Portland, OR and Seattle, WA

As a decade-long resident of New York, I thought I had a lock on freaky people. Oh no. According to the Pacific Northwest, New York don't know nothin' about freaky people.

I mean this in a good way (mostly). I figure maybe 30% of the population of New York has visible tattoos, ironic facial hair, and/or interesting piercings. So far as I can tell, at least 75% of Portland's population has visible tattoos in addition to facial piercings and some unnatural color of hair. The entire city smells like patchouli, and if the homeless population isn't the largest I've ever seen, it's because it's hard to differentiate between actual homeless people and smelly people in ratty clothes hanging out on the sidewalk, with homes.

That being said, the city has a great, laidback vibe. EVERYONE in the Pacific Northwest has a bicycle, and I mean everyone. And they use them. And there are dedicated bike lanes on every road, and there is actual bike parking. The city governments back East are always going on about reducing traffic, but they refuse to do the simplest things to ease traffic: put in sidewalks and institute bike lanes and bike parking in office buildings. Portland has some great craft breweries, and the greatest bookstore ever: Powells. Not only do they sell used books online, they also BUY used books online. I stopped in to their flagship store, sold off some books and guidebooks, and purchased a cookbook I'd been wanting. Good times. I also saw a woman walking around with no shirt on. She seemed unconcerned. I hope she was wearing sunscreen.

The seafood, naturally, is also top-notch in this part of the world. I had some oysters for lunch, and I've decided that I much prefer Pacific oysters to Atlantic or Chesapeake Bay oysters. Bay oysters are kind of sweet; Pacific oysters taste like the ocean. No, more than that: they taste like the deep, dark parts of the ocean, clean and salty and ineffably lonely. I saw all manner of seafood for sale yesterday in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and I've never wanted to cook so badly in my entire life. Four-pound lobster tails (TAILS), entire king salmon, halibut cheeks the size of my hand, Dungeness crabs the size of my head...I can't imagine what I would pay for quality seafood like that in New York, and here they're practically giving it away.

I definitely like Seattle better; it's an actual city, and there are a few normal people here ("normal" being defined as "a person who might own and wear a suit"). It's also got a great laidback vibe, without so much of the crunchiness of Portland. The people are really friendly, too; while having dinner last night at Quinn's Pub, I met a theatre techie from ACT who offered me a both a free ticket to last night's performance of "The Breaks" and a gay date--his friend Ty, originally from New York, accompanied me. I also had the first really good Dark and Stormy since I left Charleston. Dark and Stormies, a belly full of foie gras, bone marrow, beef tartare and pork belly, and free theatre. It was a good night.