Speaking of which, as I write this (in friggin Pages!) we’re sitting in Rockford Coffee in Bozeman, MT. The drive here was a literal journey through hell. Here’s the view from Holy-Fuck-We’re-Lost, Washington (a small, foggy town between Spokane and Bozeman):

Bozeman, as it turns out, is cold as balls. In fact, everything from Spokane, WA to Bozeman, MT was cold as balls. I’m a guy who can wear t-shirts in negative ten and be just fine (aside from the emergence of the ability to cut glass at will) – so when I say it’s cold… believe it.

Spokane was a quick stop for us (though I’d have liked to see more of it), and unremarkable save for Brooke, the hostess of Boston’s who is going to send us a picture of her new, amazing nose piercing when she gets it done — stay tuned.

Where were we? Right, Portland.  Portland is very green.

Si, Liz and I joined Mike to go to Kornblatts – a New York style deli for breakfast. East Coast met West Coast as we “noshed” (a word that makes me ill) on salt bagels and lox. Liz, our resident expert on Jewish culture, was pleased with the kosherness of it all.

Meanwhile, Kevin left for his own adventure – meeting up with Cassie, a kindred spirit who feels much the same about business, ethics, and marketing as Kevin, Si and myself. Cassie is, in short, bad-ass. More on her later.

We walked on (hiked, actually) through Portland, on roads where all those stories Bill Cosby used to tell about walking up-hill, both ways, in freezing snow can actually be true. Lots of litter around the streets (which, as an aside was only notable because of how very -clean- Seattle was). We tweeted the Mayor, but didn’t hear back – we were hoping he’d have joined us on our trip through Washington Park and the Rose Garden, which was serene and beautiful, despite a distinct lack of flowering roses.

You cannot buy grain alcohol in Washington state. We discovered this little gem of info from Brady, the founder of Ignite Seattle, who asked us to become bootleggers when we were set to meet up with him. Gleefully, we found a liquor store (which, by and by, was an interesting experience – there is no beer in liquor stores in Oregon, it’s only for grocery stores).

Portland also has a LOT of really cool art.

Mike, our guide through the city, took us to Powell’s Book Store – a 5-story nerd-gasm of literary goods. I left with no less than 10 new Star Trek books and a lighter wallet (you just can’t put me near a book store). We met back up with Kevin and officially met Cassie, who would later come with us to Seattle.

Liz opted to catch the train from Portland to Seattle so she could catch up more with Mike and his fiance, while Kevin, Si and I continued on to Seattle by car. At this point I should mention that Xena’s space, while awesome, wasn’t really an option for us to shower at. With only 4 hours of sleep and a 3 hour car ride, things can get interesting. Like, pseudo-shower in a dirty 10-cent gas station kind of interesting… the kind of shower where you leave feeling dirtier than when you started.

Onward, to Seattle… (to be continued in the next part from Fort Collins late tonight)…