Good o’l raisins and peanuts
We quickly packed our stuff and headed to the Budget dealership by Pike Place. Neither of us had rented a car before, so we were both "pleasantly" surprised to see our bill was nearly twice as much as we had initially anticipated. We opted for the most expensive insurance, in case anything happened, and decided to pay for tolls in advance - one less thing to worry about. After grabbing our keys, we were greeted by a bright blue Hyundai in the parking lot: our humble steed for the next few days. Then we were off, the first official day of the road trip had begun.
No road trip would be complete without an excellent playlist, so we put together: It’s giving “screw all responsibilities and go on a road trip” kind vibes, which felt appropriate given the circumstance.
Our first stop of the day would be in Tacoma to meet up with Chad, Drake and Jellybean, about an hour's drive from Seattle. It'd be tight because we had to make it to Portland by lunchtime for another meet-up.
After hanging out in Wright Park and fuelling up on Cosmonaut coffee, we began our 3-hour long drive to Portland. But, we weren’t really headed to Portland; we were headed to Beaverton to meet up with Seth Peterson at the Nike Headquarters.
For both Coleman and I, it felt a little surreal to be meeting up with Seth, let alone at Nike. Seth had always been a childhood hero of ours for his Save Deth videos - a collaboration between him and Dave Poyzer, and his contributions to modern yo-yoing. To quote Coleman, “I don’t usually get starstruck, but meeting Seth, I could hardly contain my excitement."
It felt somehow appropriate, being at arguably one of the largest lifestyle brands in the world while talking to a legend in the yo-yo industry about a new yo-yo lifestyle brand. With the glasslike reflection of Lake Nike and the trees surrounding the campus as our backdrop, talking to Seth by the water while eating our lunch felt like a mini lecture on yo-yo history. We heard stories about how yo-yos used to be sold alongside drinks during Prohibition-era America to in the 1980’s when a yo-yo made it to space to ProYo at the turn of the century. A large portion of our conversation was spent discussing the many faces in the yo-yo community and talking about the many other creative pursuits yo-yo players are working on now.
After leaving the Nike headquarters in awe, Coleman and I headed to the water to film a handful of tricks, chasing the light with our tripod, trying to get the perfect shot. Right as we were about to meet up with Aliyah and Chester, our friend Jordan, who we were going to stay with for the night, sends us a message saying he and his family caught a cold. Luckily, having gone to university in Oregon, Coleman had a bunch of friends he could reach out to. While I was stressing, as time passed, Coleman was surprisingly unfazed by the fact that we might need to sleep in the car for the night.
We met up with Aliyah and Chester at Lucky Labrador, a brewery in East Portland. The moment I walked into that brewery, Coleman and I looked at each other and said, “Yep, we’re in Portland.” The brewery was a massive barn-like space, with people unironically wearing checkered flannels and drinking IPAs while talking about the latest trends in craft brewing, sustainable living, and the local music scene. And of course, taking over the majority of the tables, was a Magic the Gathering tournament. We felt right at home!
As Coleman was having the best time learning how to do the 3A trick Koro Koro from Aliyah, I was trying to come up with a plan for the night and following morning. Fortunately, Chester offered to host us, which we were both very relieved to know that we’d have a place to sleep for the night.
Hanging out at Chester’s place after, going through his large vinyl collection and getting a tour of his garage band set-up, we settled in for the night. Another day for the books.
