After saying a somber goodbye to Amol and Matt (and Seattle) we left the apartment and went to Araya's Place for their Thai buffet. It was a lot of really good food, including this fantastic peanut sauce that I want to put on everything I ever eat from now on. We took the 5 South toward Portland, stopping at SeaTac DGC before we got too far away from the city. The course was set in a nicely wooded area, making good use of the space. My favorite part was seeing the planes fly overhead every few minutes.
The course was pretty cool, if slightly confusing at times. It wasn't always apparent where the next hole was. There was a course regular waiting for people to show up that helped us along the way. It's definitely not a "mark to return" course, but it was fun at the time. I don't know what's going on in this picture except that I had to use the bathroom so I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.
The long road to Portland was filled with slight traffic jams and minor annoyance, but we made it there and found McMenamin's Crystal Ballroom where Jimmy Eat World was playing and I got my show information then went to the bar beneath. I got a sampler of the beers they brewed there and sat back to enjoy being back in the city. The Hammerhead, Sunflower IPA, and Ruby were all great. We hung out there for a while until I could properly put away my flight and still had time to go elsewhere!
The Rogue Taphouse was just a couple blocks away so it was the obvious next stop. We pulled up our chairs at the bar and I picked out a few beers from the huge tap list that I hadn't tried before. It's a hard decision. I ended up doing two flights. I really liked the Dad's Little Helper and Juniper Pale Ale. I tried the infamous Beard Beer, made with a yeast strain cultivated from a brewer's beard hair. It was good. The standout was clearly the Younger's Special Bitter. I love a good ESB, but this one takes the cake. I would like a case of this please.
After all the wonderful beer tasting it was time to go back to the Ballroom, where I weaved up toward the front. Jimmy Eat World came out and played an amazing damn set. They always do, but this crowd, this room, and being on a trip just amplified everything. I love seeing this band live so much more every time. They played 4 (four!) Clarity tracks and covered "We are Never Ever Getting Back Together" in such a way that Taylor Swift should consider retiring. I was bouncing and singing to every song. Hopefully I helped some other people get into the show as well. It's amazing how they can play all of their hits and it still seems like a fan-favorite setlist. I want to see them again immediately.
Joanna was outside to pick me up when the show was over. I rolled up, sweaty and smiling like a lunatic I'm sure, and actually took off my shirt to cool off and dry before I put on another. She had gotten donuts so I had a lovely treat to partake in while we hung out by the car. We headed over the bridge to our Couchsurfing hosts and found the house after a couple of tries. The guy hosting was very nice and offered us the couches. The house was quite a mess and it seemed that a lot of people lived there, but I didn't really care. Joanna was a bit squeamish about the conditions, but once we had our sleeping bags on the couch, it was a really nice night (with the door open) to sleep.
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