Silver cloud on Broadway is reasonable.

They have their own City of Books, the Streetcars are great, there are lots and lots of strip clubs of all ilks, the Hoyt Arboretum, a lot less traffic and car clusterfuck, not many terrifying hills like Seattle, the 24 Hour Church of Elvis. They also have Ground Kontrol, which is a pretty large arcade place with all kinds of games.

Seattle is like high school; Portland is like middle school - less cliquish, less intense, less "grown-up", possibly more fun.

Voodoo doughnuts. Portlandia. Everything is a bit cheaper. No sales tax. Even More bike friendly.

Other than that... I got nothing.

(ps when you get homesick for Seattle, have a friend stop by Pcc in the fall and send you one coupon for Amtrack) They typically start handing them out around October of each year and expire in April of the next year)

I have a friend who puts the key differences of the two cities on Seattle living with the legacy of Boeing & Microsoft.

I've never spent much time in Portland, but I thought that was a neat perspective.

So, I'm a straight male. Occasionally, or occasionally in my past going out to bars/clubs days, I would find myself at a gay bar, or a bar that was a fairly even 50/50 mix of gay and straight.

I'm not so great looking that I would get hit on by girls all the time, but for some reason, even when I was with other straight men who were probably both better looking that me, and put off more of a gay vibe than I did, I was the one who always got hit on by gay guys. (just wait...there's a point to this...I swear...)

Whatever night, at whatever club I was at such that we can get to the end of this story, as expected, a gay guy hits on me. Having an abundance of experience with this kind of situation by this point, I was able to politely, humorously and quickly let the gentleman know that he was barking up the wrong tree so that he could move on and lift his leg at a tree where it could be reciprocated.

Instead of moving on, however, as most did, we spoke for a few minutes, wherein he told me he was from New York City, at which point he said, "ya know what? Seattle is cool, but it's not that cool."

That's how I feel about Portland, but from Seattle's perspective which isn't as cool as NYC/San Fran.

On the bright side, no one from Oklahoma City has tried to steal away the Jailblazers, so there's that. Also, if you like smoking the reefer, Portland is close enough to the Emerald Triangle that the hippie/cannabis culture is pretty huge there. The beaches nearby are a hell of a lot nicer than the crappy coastline we have here in WA as well. Finally, if you like to golf, the Portland area has some pretty sweet courses, and Bandon, on the coast, boasts some of the best courses in the entire world (certainly the USA, typically 3 of Golf Digest's Top 10 every year lie within the Bandon Dunes golf complex), and all things considered, they are actually very reasonably priced (which is to say they are still pretty expensive, but not compared to similar courses elsewhere).

I've taken my cat in cabs several times. When I call the cab service though, I do make sure to tell them I'm transporting a cat so if it's a concern on their end, they can handle however they do.

Do you mean a visa issued by the country of Vietnam for visiting Vietnam? If so, you can't get it online but you can by mail: http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/services/visa-application-process Also, there are different types of visas issued by the Vietnamese government, so read this page written by the US State Department that explains which one you will need. http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1060.html

Or, if you mean a visa issued by the United States Government to allow a Vietnamese person to visit the USA, click the link Russ Campbell supplied.

A simple search on Google using "obtaining a visa online" shows this general website to start the process:

http://evisaforms.state.gov/default.asp

There are three e-forms available dependent on your citizen or immigrant status. You have to follow the procedures online to enter your information and photograph. After completing the form you will submit it electronically for a check that all parts are filled in correctly and it will be returned to you with a barcode on the last page. You will then bring a printed copy of this form with you when you report for your in-person interview. The instructions outline that you must NOT fold the printed forms.

Are they AAA members? You can get maps from them, whole country and state by state. When I got them they were free, but that was 8 years ago. Any AAA office should be able to get them, but I'd check their website to see if you can order them online and pay for shipping if they're not near a brick and mortar office

UW Bookstore, or prolly Barns and Noble.

Go to any good bookstore and get a Rand McNally road atlas:
http://store.randmcnally.com/road-atlas.html

When they are traveling tell them to look for the welcome centers off the highway in the first few miles of driving once crossing a state line. Each state will have the best road map available there and for FREE. It is a good place to stretch the legs, get some local state info, and sometimes a free cup of coffee.

The road atlas can provide the info to plan the trip and the individual state maps be used to chart their adventure as they progress.

My parents will be there in two weeks. If they survive, I'll get some info and let you know how it went.

One information source to consider is to consult the current US Department of State travel warnings for the area. The most current warnings update was issued on February 8th and it outlines the recent history and current restrictions on travel by employees of the US Government.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_5665.html

In perusing the text the recommendations indicate that overland travel between many cities are considered major points of danger. You obviously have experience in the country and some familiarity with it. If you are adept at being a good traveler, are culturally aware, perhaps fluent in the language, then your ability to blend in would be enhanced. It would, of course, be better to be disappointed in missing the trip than to have your friends and relatives wish you hadn't gone.

My partner got Euros at Thomas Cook on 5th Ave -- is that location still open?

If now means right this minute, I'm not sure what the procedure would be. You'd have to go to your local US Dept. of State and find out about emergency passports. If three days is good enough, you can go to the passport office, pay the express fee (http://travel.state.gov/passport/fees/fees_837.html) and get it in two or three days.

Make sure you have the forms filled out correctly and have all the other required docs when you go - regulation picture, proof of citizenship (birth certificate), etc. Lacking any of these will halt the process.

Tracy - I'm really glad you had a good trip and enjoyed the first class treatment. Be sure to wear your 1% button with pride, and keep to the front on Metro!

