Monday/Tuesday – Day 294/295
May 26, 2013
Today was beautiful outside and as such, a perfect day to head to Washington State Park, a local nature reserve. Paul Marett, Thomas Nance, Eric O’ Brian and I set off on the hour long uphill walk to the park, stopping on our way to buy lunch at a supermarket.
Although the park was very beautiful, I decided to bring with me only a book and no camera, so that my enjoyment would not be spoiled by trying to capture it imperfectly. Inside the park, the first thing we visited was the International Rose Test Garden, a large area within which all new varieties of Rose were being grown and tested for popularity before release to the mass market. While it was beautiful to walk amongst them, the symmetry of the place left it a little uninspiring. However, this was strongly counteracted by the next set of gardens we visited.
The ‘Portland Japanese Gardens’ was guarded by a traditional gate for a daimyo’s province and a small entrance fee, however once inside, we were met with stunningly beautiful, well kept and serene gardens. Thomas Nance and I embarked on a guided tour, learning about the design philosophy, which while detracting initially from my appreciation of the gardens due to the large group, eventually helped me appreciate it more when I returned to walk through after. Once thing that was quite amazing was the way the gardens were designed so that after each turn of the path, you were met with a completely different view, even if the specific plants you were looking at were the same. This was achieved by having the path vary in elevation and angle. I can’t repeat enough how wonderful the gardens were and Paul and I thus decided to sit and read for a few hours there before returning home.
After the hiking and long day out, I decided to stay in for the evening, reading my books and finishing Earth Unaware, that aside from the ending I really enjoyed.
Tuesday was checkout and a long bus ride to Ashland on the PGC Chartered bus. As we drove it started to rain and then soon started to snow. We were meant to stop off by Crater Lake, which was apparently a site of great natural beauty, however on reaching our drop off point, the snow was so thick and the weather so cold that on exiting the bus you both couldn’t see the lake and were so cold that you re-entered the bus almost immediately.
A few hours later we arrived in rainy Ashland, home of the Oregon Shakespeare festival. First task there for most people was to check into the hostel but for a lucky (or unlucky as some people thought) few we were to be doing homestays with local students from the University of South Oregon. Thus my bags were with me for the rest of the evening while we saw the show “The Unfortunates”, a new musical. The show was fun and interesting, though I wasn’t so sure what to make of it. The musical style and theme of the show was early to mid twentieth century US and it followed the fantasies of a soldier waiting in an internment camp. His fantasies involved a make-believe bar and characters with all manners of moral colourings, from deepest black to grey.
After the show I was picked up by the girls I was to be staying with that evening, Katie and Briawna. Dan Carsello was also to be staying with them, despite their request for two guys over the age of twenty one, as there wasn’t much they could do in Ashland other than frequent the bar scene. Thus, after dropping my stuff off, Katie and I headed out to an Irish Pub for Kareoke with the casts of “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Avenue Q”. I met a great deal of lovely people there, most of whose names I forget, but I seemed to click with a friendly girl by the name of Beth who was playing one of the bad idea bears in Q. The only non-theatre guy at our table, Joe, was also a great guy and bought me a drink after learning from how far I’d come to be there. Unfortunately I was in Ashland for too short a time to get to better know any of these awesome people.
Shabbat/Sunday – Day 292/293
Shabbat was really uneventful for the most part. Read a full Jack Reacher novel (decent).
Next stop was Portland, a city that I knew next to nothing about. Most of the next period was spent actually getting there, and once there late in the evening, most things were closed. Thus I walked around the city for a while, eventually taking myself to see the new Star Trek film. Whilist I quite enjoyed the movie, something felt wrong about it, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Some subtle plot whole perhaps?
Sunday we woke up early for a couple of gigs. First up was a performance for a Glee Club alum’s parents in law, whom we surprised next to the lake in Portland. This was the first time I wore the ‘Glee Club Polo’, a less formal top for tour that replaces the khaki blazer on occasions when the heat is too much. After that gig, we hiked for a while before coming to a retirement home around thirty minutes away.
