USA Number One: July 2011

Sunday, July 10, 2011

The original Starbucks

I'm not really a fan of Starbucks, I could take it or leave it, but we took the opportunity in Seattle to visit the first Starbucks to pop-up in the world.

Some street performers playing music... notice that the girl is playing a saw.

I purchased a bag of "special reserve pike place coffee" which is only available at the first starbucks. A couple days later I fired up a pot of water, cleaned off my french press, located my favorite mug, and got at it.

I was worried that it would be the best cup of coffee that I ever had, and since it was only available in Seattle, I would have limited access to the beans. I was relieved when I discovered it was just "okay"... nothing too special. I still prefer going to a local roaster and getting a pound of french roast. I would tell you my favorite roaster, but you've probably never heard of it.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Cycling into/in Portland

On the final day of my four day weekend, I decided it would be nice to bike into Portland proper. I mapped out a route just shy of 20 miles and was on my way. It's been a hot 85 deg here lately and I was able to add on to my permanent tan lines a little bit throu

gh out the day.

The trek into the urban setting was uneventful, except for one instance with a senior citizen who was dead set on merging into my person bubble--disregarding the fact I am a semi-solid object.

This post will lack a lot of pictures because I felt like too much of a tourist as it were. Although, like any transient cyclist, I had to pi

ck up a couple souvenirs.

Yep, that's a cow bell.

After riding around the city for what seemed like forever, I chose to take the TriMax back into Hillsboro. The only exciting part of that trip was an altercation between a senior and a disabled person over a priority seat (which is reserved for seniors and disabled peoples). Yep, pretty uneventful.