the tweetstream of my NW trip

MCO -> IAH -> PDX
5:47 AM Jun 17th

ponzi vineyards in beaverton, amazing reserve chardonnay with a buttery finish http://yfrog.com/0qv10tj
1:51 PM Jun 17th

at torii mor, grabbed one of the last 18 bottles of their first wine, 1993 pinot noir #wine
3:33 PM Jun 17th

driving beautiful gravel roads through oregon wine country, amazing evergreens in the mountains on this cool overcast day #wine
3:43 PM Jun 17th

rounding out the day with tastings at erath and penner-ash #wine
4:54 PM Jun 17th

it's whole hog wednesday at dundee bistro, all you can eat mesquite smoked pig with collards, peppers, and beans - sold!
7:06 PM Jun 17th

round 2 is completely delicious
7:40 PM Jun 17th

pic of the aforementioned tasties http://yfrog.com/0u80zj
7:46 PM Jun 17th

lazy river 2006 pinot noir from the yamhill carlton district is a great complement to the pork #wine http://yfrog.com/0azm5zj
7:51 PM Jun 17th

dessert menu here has three different types of bacon plus cheeses and traditional desserts http://yfrog.com/0ul6pj
8:04 PM Jun 17th

Reading on a deck in the valley of some mountains at abbey road farm, perfect end to the first day of vacation
9:23 PM Jun 17th

as the sun sets and I can no longer read clearly I sit in awe of the beauty of this world
9:42 PM Jun 17th

anna and I both just "helped" with the goat milking, we were able to get milk to come out but were not that great at it
7:48 AM Jun 18th

nature hike spottings: beetle, rabbit, bees, snails, giant blueish squirrels, skink, butterfly, dragonfly, snake
1:13 PM Jun 18th

tasting at stoller, their oak barrelled chardonnay is wonderful
1:27 PM Jun 18th

white rose wines has some seriously smooth pinot noirs #wine
1:54 PM Jun 18th

tasting at domaine drouhin, yum #wine
2:08 PM Jun 18th

the super dirty winery cat that really liked to be pet http://yfrog.com/0aviilqkj
2:35 PM Jun 18th

bonus goat milking pic http://yfrog.com/6pq7rj
2:37 PM Jun 18th

grabbing a late lunch at blah blah blah twitter this is anna now hi
3:04 PM Jun 18th

anna has been drinking a bit eh
3:05 PM Jun 18th

into Carlton for tastings at utopia, folin, and cliff creek <3 #wine
5:34 PM Jun 18th

barking frog 2006 syrah with an Italian dinner #wine http://yfrog.com/65vd5j
7:24 PM Jun 18th

there is such a thing as too much garlic, the Italian place in Carlton is a good example, seriously it's garlic overload, I can't eat this
7:41 PM Jun 18th

just checked in at the jupiter hotel in portland, this whole area is hipsterlicious
12:04 PM Jun 19th

@coreyr think so, papercuts is tonight at the doug fir, right now we are wandering downtown, just went to powell's city of books, it's huge!
1:50 PM Jun 19th in reply to coreyr
coreyr: @imbiat are you seeing a show?

trapped at a bar in downtown portland by the rain #makersmark
3:02 PM Jun 19th

happy hour specials at the doug fir lounge are awesome
5:25 PM Jun 19th

walking into the doug fir lounge to see papercuts and port o'brien
9:59 PM Jun 19th

the spring sipper at the doug fir - buffalo trace bourbon, dash of peach bitters, orange & cherry muddled together on the rocks #delicious
10:32 PM Jun 19th

port o'brien passed out pots and pans and spoons and such to the crowd to bang on during their last song, so great
11:23 PM Jun 19th

papercuts was ... meh - port o'brien should have been the headliner, great night though, opener leonard mynx rocked, grabbed his cd
12:04 AM Jun 20th

also got both cds from port o'brien and one of their tshirts
12:05 AM Jun 20th

at the Oregon zoo, I hope I am better at controlling my future kids than all the people that are here today, stop screaming at the animals
12:46 PM Jun 20th

Got to pet pygora goats and a guinea hogs, fed some hay to a dexter cow but it was a bit skittish when I tried to pet it
12:58 PM Jun 20th

thanks @jhstrauss for the schwarma intro when I was in SF, just found an amazing street vendor with it at south park blocks in portland
2:21 PM Jun 20th

As the south park blocks farmers market closes up, saw a leftovers trade between two vendors, berries for artichokes
2:26 PM Jun 20th

we walked all over Portland today, great day, now at oba! for dinner, tomorrow columbia river gorge
7:11 PM Jun 20th

dinner at oba! comes out beautiful http://yfrog.com/595y2j
7:37 PM Jun 20th

drivng the historic columbia river highway and listening to port o'brien
10:45 AM Jun 21st

stopping in hood river fir lunch at the 6th street bistro and a wine tasting at the pines tasting room, great zin
2:20 PM Jun 21st

entering the mt hood national forest
4:57 PM Jun 21st

Elevation ~4000 feet, finally found a spot where mt hood is not obscured by clouds, 41 degrees brr http://yfrog.com/ekfz2j
5:02 PM Jun 21st

