"Talk To Me In A Year," they said.

Tomorrow is my year anniversary of arriving in Portland. Whenever I said how much I love it here, locals would say, "Talk to me in a year." Well I still love it and yes it's still raining. Here is my journal entry from April 12, 2011: (I'd been on the road two months)

In a sleeping bag on a couch in a house full of antique typewriters. And a very loud clock for which I used my earplugs for the first time. An absolutely gorgeous drive up Redwood Hwy yesterday from Eureka to Coos Bay. Gorgeous! What could be better than white indigo waves crashing onto black craggy rocks, beaches strewn with driftwood, curving freshwater streams from rich dusky forests, cute roadside displays of carved bears, the surprise of an elk herd lounging in a bright meadow. Stuff like that. Jim (my aunt's hubbin) just brought me coffee, the dear man.

Today's the day! To Portland! The wandering comes to a close but the adventure continues.

(Within that entry was a flashback to a luscious evening deep in the Mendocino forest when I crashed Serra's friends, Cadence and Mike's wedding, but I'm afraid it can't be shared in this format. That's the difference between a diary and a blog.)

Today I sent 25 pages of teen diary and a really embarrassing unsent letter to Susan. She's going to knock it down to maybe 5 pages. Curious to see what she does.