June 11, 2004
Road Trip: The Shrieking of the Eels
I should tell you right now that I didn’t get to go to the Eelfest. It’s just… it’s been built up in your minds so, and I can’t lead you on any longer. That would be cruel.
We read about it in the paper that morning, amongst the listings of various rose-related festivities that would be going on in the coming weeks (it goes without saying that I, blissfully ignorant of the Rose Festival, completely misplanned the dates for my Portland trip, arriving the week before everything really got going. Arguably, this was merely a continuation of the ill-timed trip to Santa Barbara on Memorial Day weekend to go apartment hunting, resulting in my leaving numerous messages for rental estate agents who were, I’m sure, at the beach, so perhaps I should consider glancing at a calendar the next time I go somewhere, lest I find that I’m vacationing near Mecca three days before the hajj) Anyway: eels. We had become quite excited about this, and jumped into the cars, completely forgetting to shave (not that I can speak for Didi, but she moved with such gusto that, had she still needed to shave, she wouldn’t have done so), and zoomed away to Phil’s Unfortunately, the Eelfest was on Saturday, not Friday, as we originally thought, and on Saturday we were busy not going sailing. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
But here’s what we missed!
- Eel Balloon animals (hyuk, hyuk)
- Eel culinary treats (and, possibly, terrors)
- Traditional eel songs (???)
- Swimming with the eels for kids (The author of the newspaper article was unclear on whether this meant swimming in water with actual eels, in which case he advised parents not to let their children in the water, or whether it was instead simulated, perhaps with people dressed as eels in the water, in which case he advised parents not to let their children in the water)
Tune in next time to hear what we actually did that afternoon, which will be posted just the second that I remember what it was, precisely. That day and the other in Portland tend to blend together. I think beer was involved.
Also, I feel honor-bound to note that my blog is the second site listed when Googling Portland Eelfest. Next: the World.
