Thursday, November 3, 2011

Halloween Weekend and What I'm Reading

Eric and I left Seattle late Friday night and drove down to Portland for an extended weekend trip to visit my brother and friends.
We had known since August that we would be making the trip South over Halloween weekend and thought we had pretty set plans. But last minute, our itinerary changed. We never planned on driving down Friday night. But it's a good thing we did.
You always hear stories about people being in the wrong place at the wrong time; but not as many the other way around. Last Friday night, and the weekend in general, Eric and I were in the right place, at the right time. It wasn't the weekend we had expected, but I left feeling like we made an important impact in someone's life who means the world to me, and that's all that matters.

A Portland trip would be incomplete if I didn't make it to Powell's Bookstore. In anticipation for my upcoming trip, I got a few travel books that I'm so excited about:
Travelers' Tales: Food : True Stories of Life on the Road.
"Many people will tell you that they travel, in large part, to eat, to break bread with strangers and leave the table with friends, and to discover the world through the medium of cuisine. This special edition in the Travelers' Tales series collects stories that further the proposition that humanity is revealed through cuisine just as surely as it is through any other art or social activity."
Is this book not absolutely perfect for me? I love it so far! The stories are so heartwarming and uplifting and the book is littered with amazing quotes, which I adore.
"As the belly fills, so fills the heart." One of my favs.

The other book I picked up is called The Kindness of Strangers. I always get a bit anxious about crime and danger before I travel, so I thought it would help me if I read a book like this. "A timely collection of 26 inspiring tales, The Kindness of Strangers explores the unexpected human connections that so often transfigure and transform the experience of travel, and celebrates the gift of kindess around the world."

I can only hope that throughout our travels, Eric and I make amazing connections with the people of Ecuador and Peru, and others we meet from around the world. I so hope we recieve numerous opportunities to eat and break bread with others and leave the table with friends.


P.S. Eric won the Pumpkin Carving Contest at Kiss Cafe!! The Thursday night before we left for Portland, Eric and I took pumpkins down to Kiss for their annual carving contest, dinner and beers. The place was filled to the brim with people carving - it was so festive and so much fun! Everyone kept commenting on Eric's unique pumpkin and he said he had a good feeling he might win it. Sure enough, upon returning on Monday, we found out he took it home! They spoiled him too - he won a tshirt, a sweatshirt, any beer of his choice (he picked a $16 beer...) and they are sending his personal beer glass in to get a pumpkin engraved in it. I'm so jealous.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...