly and drove out along 101. Hilariously enough, we found a town called Cooterville! No joke! Unfortunately, GoogleMaps doesn't believe me that it exists; I think the population was something like 12 people anyway. The coast was incredibly beautiful, all tiny towns that reminded me of Bolinas in West Marin. 
Right near my friend's apartment is this bar called The Pub at the End of the Universe, and ever since I lived in Portland summer of 2007 I have wanted to go there and have a beer. Luckily, this time we did (and had an incredible dark cider that I can't for the life of me remember the name of), and we found this awesome sort of scratchy graffiti on one of the seats. Definitely one of my favorites!I miss Portland...I have a feeling maybe I'll end up there when I want to raise kids, but for now the life and variety of the Bay Area, as well as the proximity to my family, are more relevant to me and to my process of figuring out my future.
