Voodoo Donuts Too

  I have found the best donut shop in the world, and it is in Portland, Ore. On Sunday morning I wolfed down a Portland Creme and a Triple Chocolate Penetration at Voodoo Donuts Too.
  The menu, the decor, the food (I didn't even mind the long hair I pulled off with the chocolate puff on my Triple Chocolate) - it was awesome. Check out the menu in the accompanying photo if you dare. The couch shaped like a coffin, the Elvira pinball machine, the candle memorial to Gary Coleman, Dennis Hopper and whomever you like) - very rad.

  There's even a pingpong table outside, for those rare days when it's not raining. More photos on my website, www.summerdetour.com, click on Gallery.

Hood, St. Helens, Rainier

  PORTLAND, Ore. - On a clear day, and it happens every so often in these parts, mountains such as Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier tower above and dominate the Pacific Northwest landscape along the Interstate 5 corridor. The magnificence of Rainier from Interstate 5 yesterday stunned me.

  This photo of Hood (11,239 feet) was taken quickly and perhaps unwisely as I crossed the Columbia River from Vancouver, Wash., into Portland. Wow.

A state of mind?

  Just north of Weed, Calif., on Interstate 5 a huge sign on the roof of an open-air barn proclaims the "State of Jefferson." A guy at the Hi-Lo Cafe in Weed told me I'd see it, and sure enough, there it was.
  It's a movement to create a new state that would include parts of southern Oregon and northern California. If you live in northern California, you feel pretty removed from an L.A. or Bay Area or even a Sacramento or Salem state of mind.
  If you really want more information, go to www.jeffersonstate.com. You'll see that it's "a movement to combine the unique geographical and geopolitical regions of northern California and southern Oregon." Or maybe it's a unique way to lower their taxes...

  (P.S. - I'm about to go into the deep woods, so don't expect to see anything new for a few days.)