nzbarry.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

After a delicious chocolate croissant, I spend a couple of hours on public buses to hang out in Olympia, the Washington State capital. I wander the port area, drink coffee, visit a brewery and wish I was staying longer. asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/side-trip-...

submitted 20 hours ago • 0 comments

On day two in Seattle, I visit the market, hang out at the Museum of Popular Culture, do some travel planning, take a drink at Cyclops before concluding with a lettuce dilemma. asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/seattle-da...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

I love Michiko Aoyama's What You Are Looking For Is In The Library - the five characters go in, meet the librarian with a practical request and are all inspired to do something much larger, by an unexpected book suggestion. #booksky #michikoaoyama www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Day one in Seattle, I wander Chinatown but take no photos, visit the library, find a couple cool coffee shops and bars, have a great Thai dinner and enjoy the sunset. Link to post: open.substack.com/pub/asbarryw...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

So I am in Mexico, at a fairly grotty hotel at the airport, but it is only for one night.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

I drive from Seaside down the coast and across to Portland, where I hand back the car, hang out in the lovely airport for a bit, then catch a train to Seattle. Link to post: asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/seaside-to...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

I drive up the Oregon coast to Seaside, stopping at Yachats and Newport on the way, and take a side trip to Astoria. This post features several bridges, two breweries, and the Goonies movie. asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/florence-t...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

I drive from Eugene to Florence, following the Suislaw River, and spend the night in Florence. It has a great bridge, coast, lighthouse and café. Link to post: asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/florence-o...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

I have a day around Eugene in Oregon, in which I pop down to Cottage Grove to see some bridges (The Bridges of Jackson County) and enjoy some local cafés and bars. Link to post: asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/the-bridge...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

I drive from Madras to Bend, city of 40 breweries (without visiting all of them), then on to Eugene, via the wonderful crater lake, deepest lake in the USA, discovering trains on the way. open.substack.com/pub/asbarryw...

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Wow! So the thing I was excited about but had to wait on for confirmation is happening! I have an RV to drive half way across Canada in over 13 days, Vancouver to Montreal, with $500 gas allowance - all for $CAD13.

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

After a last evening in Portland, I pick up a surprisingly nice rental car and head west to see some clouds, via Boring, then head south to Madras, for pizza and beer. Link to post: asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/on-the-move

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Wow! I have my fingers and eyes all very tightly crossed in the hope that I will obtain a very magical way of carrying out part of my trip. I have to wait 2 days for confirmation, which sucks.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Seichō Matsumoto's Tokyo Express is a Japanese police procedural novel written in 1958, but at heart it celebrates intuition and perseverance, as well as trains, train timetables, cigarette smoking and coffee shops (it's where Mihara does his best thinking). Liked it a lot! #booksky #crimefiction

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

My walk around Downtown Portland yields knives, psychedelia, pens, blankets and trains. Not a bad effort. Link to post: asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/portland-d...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Wandering Old Town Portland, I visit a coffee shop with a lame name but great coffee, a delicious deli, a fabulous stationery shop, eat really expensive ice cream while I ponder the plight of the buildings falling into disuse and the people living outside them, then finish with some great pasta.

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

Train delayed for more than an hour, because of a trespasser on the tracks. Read Convenience Store Woman as I waited - young Keiko would have said run him down. #booksky

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

I'm back at PDX after dropping the car off - there are worse places to wait for a train.

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

In the local library this afternoon. My mission: to choose a book for the first meeting of the English reading group I am helping to set up. Failure means having my head ripped off by the librarians for them to kick around as a football, so the stakes are reasonably high.

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Arnold Bennett's Grand Babylon Hotel is quite the treat, although not what I expected when a very rich American buys a swanky British hotel because his daughter can't get steak and ale. Instead, there's intrigue about the missing European prince, a dead retainer and adventures abroad.

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Moving on, I fly to Portland, have some culture, some history and some beer: good times! asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/to-portland

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Had a bit of a panic last night, when my passport was not where it should be. Sent a flurry of messages. Found it this morning, in a different part of the same small bag it was supposed to be in. Here's a bridge.

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

My last couple of days in San Francisco - sorry, no touristic highlights (apart from a 110 year old dim sum tea house) as I wander to Oakland twice. asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/san-franci...

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Percival Everett manages to combine a lot of humour with the absolute outrage of a century of lynching in his novel, The Trees. #booksky #percivaleverett www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Bend apparently has 40 breweries! I decide to walk around downtown until I get to the first one - it just happens to be the big name in town: Deschutes.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Another day of wandering San Francisco, where I visit a beautiful coffee shop, see some beautiful trams and hang out in a couple of beautiful bars. asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/wandering-...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Golly. This is what my $350 for a week rental car looks like - a Subaru Outback. Tonight's destination is the Motel 6 in Madras.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

My first couple of days in San Francisco seems to involve quite a lot of beer! asbarrywanders.substack.com/p/san-franci...

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

Wow! Kurosawa's Ran is a stunning movie. Lots of scheming and plots, everyone dies, no one wins. letterboxd.com/nzbarry/film...

submitted 23 days ago • 1 comment

Superb evening with the Oregon Symphony last night, performing the music of Angel Badalamenti, from Twin Peaks and other film scores. Along with the fab music, guest appearance from "Agent Cooper", some comedy, an ice cream recommendation, dancing and a fainting singer. Thanks @valarie.bsky.social

submitted 23 days ago • 1 comment