The Jupiter Hotel

Hey all. I spent Friday night and Saturday with my BFFs S&M. S&M invited me to see the bluegrass band Railroad Earth who performed at the Crystal Ballroom. What a fun night. We had lunch on Friday at a deli, Kenny and Zukes, checked into the Jupiter Hotel and then headed to the Crystal for the show. We ended the evening by having a late dinner at the Doug Fir. What a nice evening of Portlandia. I highly recommend The Jupiter. If you live in Portland and have guests who want a chic place to stay direct them to The Jupiter, those that don't live in the City and need a place to stay, you'll have fun at this place. Every door is a chalk board to draw on, wonderful patios, very white walls and the decor is very IKEA. I was like, "Am I in the Showroom?" I've been to hundreds of hotels in my time and I've never seen anything like it. What fun!

The show was quite fun and I didn't really know what to expect. So many shiny happy people everywhere. I have never seen so many people at the Ballroom. S and I sat in the lobby of Lola's room (second floor) during the second set and watched the colliding cultures. There was an '80s DJ in Lola's, and many folks were dressed up in '80s fashion. We were very caddy. I bought a CD from Railroad Earth, which had the song "Peace on Earth" on it. Love this song. I told M it reminded me of the bluegrass songs I grew up with in the church, without the religious conitation. I am still a fan of bluegrass. I would love to see Dolly in concert sometime.

For those of you who are clubbers, you must hang out at the Doug Fir, which is attached to The Jupiter Hotel. Despite the fact I felt like an old man, it was fun feeling like I was apart of the cool young people. We ended the weekend at McMenamins Barley Mill, which was celebrating their 25th anniversary. Jim joined us for a lovely lunch. I felt out of place as I was the only one of our group without a master's degree! M just received his diploma. I have such intelligent friends. Congratulations Matthew! I wasn't going to write his first name, but this is such an accomplishment, I had to praise him using his name. Above is a photo of S&M. I told S I would protect her anonymity, hence all the initials (S doesn't want to be Googleable, like me). She did give me the approval to publish her picture, doesn't she look fabulous! They are are sitting at a booth at the Doug Fir, notice the logs to their left. Great decor.

Check out these cool websites to the left. Love to you all.