Behind. (Not a numbered post.)

I am sooooooooo behind on these daily posts and I blame the constant driving and traveling whatnot. I’ll have some free time over the next few days (especially when I get back to D.C.), so expect more updates around then.

287. Rain.

Tuesday was the beginning of the coastal driving part of #yuppiequest. Per the suggestion of friend Suzi and her partner, I ended up driving along the Umpqua River before hitting the Oregon coast. I then took the coast all the way down to Trinidad, where friend (and former professor of mine) Deidre lives.

And all it did was RAIN the entire time.

There’s some saying that goes, “Do one thing a day that scares you.” Well, driving down a coast in the pouring rain scares the crap out of me.

But eventually, I made it. I was welcomed to Trinidad with much less rain and a night filled with wine, a magical waffle cone filled with meat and talking with Deidre about life and journalism and leaning out/in and Spam. I couldn’t connect to the Internet, but being off the grid was absolutely worth it.

286. Office.

I am so behind on posts right now, partially due to laziness when I had Internet access and partially due to not having Internet at all.

So, on Monday, after a brief Portland morning stint that involved buying Voodoo Doughnuts and touring airbnb’s office, I drove to Eugene, where I caught up with friend Taylor downtown, visited the University of Oregon campus, had a tarot card reading done on said campus and spent the night at friend Suzi’s house, where food was eaten, laundry was done and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was watched.

Still, the most memorable moment happened while I was eating pizza after Taylor had to leave for court. A girl — damn, I can’t remember her name now, but she was very nice and had just moved to Eugene from Sacramento — invited me to sit down at her table because the one I was originally at appeared to be by a heater. We chatted a bit before another girl sat down at the table I was originally at.

Girl 2 remarked on the heat, then started offering us some unsolicited advice about how to get the job you want. She was a journalist, she told us, and her writing was noticed by an editor at the local alt weekly. That had landed her the job she was still in, and this allowed her words to influence her readers.

Now, mind you, I hadn’t said a word about what I personally do for a living. I just nodded and let her keep talking.

When she finished her lunch, she got up to walk away, but paused next to my table and said:

You know what the best part about being a journalist is? I don’t have an office. *waves her arms around to gesture at the world around her* This is my office.

Talk about an on point conversation.

I still have no idea who this girl is, though I did pick up a copy of the weekly and plan on googling the contributing writers’ names. Journalism!

285. Road.

I’m going to attempt to get back on the posting bandwagon by getting something done about yesterday this morning and actually writing something up tonight.

Yesterday marked the beginning of the road trip chapter of #yuppiequest. I bid farewell to friend Adam and picked up my rental car at the airport, where the man working at the desk asked me how often I did this kind of thing by myself and didn’t I want to watch the Seahawks game before I left (answers: almost never and not in the least).

I then hit the road, and it was a nice and easy drive southward to Oregon. First stop was at the magical land known as Powell’s. Then met up with friend Marin, who I stayed with for the evening, and went to Rogue for beer and food.

Stops for the night after Portland are as follows: Eugene, Trinidad, Westport, Bay Area (staying in Berkeley with friend Suzanne, but will likely venture around), Grover Beach, L.A. (more venturing) and San Diego. Will check out many other things along the way.

Because I grew up in the ’90s, this is the first song that pops into my head when it comes to road trips:

284. Life.

Have a nice life.

Got to see friend Jessica from Reno yesterday, and she and her friend Katie and I were discussing how there are some people you meet and they are great but you know you will probably never see them again and you just want to wish them well. “See you later” isn’t accurate and “Have a good one” doesn’t seem long enough. But the above should work, though you could come off as a snarky asshole.

Ah well.

Other highlights from the day: did a Ride the Duck tour, named Sleepless in Seattle trivia at lightning speed, took the monorail to Seattle Center and wandered around, found a coffee shop that had an espresso White Russian that would have been highly recommended had they had good service, grabbed dinner in Belltown, ended up at a game store on Capitol Hill.

Left Seattle earlier today. It was a great week. Onward to the road trip part of #yuppiequest (and another post about today forthcoming).

283. Something.

I just want to be sure that I see…something.

From Gilmore Girls, which I have gotten friend Adam to marathon with me while I’ve been in town.

Highlights from yesterday: coffee, visiting the bridge troll, lunch at Gas Works Park (site of the 10 Things I Hate About You paintball and across the water from Tom Hanks’ character’s house in Sleepless in Seattle), met up with friend Evonne and got a newsroom tour, went to a Sounders game.

282. Wandering.

From yesterday:

281. Knitting.

Took the ferry to Bainbridge Island today (gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous), where I ended up wandering into a random knitting store, talking with some of the employees and deciding that, obviously, what I need to do on this trip to ease my brain is knit.

I’ve decided to make a cowl, as inspired by the fabulous ones worn by Caitriona Balfe in Outlander.

We’ll see how far I actually get on this project, since I do exactly what Liz Lemon does, according to Jack Donaghy: every two years, I take it up for a week.

Other highlights: hung out with friend Sean from college. We grabbed dinner and ice cream and beers and wandered around the Capitol Hill neighborhood, since I will obviously never get away from neighborhoods named as such.

280. Aquarium.

Because old habits die hard, I wandered into the Seattle Aquarium yesterday, fascinated with all of the creatures I was seeing. Got a bunch of story ideas, of course. Should probably start freelancing and putting random knowledge gained at E&E to use.

279. Starbucks.

Fulfilled one of my life goals by drinking coffee at the original Starbucks down by Pike Place Market.