It's Been a While

After a long, emotional day of moving Tracy's folks, Tracy and I found ourselves prepping to go out for a friend's birthday party.  It was a pub crawl in downtown Oregon City.  We got dressed and made our way down to our friend's house.  There we were greeted by a room full of warm company and a couple of tequila shots. 

The first bar we went to was the Icehouse, a long bar with concrete floors and high echo-y ceilings.  It's full of games like pinball, pop-a-shot, video bowling, and video golf.  We settled in at a table with our beers and introduced ourselves to the people we didn't know in the party.  Across the room a pinball machine's blinking lights was seducing me like a woman's slow, lingering wink. 

Tracy and I dropped some quarters in and had some fun reliving our childhoods a bit.  It's been a while since I've played pinball.  I got my friend and I a shot of Jagermeister to go with our beers.

The next bar we went to was McAnulty's and Barry's.  This place was DEAD!  In fact, the bartender was hanging around outside with patrons and smoking a cigarette.  When we went inside, she followed Tracy and I in (we were the first of our party to arrive).  When she asked what we were up to, we told her about the birthday party.  She immediately unlocked a pool table for us and set us up with our first round of drinks.

The rest of the group arrived in a haze of song.  They stormed the pool table and the Keeley set to playing songs on the jukebox.  The music raised the ante on the volume level and pretty soon the empty bar felt full and fun.  Guys shot pool while pockets of people sprinkled around the high top tables circling them.

I bought my friend (and myself) a shot of Pendleton to go with the next round of beers.  I was starting to feel good.  It's been a while since I've taken this many shots in a night.

At this point, Tracy was done and she excused herself for the evening and made her way home.  The rest of us were ready for a change of scenery and made our way down main street to Pioneer Pub.  You could hear the hip hop music from down the street and our group made quick time to the dance floor.  Usher, Pitbull, and other hip hop artists soon had us bumping and grinding on the dance floor. 

I stood along the wall of the bar for a while until I just couldn't resist anymore.  Maybe it was the shots.   I set my beer down on a table and jumped out onto the floor.  It's been a while since I've been dancing at a bar.

When the birthday boy started showing signs of fatigue and intoxication, we made one last jump to the Happy Lounge down the street.  We must have walked in at about 2 am, but I couldn't tell you for sure as I was completely oblivious to time. 

We settled in for one last beer (and a round of Jagermeister shots supplied by Katie) and the girls ordered Chinese food to go.  Once the food arrived, it was time to get the hell out of there.  We walked our way up the hill to the house and someone started throwing burgers on the barbecue.  This was my cue to make my way home.  A sober friend offered to drive me and spare me the three mile uphill walk to the house, so I took it.  I rolled in at 3 am.  It's been a while since I've closed down the bars and gotten home at 3 am. 

I can't tell you how much fun it was.  The perfect, reckless diversion to finish out a couple of hard weeks.  I only wish Tracy would have been there to dance with me.  It's been a while, so maybe I should take her dancing.