Seattle show #2, then Portland

Elisabeth: 

The Pacific Northwest is so NICE! 

The morning after our first show in Seattle, we all explored the neighborhood of Columbia City, experiencing delicious coffee from a couple places, and a speedy and scrumptious breakfast (a nice contrast to some of our mid-roadtrip meals). They just have it together here. 

Maria and Dan in Seattle

Dan, Maria and I ambled around the hilly neighborhood, wandering down whichever street or narrow lane struck our fancy, and up steep hills in the direction of the sky until we found ourselves overlooking Lake Washington. We were charmed by all of the small, modern, yet quaint houses, each with intricately landscaped and diverse gardens, and by the narrow, back lanes lined with overripe blackberries boughs, bending over wooden fences. We imagined we had moved to the neighborhood as we sat on a bench eating the best peach pie I've ever tasted from Columbia City Bakery. After 10,000 steps and 30 flights of stairs (according to my phone), I went back to the house to do some work for my "real" job. It was so nice and relaxing knowing that we were playing a second show in the same venue and that all of our stuff was there already, so we had a leisurely day.

The band on their way to the second Seattle show

The second show was even more fun than the first, in my opinion. We were familiar with the venue, feeling relaxed and having fun hanging out with Darlingside, and Maria was there! We played a similar set as previous nights and added a Lucinda Williams cover (Something about what happens when we talk) with three part harmony, which was very satisfying. The audiences here are very engaged, enthusiastic, and fun to play for. People seemed to be very psyched about our set. Maria employed her friend Noah to help with selling merch, and he was happy to assist. He handed out stickers left and right and welcomed people to the merch table full heartedly, which made it so we sold a good amount of merchandise that evening. 

Louisa had fun seeing her friends who came to the show - Emily, Julia, Adelaide and Roger ! They all hung at the venue long after the show was over and had a great time catching up. Emily had her cutie lil dog with her.

Darlingside serenading

Cute hang with doggy and friends

We headed out in the morning around 11, stopping at the car museum in Tacoma, which I'll let someone else talk about since I just sat in the cafe on a work call the whole time.

Dave:

Stepping inside the bowed arch structure we were immediately greeted by a bone stock 1983 Mercury station wagon that fit the bill of an ultimate "gig mobile" as my father would have exclaimed. I then hurried over to the ticket stand to pick up a ticket. I could see a line of Porsche's just past the entrance that I couldn't wait to oggle at. Behind me I noticed a slightly less enthusiastic group of bandmates hemming and hawing over continuing through the gate after seeing the $22 entrance fee. Elisabeth opted to go straight to the cafe while the others were convinced to continue into the mecca of mostly American cars displayed along a winding three story parking garage. 

The first car to grab everyone's eye was a 1973 Porsche 911 in a deep black finish. Louisa immediately exclaimed that this was her favorite. Dan and Maria found an interactive Kentucky derby track next to a car that you could hop into and fiddle with the controls. I can't say I had one clear favorite but many contenders. We wandered through the museum for about an hour until everyone had heard enough of myself exclaiming "Wow, I fucking love cars." We picked up Elisabeth in the cafe and traveled onwards to Portland, OR. 

Louisa's favorite

Line of Porsches

Beep Beep muthafuckers

Louisa: 

We arrived in Portland and dropped Elisabeth off to hang out with Hannah Sloane Barton, who would be our host that evening. We drove to the venue, which was a spot called The Old Church, located in downtown Portland. We parked near Darlingside's van, but something seemed a bit off.. Ben seemed to be sweeping up glass from inside the van.. It turns out, right after they had unloaded all their gear and gone inside, someone had smashed a side window and stolen Molly's backpack with her laptop and other valuables. Luckily, the thief did not find anything they wanted and left the bag in a nearby alleyway with everything in tact, which Molly located using her "find my mac book" technology. Nonetheless, we were all very shook, and unloaded every little thing into the venue with someone watching over the van at all times. Dave, Maria and I got takeout Indian food while Dan watched the van. He had to tell a sketchy looking dude off when he was peaking into the windows. So as you can imagine, we were all on edge! All the members of Darlingside kept a cool head about the whole thing though, which really helped us stay calm as well. They were just thankful nothing got stolen, and that they had insurance for things like vandalized van windows (which we do not..). We were also able to move our van to a slightly safer feeling spot right in front of the church entrance, and soon there was a line wrapped around it, seemingly protecting it. 

The show was sold out! So the crowd energy was high, and although it had been a stressful afternoon, we were ready to play music. We had a wonderful time on stage, but I'll leave the show description to Maria ---  later in this post!

We left the venue during Darlingside's encore and drove to Hannah's house, while Elisabeth, Hannah and Lauren went out on the town. We were excited to see kitty cats at the house. We chilled, drank wine and went to bed not long after. Dave and I slept in the Euro Van, while Dan and Maria slept on the living room floor, and Elisabeth in the guest room with the kitten. 

In the morning we ate a yummy breakfast, took a walk, and went on our merry ways to California.

Dan:

    It is Saturday afternoon, about a week-and-a-half into tour, and I've finally gotten around to writing a blog post. I've spent most of today marooned in the far backseat of the minivan--reading, talking with Maria, and thinking about where we'll be next. We're making our way south, down the interior of Oregon, starting this morning in Portland and hopefully ending up somewhere in the Redwood Forest tonight. The view has been consistently good: now, to my left is a big hill (maybe even a mountain!) covered in tall, healthy evergreens; in front is Louisa, clearly pensive, with a hand on her forehead, probably thinking about the cheddar popcorn just to her right; and in far front is Elisabeth, driving, and Dave, on his phone, chuckling about something apparently quite funny. To my immediate right is Maria, who joined the touring party Wednesday night, writing in her journal, periodically inspecting the minivan's carpet headliner, where she hopes to find her next idea, about which she will write, dependably and insightfully.

    There is a lot to look forward to on this trip--we play San Fransisco tomorrow, Los Angeles a few days after that--but where we are now--winding down the highway, mostly silent, in awe of the landscape and maybe a little fatigued after so many days on the road--is probably my favorite part. It's the wonderful monotony of travel, not always the peaks of a great show, that remind me of how lucky I am to be cruising along, not doing much of anything, with the best people I could think of, on the way to wherever we're going. 

    And finally, here are a few (decidedly bad) photos from the last few days:  

    
Hello, (Maria here) sitting in perhaps my favorite vehicle location - the backseat nook. The landscape in southern Oregon is towering endlessly around us, an ocean of forested peaks. If it weren't taking our breath away so effectively, I would speak more about it. This being my first tour, I arrived with no expectations and these first few West coast days are easily exceeding them! Last night's gig at The Old Church was incredible- the music of our favorite 2 Stancioff sisters and 2 Kelly brothers filled the sanctuary venue in a magical and encompassing way. After each song, the audience exuberantly erupted in applause. I made a hasty exit after their set to help at the merch table and, sure enough, a line of fans as long as the room would allow queued up to visit. Several autographs, merch sales and many compliments later, it was clear these new fans knew this sound is heading somewhere big (and want to join this Redneck Yaught Club). For now, our van zooms onward to the Redwood forest for a night of camping. I am imagining us all hugging very large trees together later this evening- will report back on whether this is actualized.