Jul
20
The weekend down south
by Emily in
Friday we drove down to Olympia for a Mind Series fundraiser put on by Max’s Aunt Jane and Uncle John. The event was located at their friend Tom Anderson’s art gallery, and local musician Jim Valley played a show. Max and his brother Dillon opened with a few of their dad’s favorite hits, and as usual the rock n’ roll got Hugh belting out lyrics.
Hugh, Max and Dillon Larkin at Mind Series benefit show
Crew from the Mind Series benefit show
Saturday we drove further south to Portland, and zoomed past all the familiar pit stops we previously reached on bicycle during our first leg. We made the second trek because there was a Rock Against Alzheimer’s benefit show to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association happening. We met the Rock Against Alzheimer’s team back in May when we biked in, and they switched the date around so we were able to attend. But before the show we met up with our friend Aysha Ghazoul (the Portland bar-owner, filmmaker, bicyclist who’s joining us from Boston- New York), and she took us to an annual “Crawfish Boil”.
Max with crawfish
The cornbread, red velvet cupcakes, rockabilly band and hospitality made this Southern neighborhood tradition a treat. It was the first time I ate crawfish. A delicious spicy mess.
Crawfish boil remains
We got to see Rebecca and Lynn Channer at the crawfish party, two people we met and interviewed during our previous Portland stay. A small-world occurrence happened a while back when the aforementioned Uncle John joined our online network, and it led to the discovery that the Channers know him. Weird!
Aysha Ghazoul, Lynn and Rebecca Channer, Emily
After the crawfish fun we headed to the Rock Against Alzheimer’s show with Aysha. Upon arriving we were greeted by the amazing crew including the founder Kenny Field (we interviewed him during our previous visit where he works at the caring Alzheimer’s residence Emerson House), Melissa Creger (who works for Alz. Assoc), Alex Luse and Heidi (both also work at Emerson House), and Lauren (who designed the buttons and shirts).
Rock Against Alzheimer's
Aysha brought her new camera, and we both filmed part of the show to practice our uploading techniques for the east coast. The Rock Against Alzheimer’s crew asked us to give a little speech midway through the show, so we did and Max told the crowd how his dad has Young Onset Alzheimer’s and music continues to get him going.
Max shooting the show
Kenny, Max, Lauren and Emily
We told our COYOD connections about the show, and Felicia and Greg Heaton joined us toward the end. We met and interviewed the siblings back in May, and it was great seeing them again.
Felicia and Gregory Heaton
To make the weekend more wonderful, we met up with our “New BFF’s” Sam and Don for breakfast on Sunday. Quick recap- we met Sam randomly when we were on our loaded bikes back in May, and we ended up staying with her and her boyfriend Don for a couple days. Turns out this biking event was taking place Sunday where they close streets and let families ride around. So we did.
Don, Max, Emily and Sam
All in all, in 2 days we reconnected with 12 people in Portland that we met because of Spoke Your Mind.