::Dramatic Television Voice:: Four cameras. Eleven days. Two states. Over 2000 pictures. Out of this, brillig will attempt to craft a cogent, interesting diary in the time provided. Remember, she was not allowed to ignore the daily strains and stresses of life after her return from Vacation. And, as an extra challenge, we ::whispers:: threw curveballs left, right and sideways into her free time. Stay tuned for The Vacation Diaries, here on Daily Kos Top Comments, below the dingledoodle squigglie dKosagnocchi dividerthingie fold and after a word from our sponsor... ::Voice Fadeout::
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The kids of Casa Brillig finished their outdoor summer camp at 3pm on August 9th, in a massive torrential downpour. Three hours later, we were at the airport for a flight to Portland, OR. We arrived near midnight Portland time and were met by our wonderful local tour guide Arenosa, who got us to the hotel so we could sleep. That eyes-closed thing one does on a plane is NOT, IMHO, sleep.
Saturday found us awake expectedly early given the jetlag. We walked from the hotel to Pioneer Square, where we hung out in a neat little toy store until Arenosa arrived. Our first destination was, not surprisingly, this little bookstore we'd heard of - Powell's:
We eventually extricated ourselves from Powell's, with a bag full of books! Ate at a McMenamins, the first of several during our vacation. Then we wandered though the area for a while, passing the throngs at Voodoo Donuts:
We decided no donut could possibly be worth braving that line on a sunny hot day with a jetlagged 8 year old who doesn't really like donuts. We eventually found our way back to Pioneer Courthouse Square and discovered a Ben & Jerry's truck handing out samples of their new Portland-specific flavor:
The Universe smiled on us - near where we ate dinner is a second Voodoo Dunuts location. Five minute wait, and we had the weirdest pack of donuts ever:
Pink box of sugary goodness in hand, we went back to the hotel to soak in the hot tub and get everyone to sleep, in preparation for a busy Sunday. Our vacation plans coincided perfectly with the Bite of Oregon, a huge food, wine, craft beer and entertainment festival walking distance from our hotel.
There was alligator on a stick!
I am fairly sure that the on-a-stick factor is the only reason either kid tried it... K1 ate an entire nugget :). Of course, there was the more traditional food-on-a-stick (photo courtesy of K1):
There was great music, such as this alt-rock guitar/harp duo, Finn Doxie:
We also were treated to an appearance by a local legend, The Unipiper:
Yes, he's on a unicycle. In a kilt. With a Darth Vader mask on. What you can't hear is the strains of the Star Wars theme being played on the bagpipes (try this link if you really need to hear it :-)). I do believe K1 decided then and there that Portland was far cooler than Boston. I had nothing comparably weird to offer as counterpoint.
By far, however, the most enjoyable part of the day was our meetup with several Portland area Kossacks: our intrepid tour guide Arenosa, blueoregon, loggersbrat, Cedwyn, quill and pdxteacher. It was truly a pleasure meeting new friends and seeing old, all of whom were very accommodating that our crazy vacation schedule didn't leave a lot of options open. We can't wait to get out there to visit again, and remember that if you visit us here, we'll take you to the other Portland!
Smiling faces, courtesy of K1's photographic skill:
We awoke Monday morning and were off to Washington State after a quick breakfast that included our last donut:
::Dramatic Television Voice:: That's all for this week, dear audience. Will Casa Brillig survive 5 hours in a car taking the scenic route to WA? Why is brillig glad she speaks rudimentary German? And why is there an underground toilet on a platform? For this and more, tune in next week for The Vacation Diaries, Part II ::Fadeout::
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything
without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do
not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From LinSea:
This one by renzo capetti, for succinct precision.
From DefendOurConstitution:
I love the civilized exchange that took place in this thread by Jacoby Jonze, Trix and Bob Love. While the snark against Putin could have been interpreted as an attack against gay people and degenerated (nah! that never happens, right?), the commenters all clarified their positions and emerged united about what a piece of scum Putin is. It is refreshing to see people explaining and coming to an agreement as opposed to attacking and throwing digital pies. This was in the diary POTUS to Meet with LGBT Groups in Russia by ericlewis0.
From Nattiq:
Nominating this gem by Richard Lyon, from his diary Obama's "Real" Plan For Syria.
From Steveningen:
In my Top Comments diary last evening, we were discussing our monikers and "coming clean" when Chrislove made me snort beer out of my nose with this comment.
From Yours Truly, brillig:
In Laura Clawson's Richard Cohen: Steubenville rape wasn't rape because Miley Cyrus is tasteless, lgerard has this gem of a comparative.
JackND starts. blue aardvark sets it up. trumpeter brings it home. All from Hunter's 'Ex-gay' group sends out fundraising plea promising 'The End of Homosexuality'.
Top Mojo for yesterday, September 2nd, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you
mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary
FAQing Top Mojo.
1) Imagine the good that could be done by twigg — 139
2) I would argue that if you persist on your account by Ray Pensador — 114
3) A big hunk of the most progressive members.. by Meteor Blades — 100
4) When I'm asked "I got tested for my job, by LaraJones — 90
5) Like helping the 2.5 million Syrian refugees by Shockwave — 89
6) I think people are standing against war with by smiley7 — 88
7) It's worse than that. It's like almost every by SouthernLiberalinMD — 87
8) Jesus fucking Christ. by SouthernLiberalinMD — 85
9) When your only tool is a hammer... by Bisbonian — 79
10) Yes, the Munich analogy by Matthew D Jones — 73
11) Kerry's recent pronouncements by chuckvw — 73
12) A lot of Kossacks stand with Lee and McDermott by Susan Gardner — 72
13) You're not going to stop, are you? by twigg — 72
14) As a Vietnam era vet by ActivistGuy — 71
15) I feel sick. by SouthernLiberalinMD — 69
16) Yup. by Laura Clawson — 69
17) Sigh. And the majority stands with Jim McDermott.. by Meteor Blades — 69
18) Oh Please! by Richard Lyon — 67
19) Medical testing is good for the testing by hannah — 66
20) My Dad's Urine Needs To Test Positive by bernardpliers — 66
21) It is not the accusation that I seriously by Richard Lyon — 65
22) Is there any part of the Constitution still... by markthshark — 65
23) Repeating the same behavior and expecting a by RFK Lives — 65
24) "I know this doesn't fit into the popular ... by Meteor Blades — 64
25) And it doesn't work... by markthshark — 63
26) It's the same by happy camper — 62
27) Because... by msrissman — 62
28) Sadly by ActivistGuy — 61
29) people should also read this English article by mimi — 60
30) I feel like I have by Richard Lyon — 58
Top Pictures for yesterday, September 2nd. Click any image to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!