This past weekend I escaped ever-so-briefly from the Mysterious Mansion to where us Washingtonian's call "South of the Border" -- that means the State of Oregon -- and particularly in this instance, Portland. Lots of us go there for quick stops to buy cars and other high ticket items because Oregon mercifully does not have a State Sales Tax.
The purpose of my visit this time was to meet up with a portion of my wife's family, some of which live further south in the beautiful town of Corvallis, the rest who were in town from SoCal. We stayed in the "Rose Quarter" in the City of Roses, Portland, right smack dab in the middle of the Historic Waterfront District.
After spending a very pleasant afternoon with the family, we headed back downtown to one of the largest bookstores on the West Coast, the world-reknowned POWELL'S BOOKS. Taking up several floors and an entire city block, they even have a parking garage dedicated to patrons.
After leaving my wife to her beloved Astrology section, I went upstairs to the rare book department. On the way I browsed briefly at a collection of several hundred books that were up for sale that belong to noted vampire novelist Anne Rice. Lots of different tiles and looked like they might be a part of her research library that she might have used while writing some of her books.
A short stack of horror books were found through the secure door to the rare books. A couple of signed editions, a couple of Lovecraftian tomes, and one signed first edition of Fred Chappell's Southern Gothic Lovecraftian novel, Dagon.
Then, it was off to the film section where I found a couple titles that I had been casually seeking for a few years. After that, it was back downstairs to one of the largest selections of science-fiction, fantasy, and horror books you'll ever want to browse through.
The pics shown here are from a batch I took Friday during the full moon, just a few hours before the eclipse.
A great trip and good to get out of town for a couple of days. Now, Return of the Blob .... er, Blog!