Bye bye Oregon, hello Washington
7:16 PM Jun 21st

@coreyr s'okay we are having a blast, I drank out of a mountain stream at white river canyon
7:19 PM Jun 21st in reply to coreyr
coreyr: @imbiat you totally got cheated, sorry for the clouds. :(

our rental car has XM radio, we've been listening to lithium & the coffee house, any station recommendations?
7:42 PM Jun 21st

not seeing much to eat off I-5 in middle of nowhere Washington but finally found a 'kit carson' seems bob evans-ish, we'll see how this goes
8:24 PM Jun 21st

stopped in mccleary and had a great breakfast at rain country restaurant
11:04 AM Jun 22nd

the welcome sign to Aberdeen says 'come as you are', i wonder how long it has said that, before kurt wrote the song perhaps
11:38 AM Jun 22nd

exploring a bit of the quinault rain forest at the SW edge of the olympic national forest and then heading over to the coast
2:33 PM Jun 22nd

tide pools! starfish and urchins
5:13 PM Jun 22nd

we've arrived in forks, chamber of commerce has a twilight poster filling the window in the door
5:45 PM Jun 22nd

forks welcomes anna http://yfrog.com/5kifij
5:56 PM Jun 22nd

it's light rather late up here in Washington and it seems strange that most things are closed by 9pm and yet it'll be light out for a while
8:50 PM Jun 22nd

cruising the 101 to the olympic game farm, hope I get to feed a buffalo
8:25 AM Jun 23rd

starting the drive with our favorite song for the trip - port o'brien 'i woke up today'
8:29 AM Jun 23rd

I just fed this bear some bread, he used to be in the movies http://yfrog.com/0yhgsrj
10:59 AM Jun 23rd

The Olympic game farm has old movie star animals and siezed animals, most you can feed, I just fed a yak, elk are next
11:04 AM Jun 23rd

I fed kodiak, grizzly & black bears; yaks; llamas; bison, elk, deer, peacocks, prarie dogs, seriously best day ever
11:29 AM Jun 23rd

taking the ferry over to seattle
2:28 PM Jun 23rd

walked all around seattle, now off to find a bar or other nightlife
9:11 AM Jun 23rd

Where the bars at Seattle? Walked 9 blocks & found a few places serving drinks none what we wanted, finally found kells by the waterfront
10:00 PM Jun 23rd

an on to the whiskey bar at 2nd and Virginia, I'm having a Jameson flight
10:42 PM Jun 23rd

apparently we just walked the wrong way, walking up Virginia towards the paramount we saw tons of bars, eh what can you do?
11:21 PM Jun 23rd

first up, the Nordic Heritage museum for my Nordic baby
10:09 AM Jun 24th

just got back in our car and the bison/yak/etc slobber has dried into some serious grossness on the sides
10:11 AM Jun 24th

lunch from vendors at pike place market, a visit to the aquarium, and now we're going on the underground tour
3:56 PM Jun 24th

heading to the pink door for italian
7:25 PM Jun 24th

ordered a bottle of bradisismo veneto rosso 2005 #wine from verona italia
7:33 PM Jun 24th

breakfast then to Canada
8:26 AM Jun 25th

O Canada (border crossing) http://yfrog.com/3yha2j
12:41 PM Jun 25th

now I get why Douglas Coupland called Vancouver the 'city of glass', every building seems made of only windows, beautiful reflections
7:54 PM Jun 25th

drinking a wonderful 2005 chateau sainte-eulalie 'la cantiléne' named fir the 1st French poem (c. 881) http://yfrog.com/9h2j5j
8:01 PM Jun 25th

walking around granville island about to go on a whale watching adventure
10:49 AM Jun 26th

saw the whales, some seals and bald eagles, also got a little burnt
8:23 PM Jun 26th

Listening to port o'brien and driving to the Vancouver airport, then it's YVR -> IAH -> MCO
8:16 AM Jun 27th

sweet! they have US customs at the vancouver airport so we don't have to deal with it after the flight http://yfrog.com/1198ggj
11:16 AM Jun 27th

uploaded a video from my trip - Port O'Brien - I Woke Up Today - live at the doug fir lounge in portland, oregon http://awe.sm/NWu
12:41 PM Jun 28th
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sometimes it is actually fun getting up at 430 to do work
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latest anti-gay hate psa is out, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haVqcPfeqKI

it is infuriating watching this, even more so knowing it changes hearts and minds

it's a thinly veiled retelling of the 'adam and eve not adam and steve' brain-dead chant wrapped in the innocent guise of children saying contrived things to pull at your heartstrings

tell the first child: yes thats okay, any two people who love each other should be able to get married

tell the second child: whatever you want, kids say a lot of weird things, i kinda agree with her, it is an old fashioned idea, and it is true that a child may choose to reject a religion in the face of its stance on gay marriage

tell the third kid: actually you're missing the point entirely, its not about what god created or its about accepting how things are, you don't need to connect every modern relationship back to the way "god created the first men and women"

tell the fourth kid: you wouldn't have a mom, not everyone has a mom but you do have a mom because this is how you were born, some people are born in different situations, the most important thing is not which sex your parents are but that you are loved

tell the fifth kid: it is okay to be confused, you will often be confused by the many horrible things in the world, the most confusing of which is the human capacity for hating other humans

fear mongering backwards idiots really piss me off

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on the plane back from railsconf in vegas i saw someone with a new sookie stackhouse novel in hardback, i wish i had seen it in the airport before i got on the plane, i havent had the time to pick it up yet, but i want to so badly, then again, i haven't had the time to read it anyway, but i will read it, and soon
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between one super late night last week and one marathon reading session late into last night i just read another of the sookie stackhouse novels, "definitely dead"

it was okay, i mean i love the characters and the storylines are just fine but it still felt like the whole thing was handled somewhat carelessly, like charlaine just let the story fall out of her, it just didn't seem to go far enough, i think i love the characters so much that i just want so much more, i want epics

i'm 50 pages into the next one "all together dead"

also i just used debit card points to get an amazon gift certificate which i used to pre-order the true blood bluray
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