Like a scene from a surreal dream, Kate and I currently find ourselves in the abandoned tourist town of Medora, North Dakota.
Medora is the gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a huge and gorgeous tangle of bluffs and cliffs out in western North Dakota. It’s a kitschy western tourist town, complete with saloons, general [...]
Category Archives: Civilization
Ghost Town
January 3, 2007
Laundromatic
December 5, 2006
I have discovered an axiom of Hood River laundromats, in that at any point in time at least one quarter of all washers and dryers must be out of order. At first I thought this only applied to the laundromat in the Heights, which besides its defunct collection of machines isn’t all that bad [...]
Eight
November 29, 2006
I find it somewhat comforting when my surroundings remind me that this, all of this, is just a phase. The wild river of life, not unlike the Monsoon Lagoon at Raging Waters, twists and turns as it sees fit. No doubt in a few short years, or weeks or months or even [...]
Walmart: Doing Stifler Proud
November 26, 2006
Someone is trying to bring Walmart down from the inside.
I was browsing TV stands the other day, trying to find something that would hold my incoming behemoth better than cinder blocks and 2×4s. As is always the case when I shop at the Hood River Walmart, I quickly became annoyed and irritable, and then [...]
Make Love, Not Warcraft
November 4, 2006
Until I cancelled my account on World of Warcraft, I hadn’t realized how painfully early it was getting dark in the evening. Coupled with the end of daylight saving time (a change that happened as I was freezing on a ridge in the Cascades, and one to which I was completely oblivious until Kate [...]
Booty
October 22, 2006
Scotch on the rocks. We’ll see how long I can remain coherent.
A couple nights ago some friends and I dressed up as pirates and ran around downtown Hood River for the entire evening. Rather than simply doing this at random (which would be kind of fun, come to think of it) we were [...]
Delivered
October 8, 2006
Ahoy.
I have safely arrived in Oregon, the state whose motto is Alis volat propriis, which means “She flies with her own wings, but only only after she has compiled a report regarding the environmental and economic impact of her flight, and only while using wings deemed safe by the state regulatory process.”
Yup, I’m in Hood [...]
Atlas Slouches
September 26, 2006
Today I went to IKEA and walked out with a couple tons of furniture, and I’m still recovering from the trauma of this occasion. Now, I love the concept of furniture. I think it’s great how in modern civilization we live in these rooms filled with all our stuff, and we have all [...]
“Tookits.”
September 7, 2006
Okay, I seem to be getting better at this “modern world” thing that people find so grand. I shaved my mohawk, then I shaved my head, and finally I shaved my beard (but that’s where I draw the line). I’ve started wearing shoes again, even though I have caverns in my feet that [...]
Wilderness Survival
September 3, 2006
I don’t think I have the survival skills necessary to live in civilization, anymore. I’ve been back amongst the world of thumping bass and flashing lights and extended middle fingers for nearly a week now, and I can’t yet say that my acclimatization has been successful.
I run red lights. On purpose. Well, I don’t [...]
