48 lbs. In your face, airlines! (Though you did get me on additional baggage.)

Miikka, Jessie, Flash the timid dog, Sami, Lilli, Sheraz the award-winning friend, Lisa, Jeremy, Lauren, Jessica, (if I had a bar, you guys would have free rounds for life), Trevor the Pikku Jaettilaeinen, Raphael, Mark, Garrett, Nate, Owen, Mary the fresh salmiakki convert, Alex the greatest guy who pays no attention, Randy the corn-dog instigator...next time can't be soon enough.

And Oulu People? Next time's right now, bitches!

"I don't appreciate that camera pointed at me," this gaunt lady told me from behind her sunglasses. She had frizzly hair and a red tank that hung on her loosely.

"Oh, absolutely," I said. "I was taking pictures of the coffee shop, I didn't photograph you."

"Yeah, I see lotta folks come take pictures of the homeless who have no idea what it's like to be on the street. I don't like that," she said. I nodded my head and sipped my coffee.

"My name is Mrs. Buoy and I'm on the street because they took my house from me illegally. I got a lawsuit going on and I'm gonna get my house back from them."

"That's rough," I offered, not really knowing where to go with this. She agreed.

We had a short exchange, and then she went back to her shopping cart a couple of yards to my right. She didn't ask for money and I didn't volunteer: somehow I felt she would have taken offense. We sat there in silence, looking at people buying and selling coffee by the cup, the afternoon sun hitting the alley at a hard angle. I finished my coffee and put my things away. As I walked my bike past her, I wished her well.

"You take care now, Mrs. Buoy."

"Thank you, young man. God bless you."

Get up early on the North Rim and there's no one else but you.

Driving in the middle of the night through the wilderness with tons of deer glaring into your headlights--sound familiar, huh, Aki? Totally worth it again.

So frigging worth it you're going to get a third photo of the sunrise.

Told ya.

Stayed two nights at Jacob Lake Inn, some 45 miles from the North Rim (depending on where you want to go) and had far better time than on the South Rim. Fewer tourists, see? In any case. Getting up at 3:15 AM meant that we had a hell of a long day in front of us. We had time for wildlife.

Lizard Man.

Mules! 'They have more horse sense than horses do.' - Harry Truman.

And yeah, we did take like a million other photos of the canyon, but the scale doesn't really translate. So I post only this and then one more.

Person shows scale of canyon.

Hell of a long day? Yeah, because we wanted to see sunset at GC, too. And did, at Cape Royal. The wind picked up like crazy and it was Mistral strength by the time we got to the canyon. Beautiful, beautiful.

Sunset. Few tourists around, some having OJ and Smirnoff. Why not.

The Sun, and Venus, somewhere in there. In transit, apparently.

Oh, and that's the cross.

If I didn't sing the Silver Saddle Inn's praises enough, I will continue. The place is great, and its also next door to Jackalope. Tons of weird imported--and wonderful--furniture, local jewellery, weird and beautiful stuff. Easy to spend hours in there.

Día de los muertos stuff. Truckloads of it.

Oh, a love story. Aww. Wait!

After the sunset, we were driving around Santa Fe before heading back to the famed SSI, and we bumped into this. How could one pass this? Easily, it turns out.

The best name for a burger joint in quite a while.

What is this I don't even

Rocks and shit.

More r&s.

Kissing camels. Aww.

And if you're ever in Santa Fe, be sure to check out Silver Saddle Inn. Friendly staff, great recommendations for food, laid back--and there's a Calamity Jane room. Psych!

This was taken just before she passed out while leaning on a wall. With her head.

And so we went to Boulder. A cool town full of hippies and real cheap parking tickets (don't ask.) We got this weird Japanese ice cream / pastry thing at a place called Smooch. 'Coz that's how we roll.

Mochi! The Japanese, huh?

Alex and some pink mochi business.

Meanwhile, back at the Denver airport, this.

I gave my luggage to Satan.

After that we were citied out for a while and decided to hit the Multnomah Falls. Yay!

Pretty self-evident.

Semi-crappy weather+week day = no tourists.

Wahkeena Falls, a nice, more secluded spot.

Enough nature for one day! We swung back to Portland and hit the Doug Fir. Weird mixture of Northwestern yuppie-classy joint-hipster dugout, but lots of fun. Can really see that place light up on a Friday night.

Bond face. Or, 'Bond fayschh'.

A Portlandian man. I guess. In Portland.

And we also made a point (cheers, Sheraz!) to hit one of the famed food carts in the city. This place was El Masry, corner of Washington and 3rd (SE?) and they had the best shawerma and hot sauce. Soo delicious!

Mm-mmm. Them flies and smell of sewage only added to its charm.

Keeping in with the whole eating and drinking shebang, we just had to visit Voodoo Doughnut. This is where doughnuts and wine comes in: we are men of leisure! We feel like having doughnuts and wine and watching Goon? We will!

Notice how the Voodoo Doll was stabbed in the genitals? Keep Portland Weird!

All in all, good job. Thanks, broheem!

...and have doughnuts and wine.