Day 6: Portland to E-Ville

Pictorial Pop Quiz winner: It's a tie!

 

Damn, they are sooooooooooo cute

 

A puppy who knows how work a crowd!

Department of amplification: from a loyal follower who knows the blog is a work of fiction and knows how to turn it into non-fiction

James Cordon does a regular bit entitled "Carpool Karaoke." Almost always features a wildly-popular professional singer (Michelle O an exception). The thin premise is that James is doing his morning commute to the studio and needs a passenger to form a carpool so he can get to work more quickly. (As far as I can tell, the vehicle is never actually on a freeway.) The celebrity is always planted for an easy pickup and then the chat and karaoke begin. My understanding is that James does drive the vehicle; it is not towed and there is no crew inside. The routes in LA and London are on low-speed city streets and there are a couple of production vehicles in front and more in back for security and support should his vehicle conk out. There has been the occasional near-miss and actual fender bender. They do seem to be singing - not lip-synching - to the music. (Some guests do harmonize with their own voice better than others.) Conversation ranges from meh to very entertaining depending on the singer. Some good ones have been Stevie Wonder, Adele, Sia, and Elton John. I believe all bits are available as clips on YouTube.

{ed. note: THB has no clue who Sia is, what harmonize means, and what the hell is "meh"}

Quote of the Day: Time to beat the traffic (a tradition among Dodgers fans at a Dodger game)

Weather: Hot in Portland and perfect in E-ville, cool and not too much wind, cool and pleasant at the ballgame

Up early, finish posting for the day, short stop in the fitness center, and the SA makes one of THB’s all-time fave breakfasts: pancakes with fresh fruit and berries. Awesome, dude!!

Say goodbye to SA and DA at PDX, easy flight home and arrive in E-ville about 10 minutes early. PHEW!!

Pearl Bakery makes some extremely good rolls

Tonight: THB and DB are hoping for “Dodger” weather since we’re going to see the team of our pre-Berkeley and Oakland days: the Oakland A’s vs the LA Dodgers at the Oakland Coliseum.

Well, it is in the high 60s with no wind, so for Oakland at a summer night game this is about as good as we could hope. As per tradition, THB and DB leave after 6 innings and THB watches from the loft as the A's take the lead in the 8th and hold to win in regulation time.

Shots from around the ballpark:

Who knew?

Ron Aiken, the last living member of the House of David barnstormers

Ron is throwing out the first pitch

Shamanti Star Spangled Trio; THB still doesn't stand for the anthem even if the trio is wearing BLM t-shirts

The stands are full of Dodger fans. Announced crowd is 32K, THB thinks it is 25K and over half of them are wearing Dodger blue

One of the two best pitchers in all of baseball over the last 6 years; the A's come on to win 3-2 after Kershaw leaves the game

Yes, she's filming Piscotty at the plate; he went on to have a key hit against Kershaw

Day 5:  Portland

What happens when the lights go out at night:

Sweet dreams, girls. Instead, the parental units are gone so  it's time for a chat

Quote of the Day: Should we dine in or go out?

Both

Weather: Blistering hot by mid-afternoon

Elliptical TV

THB and DB hit the fitness center. THB cannot get the TV to work (no surprise). 

DA and THB head out to get some excellent pastries from Nuvrei ($14 for lemon scone, blueberry “cupcake” like thing and an almond croissant). We take Shin-aid, the chick magnet. Two young women stop us to oooooh and aaaaah over the dog. Dog also has a successful walk: one pee and two poops.

Back to condo for breakfast of machine made café au laits (very good), pastries (very good), a very nice fruit salad of berries and peaches, and great local yogurt. Off to a good start!

The view from our boyfriend table and chairs

The neighborhood disaster preparation plan appears to be run by a very enlightened board

We’ve all got different plans for lunch and, hey,  there’s still time to fit in some shopping and dog-walking. We get a tour of the neighborhood areas on Mississippi and Alberta streets, then park and DA and THB find a boyfriend table and chairs while SA and DB peruse the local establishments shopping for various grandchildren and a couple of specialty bars of chocolate for their forlorn dog watchers.

Tilt

Napkins 

THB and DB are meeting up with B&P, friends made while hiking the Kumano Kodo in Japan.  They are also world travelers, taking major hiking and biking trips. Retired in Portland, they reached out to us last week because they were celebrating a family b’day in the Bay Area and staying at a Berkeley Marina hotel, less than 2 miles from the loft in E-ville. HAH!! That’s when we were in Seattle. They made it back to Portland in time for us to arrange a last minute lunch at Tilt.

B&P are sharing a salad and Reuben sandwich; P gets his own local brewski

THB and DB are sharing a brisket sandwich and fries

Reuben and salad

Tilt is a burger and sandwich spot in the middle of the Pearl. Good food, a chance to catch up in a quiet and cool spot. THB split a brisket sandwich and fries combo, with a couple of ice teas. P&B treat!!! We’ll have to reciprocate when they return to the Bay Area or we meet up in some random spot.

A short visit to the Pearl Bakery, near Tilt, for some rolls for the plane flight home tomorrow and a couple of cookies to share as we walk ever so slowly back to the condo as the temp is in the low 90s now.

More schmoozing as we reconvene around 2:30, even watching streaming of Paul McCartney and Michelle Obama as guests on the Late Late Show hosted by James Cordon (separate shows, Michelle and Paul not appearing together though that would be fascinating). Basically, as best THB can figure out, they are doing “Caraoke” and lip-synching to songs played on a car radio (as opposed to lip-synching to songs patched into the videos shown on the TV broadcast in front of a “live studio audience” while faking driving around (except some of Paul’s clips are from real places in Liverpool)…THB knows the Beatles songs and has no clue about the Michelle Obama songs. And, THB has no clue about the Late Late Show. And THB has no clue about so many things: Late, Early, Mid-afternoon, Extra Early, Extra Late TV, Faked on TV, On a bus, With a mop, Without a Map. Totally clueless on so many things.

Hey Jude is THB's least liked song of all time. Of course that's one Paul and James sing along to in the car.

Or, rather, back to drinking

Tuna imported from our trip together in Spain and Portugal

Sorry, back to blogging: since THB and DA are going to reprise our G&Ts in the early evening, shades of Rio, we decide that it made sense to continue schmoozing and dining in on snacks that SA and DA keep on hand for just these moments, including breaking out a jar of tuna purchased during our trip to Spain and Portugal. Much reminiscing about some of the highlights of that trip, including a day with Gabriela as our the guide in San Sebastian that makes the top 5 of THB’s travel experiences (we "see" Gabriela again when she appears on an Anthony Bourdain show giving Tony the almost identical tour she took us on…except ours was better!).

Around 8:15 it’s time to head out for ice cream at Fifty Licks. THB goes for tried and true combo: extra chocolate chocolate and espresso coffee. DB and DA have some chocolate coconut concoction and SA has strawberry. DA and SA treat. 

Shots from here, there, from a car, from a faked car, in a bar, in the air, on a TV, in an elevator, on the street, and getting ready to tweet:

Car voice commands go unrecognized

This elevator doesn't got to THB's top floor: the floor designation buttons are missing

On the building across from SA and DA's they are prepping for Tom Cruise's next MI stunt

Tom, you ready?

WHOA, THERE, TOM: ACTION!!!!!

And THB also has a Yomiuri Giants t-shirt

A mock-up of the DJT Memorial

The TdeF is over so now it's time for the TdeUtah

In your dreams, and not in a good way