Our performance in the retirement home was one of my favourite of the entire year because the residents there, more than any other audience, knew and appreciated our music. The had lived through the popular years of barbershop, knew the jazz standards from their youth, and still had taste for classical music. As much as their applause was a little soft, it continued for quite a while and, following the show they were eager to come and talk to us about our individual involvements in club.
Everyone was hungry after the gig but finding food was difficult for most people due to the Sunday closure of almost the entire city. After my group finally found food (most of it gave me trouble even to look at, deep fried, double fried, triple fried food etc.) we headed off to see Powell’s City of Books, what claimed to be the largest independent book-store in the world.
After arriving at around four pm I spent the next three hours amongst the shelves browsing every genre from Christian fiction to Sporting and Arms, to Sci-Fi to Self-Help. Their collection was truly gigantic. It was most difficult to prevent myself from going all out and buying every book in the store. The picks I ended up leaving with were “Earth Unaware” (Orson Scott Card) and “Cyptonomicon” (Neal Stephenson). Those two I just couldn’t resist.
Dinner was with the PGC band and after everyone was done with their meals, Zach Costa, Theresa Breiner and I headed to a nearby bar. The bar was ok, I drank a Stella while the other two had cocktails. Right next to the bar were two Portland institutions. The first of these was a strip club and such were more common in Portland than in any other US city. In fact, just around the corner, a good fifty percent of Glee Club were at a dubious place by the name of “the Golden Dragon”, trying to get a genuine city experience. The second of the two institutions was Voodoo Donuts, a doughnut shop that offered over thirty different kinds of doughnuts ranging in flavours from grape to fruit loops. The other half of the glee club eventually gather there and gorged on the many flavours until they could eat no more.
Thursday/Friday – Day 290/291
May 21, 2013
Today was the second day of the festival of Shavuot, and that meant another morning in Synagogue. Lunch today was with the Rabbi of a different congregation and another ordained friend of his. Their families were full of small children, which meant the meal was somewhat disrupted. In between fights, and nap time, and temper tantrums, the table was almost always empty.
In the evening I sat down to read more of my book “I am a strange loop” by Douglas Hofstader, the author of the phenomenal “Godel Escher Bach”. I only got so far however, before sleep overtook me.
I awoke several hours later, in time for the evening service, and departed with Ezra for the synagogue. After the service, I chatted outside with a Microsoft and Amazon employee who were eagerly discussing their experiences at the two firms. For me, it was quite an insight, and quite wonderful as well to be in an area full of people who shared my interests.
Following the departure of the festival, I packed my bags and Ezra drove me over to the hotel where the PGC was staying. While most people were a little confused as to where I had been, I soon fit right back in to the normal scheme.
The next morning was a free day in Seattle, and so after an early breakfast, JHo, a few others and I headed out to catch the ferry to Bainbridge Island. What struck me as we walked through the streets of Seattle, and later along the Island, was the natural beauty that surrounded me. Quite the change from Philly. Even the homeless people seemed happier in their surroundings, and the sun and scenery cheered me greatly.
Seattle and the Space Needle
Once on the island we stopped for an early lunch as a number of people hadn’t eaten at all. While in the small cafe, I people watched for a while until it was time to head off. Next stop was singing in an ice-cream store (the toast as usual). They servers there were appreciative though didn’t give our group free ice-cream.
Bainbridge Beach
After a pleasant ferry ride back, I explored Pike Place Market, a fixture for tourism in Seattle and there I enjoyed many sights and smells. Around three pm I received a message from dad letting me know that he had landed and would be at his hotel within an hour and a half. To kill the time till then I thus wandered around the city eventually stumbling upon a Steinway dealer and played on a beautiful second hand Steinway Model ‘S’ from the 1960s. A shame I wasn’t able to buy it then and there.
The Original Starbucks
After walking round for another while I eventually caught up with dad and had a really nice walk through the market followed by a delicious dinner (Halibut for me). I then walked back to the hotel, read for a little while and eventually nodded off to sleep.