I waited until your return to post the comment which leapt into my head when I originally read your question; I didn't want to post then so as not to appear as a killjoy. But it's worth mentioning now for the whole Q-community's future reference:

There is a real art to maximizing the value of the miles you redeem. It is always a good idea to actually do the math on your per mile value when pricing out the options. Typically, using all miles to buy a first class ticket nets a very low per-mile value. It is usually better to buy a coach ticket and then add miles to score the upgrade.

A good primer for this and other mileage maximizing strategies can be found on The Points Guy website, and a little bit of Google work turns up countless bits of advice on the topic.

Safe travels everyone!

ps... QR code boarding passes on the smart phone are not ready for prime time; I've watched countless delays and stumbles in recent weeks as TSA staff try to get the readers to work. Avoid!  (example rant here)

XE is a fabulously complex resource for exchange rates for world currency.

Use this specific tool for getting historical rates for any date you want to input back to 1995.

XE Current and Historical Rate Tables

Not sure if this link will work: 1 Euro in USD

If that link doesn't work, go to Google Finance and search for CURRENCY:EURUSD

Either way you should see a graph with daily exchange rates. Move your mouse pointer over Oct 7 2011 and you will see the rate for that day. If you don't see Oct 7 2011, zoom to 1m and you can move the slider at the bottom of the graph to your desired date.

I haven't flown United or US Air, but Continental's first class fliers get 2 bags checked free. If you yourself don't have 2 bags to check, you could be nice and offer to check one of your friend's bags for free.

Check in online and then use the special first class entrance to check your bags. Be sure to wipe the plebeian residue from your shoes on the first class rug! Then find the first-class shortcut for security - it's not as well marked in Seattle as some other airports. Pay no attention to the irritation on the coach fliers' faces when TSA calls you over ahead of everyone who's been waiting. You still may get groped, though.

When you get to the gate, you might be able to use the first-class lounge for your airline (ask about this when you check in if you have time to kill before the flight.) You will get to board the plane first, so get to the gate a few minutes early. When you are seated, the flight attendants should offer you a drink fairly soon; if they don't, ask for one. Even if it's just juice or something, it's nice to have something to do while you watch all the coach passengers get on board.

Bring an ipod, just in case you sit next to a business person who can't stop networking. One time I sat next to this guy who kept telling me about all the fancy resorts his company paid him to travel to for meetings - boring.

I only fly about once a year, so I'll book a coach flight on Continental and then upgrade to first class as soon as possible (just under 24 hours in advance of my flight using web check-in). Flying between here and Anchorage it's usually $69 dollars each way, so I can justify the expense for the convenience, the 2 bags I check free, and the food and drink. Continental's first class food isn't that bad, and it's usually a big spread.

First off, don't forget to ask your flight attendant for your complimentary "1%" button.

Figure out what aircraft will be used for your flight, and then check the seating chart at http://www.seatguru.com. It'll warn you which seats have the most legroom, which ones are too close to the galley or lavatories, etc. etc. It may also tell you what entertainment options are available for your flight--you may get a movie on a TV screen, or they may hand you a portable entertainment console.

Remember that airplane food is airplane food no matter the cabin. The best part of flying up front, IMHO, is removing the stress of waiting in line at security, waiting in line to board, and wondering if you'll be able to get your carry-on bag in the overhead. A close second is having more room in your seat, followed by not getting dinged for checking bags.

If you're checking a large suitcase, and you're traveling to a state with less restrictive liquor laws, why not check another bag (or pack a collapsible one in your suitcase) and bring back a shit-ton of reasonably-priced 1.5L handles? Ooops, I mean don't do that, carrying large quantities of booze across state lines is illegal.

The song is surely referencing the famous Cocoanut Grove nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, which was a top attraction for Hollywood celebrities for decades after it opened in 1921. It was shamefully torn down with the hotel in 2005. It was decorated in an "exotic" faux-Moorish style, with many elements of what would later be called "Tiki", and while it's grandeur was considerably faded by the late 70s, it presumably would still have made a tolerable stand-in for a poor man's tropical vacation.

There was another Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston which horrifyingly burned in minutes in 1942, when festive wallcoverings caught fire and filled the club with smoke and poison gas. 492 people died in just a few minutes. Many would have been saved if the exits had not been locked or in some cases welded shut; the bodies were stacked up behind the doors. In some parts of the club the toxic fireball raged through the room so fast that when the firemen first burst in they found people still sitting at the bar, and yelled at them to get out, before they realized they were sitting there dead.

I lived a block away from the Boston fire location in the 90s, which to this day is a barren parking lot with no marker -- the memory is still too painful for a lot of people. I was a little obsessed with it for a while. But some good came out of the fire; the next time you're in a public building and see an illuminated "exit" sign, with a battery in it so it stays lit if the power goes out, you can thank the people who died in the Cocoanut Grove; the law requiring them was passed as a result.

And the horrific emergency afterwards, as a thousand people were rushed to area hospitals afterward, was the first time penicillin was used to prevent infections in wounds, initially applied topically; this saved countless American lives on the battlefields of WWII, and millions of others since then.

Sorry about going off-topic here, but I spent a hell of a lot of time researching this fire, and it kind of got inside me a little!

Lack of heat and excess of water in this area of the world be my guess. I'm not an expert in plants but I know from the experience of killin lots of them that they grow best in the environment they're native to. Probably gets too cold in the winter in the hotter in the summer and drier parts of the state

There's a shitty little dive bar called Cocoanut Grove off the south end of the runway by Bellingham International Airport. I somehow doubt that's what the song is referencing.

But I've heard it's a decent place to get hammered if you're waiting for one of those cheapo flights from Bellingham to Vegas.

Miami's got a Coconut Grove.