I Sold It All and Traveled the World!

When I read stories about people who have accomplished something like this post title, I always wonder how my own "throw the watch away and ride off on the motorcycle" story might play out.

It may be surprising for my reader to discover that I was born under the sign of Cancer, the homebody.  (Ironic, no?)  But the twist in the plot is this:  My birth date is the 4th of July.  Independence Day.  The two seem to have been fighting with each other for decades. 

I adore traveling but, when I'm away, I wonder if my son is keeping up with the lawn and throwing out the garbage.  I wonder how my uncle is doing after his recent hospital stay.  My elderly aunt receives a call almost daily to see if she is feeling well. 

These thoughts and events by no means spoil my fun, however, my own version of Eat, Pray, Love would have at least a little bit of "Fret" in the title.  Just enough that leaving it all behind has not yet seemed like a completely comfortable option.

Plus, there is that pesky Cancerian homebody side.  I do love my little home and garden.  But I only love it as a sort of space station to return to, floating back in from whatever destination or adventure I'm having.  My home is an anchor in a vast sea of elsewhere.

Now, here's the rub. 

Of late, that anchor feels a bit like an albatross. It's more "Home Sweet Yard Work" than "Home Sweet Home".  No one who has ever owned a home can fool themselves into thinking that it will not wind up looking like the "before" house on Fixer Upper without regular maintenance.  This is why my schedule the past two weeks went something like this:

Fly
Explore
Have an adventure
Return home
Unpack
Do the laundry
Clean the kitchen
Clear the front and back yards
Clean out the window boxes and planters
Set up the patio furniture
Plant 95 annuals
Plan a trip to Malta

Yeah.  Something like that.  The actual list is much, much longer. 

And so, I've decided that my next trip is going to be to the library. 

I really need to read more of those I Sold It All books.

Getting My Geek On

I had planned on a Portland epilogue when I left on the red-eye Monday night.  But I was a victim of the dreaded middle seat.  To my left, a gentleman who smelled of mildew and onions.  To my right, a woman who slept fitfully, tossing her jacket around so that the sleeve kept hitting me in the face as I tried to rest.

I deplaned with hair that looked like it was styled with a blender.  What makeup I had worn at the start of my trip was gone, probably on the sleeve of my restless neighbor.

Traveling is so glamorous.

Needless to say, I walked around on Tuesday doing an unintentional imitation of The Walking Dead.  On Wednesday, I was packing again.  No time to do the beauty of Oregon justice, I was too busy getting ready to get my geek on.

Yes, Route 65 here, reporting from Wizard World Comicon 2015 in Philadelphia.  This is where the weird REALLY lives.

Dr. Who, Wonder Woman, Batman.  I'm not talking about graphic novels or television shows; I'm talking about some of the costumes.  It's so much fun to see the lengths some folks go to in recreating their favorite anime/video game/super hero character. Where else can you watch Link from Zelda walking down the same aisle as Darth Vader?  A younger crowd proliferates at these events, and I think it's a pity more older folks don't get in on the act.  Personally, my inner child gets a real kick out of hanging with a crowd that, at times, resembles the bar scene in Star Wars.

Not a costume.  Real statue.

There was a promo going on for Jurassic World which employed the use of Oculus Rift, the virtual reality glasses from Samsung.  Virtual reality glasses?  I am SO in! 

In line, that is.  Fortunately, the opening day crowd
 wasn't overwhelming.

And the wait was worth it. The technology adjusts your view with the movement of your head.  Shift your head right and left, look up and down, etc., the view changes as seamlessly as if you were standing there.  Combined with the 3D effect and stereo headphones, it is totally immersive.

Since, in this case, the content was tied to the movie, I experienced the awakening of a brontosaurus...who proceeded to sniff me! 

Awesome!

I just know that this experience will transform entertainment in the future.  But I'm going to wait until they program it so that something besides a brontosaurus is sniffing me. 

George Clooney would do.

Finally, Something a Little Weird

A voodoo doll doughnut with a pretzel stake through its heart?  Now we're getting a little closer to weird town.

Welcome to Voodoo Doughnut, a Portland icon for over 13 - Oooh!  How numinous! - years.

Voodoo Doughnut's success (it now has five locations in Oregon) attests to the fact that Portland supports quirky shops.  I arrived at the northeast location on Davis street with high hopes.

The maze of bright pink metal barricades in the front of the store (crowd control) clued me in on the shop's popularity even before my companion told me that it often has lines out the door.  I was fortunate to be there off season; there were only three parties in front of me.  This gave me time to listen to Metal music from the stereo system while checking out the weird decor.

 The chandeliers. 










 The chair shaped like a coffin.









The stained glass window of their Voodoo Doll doughnut, the bumper stickers claiming "The Magic is in the Hole", a few photos of voodoo icons, a velvet painting of Kenny Rodgers, and this delightfully weird offering:.

The shop, open 24 hours, really seemed to be trying to live up to "Keep Portland Weird".  Yeah, I was liking this place.  But, as they say, the proof is in the doughnuts.  With all this voodoo kitsch, was this going to be just another gimmick, good for a one-hit tourist visit but not pulling through in the long-term taste department?

Viewing the parade of crazy doughnuts on the revolving shelves in the lighted case, I was skeptical.  (Most of the following photos were taken through the glass so I apologize in advance for their quality.)   A doughnut in the shape of male genitals with "Wang" written across it in icing sounds gimmicky to me.  I doubted it could taste good.  The flavors were wild and varied - Maple Bacon, Triple Chocolate Penetration, Diablos Rex, and Dirty Snowball.  The decorations were even wilder - a doughnut in the shape of a blunt, and one with a pentagram on it.

You know you wanted to see the penis doughnut.

I decided to order a Voodoo Doll doughnut because it was their signature item, Triple Chocolate Penetration because I'm a chocoholic, and an apple fritter.  The fritter was my idea of a true flavor test since I've never had one that's fair-to-middlin'.  In my experience they're either fruity fried delights or grease laden stomach bombs.

Here's a shot of the inside of the pink voodoo cake box (even their boxes are unique) with my choices:

You'll note that the apple fritter was the size of Russia.  It was going to be heaven or an entire bottle of PeptBismol.

After repeatedly stabbing the Voodoo Doughnut with the pretzel in honor of a former boss, I bit off the arm violently to the metal music that was pouring from the stereo system.  It was cathartic.  And delicious.  The texture was light, the chocolate intense, and the doll had a bleeding heart of pure raspberry jam.  Not the gloppy, sicky-sweet kind I'm used to from my local eastern chain, this stuff tasted fresher and fruitier.  (They advertise the use of Kelly's Jellies.  Kudos to Kelly!)

My experience with the Triple Chocolate Penetration was less satisfying.  A cake doughnut glazed with chocolate, studded with puffy, chocolate flavored cereal, I found it too sweet and not nearly as chocolatey as the name would suggest.  I disliked the cereal puffs enough to pick them off.  Unfortunately, most of the glaze came with them.  The remaining doughnut was milk chocolate flavored, unappealing to this dark chocolate girl.  Two bites and I was off to the apple fritter.

Angels sang, doves were released to the skies above, the earth moved.  Okay, no, but the fritter was REALLY good.  Yummy fried dough taste on the outside, right amount of glaze, no grease penetration to the  interior, great texture.  My one criticism - a bit short on apples.  But - hey! - did you hear what I said?  Yummy fried dough taste.  Who needs apples?

Voodoo Doughnuts had worked its magic on me.  I walked out a very happy sugar zombie.