Cannabis Season – Week 9: Over 40 Miles in 1 Week for Cannabis Events and Dispensary Visits
This week includes PDX HempFest at the Portland Expo Center, 420 Games in Sellwood at Waterfront Park and the NW Cannabis Club’s Medicated Chili Cook Off, all on Saturday June 10. I also continue with my Dispensary Tour, continuing my wander west of the Willamette River. Here is how I walked 40.2 miles from Sunday June 4 through Saturday, June 10.
Sunday, 6/4/17, 7.3 miles. I headed out to Deanz Greenz at 85th and Sandy to take advantage of an extract special which was advertised in The Daily Leaf for this specific day, but when I got there the budtenders reported that all of that shatter had been returned days ago, so there is no shatter special today. I am very disappointed that Deanz Greenz did not pull the ad for the special. I began a leisurely wander to Leia’s Place to wish her a happy graduation party for her daughter. Along the way I noticed a new Shango along SE Harold so I stopped by to check it out and was as equally disappointed with their selections as I have been with the Shango dispensaries in Hillsboro and Forest Grove. Very few chemovars on the shelf, and what is available appears to be of very good to good quality, no excellent or superior choices that I can see. Before seeing Leia I stopped in to check out the selections as Cannabis Corner and find even better deals on shatter than I was intending to find at Deanz Greenz. I pick up a gram of shatter for less than $15 and a gram of Siskiyou Sungrown RSO for less than $25, each of which is far less than I usually find them. Cannabis Corner also has some wonderful flower; I may have to amend my list of top ten dispensaries☺. I wander toward downtown and end up talking with Stephen, a budtender at MindRite Dispensary on Marshall in the Pearl. Upon Stephen’s recommendation I pick up a gram of Grape Kong to help bring things down a bit for me once I end a day of sativa wandering. Great recommendation! Wow, this Grape Kong from High Latitude Farms (23.47% THC) is another indica flower with a might thump; it reminds me a lot of 9lb Hammer in that regard.
Monday, 6/5/17, 0.1 miles. Stay home, work on last week’s blog, stay high.
Tuesday, 6/6/17, 10.8 miles. Since today is supposed to be a warm and sunny day, I decide to do a people watching, and for me that means spending time walking along the Willamette River. I have a special place (actually, many special places) along the river where I will pause in my wandering to reflect on the medicinal qualities of certain flowering plants. This day as I was preparing to reflect, a young couple with the same idea (and similar flora) happened upon me, so I of course shared with them. If you happen to find yourself next to me as I wander this city, we also may be able to spend some quality time in reflection. You may have to say something first, as I am introverted and socially awkward around people I do not yet know to be ok with a cannabis lifestyle. I spend my day looking and wandering, smoking and vaping, up one side of the river and down the other.
Wednesday, 6/7/17, 2.6 miles. Today I get to spend lunch time with Flo and two of her friends from the Washington County Democratic Office where Flo: volunteers as the Volunteer Coordinator; covers at least one office shift a week; and co-chairs the Office Committee. We all spend an hour and a half at 5 Guys and seem to get along wonderfully. I am so very glad that Flo has such great folks with whom to work. I take the opportunity this afternoon to return the wonderful Evolution VII vaporizer to Josh Taylor who has been so gracious to let me borrow it for judging the flower for the Cultivation Classic. He and the Oregon Cannabis Concierge are wonderful to work with.
Thursday, 6/8/17, 0.1 miles. Stay home, perform some house cleaning, stay high. For the most part, cleaning has always been my thing around the house. My version of OCD is well managed as long as I do the cleaning and keeping track of where things are, so Flo has no problem letting me do the things that I think I do well, like sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, etc.
Friday, 6/9/17, 10.0 miles. Today I am forcing myself to get back out to the Dispensary Tour. Today I will try to stop by the 3 laboratories in Beaverton that are listed on the OLCC Public Marijuana Locations spreadsheet, and also see if I can get more of the dispensaries done.
pH Labs – They are locked, and although there is an “Open” sign on the door, the lock on the door prevents my entry. I’m sure that had I called ahead to make an appointment, or made enough noise at the door to let someone know I was there, I would have been given a tour, but I hadn’t and I didn’t, so I am not going in.
MRX Labs – The lab is upstairs in the building on 74th Ave. The receptionist (bad Ralph! You had a number of opportunities to ask her for her name on two separate days and you didn’t. Bad Ralph!) took the time to show me around the lab and discuss some of the equipment.
Cascadia Labs – Even though it was almost 5pm on a Friday, Brianne took the time to show me around their very expansive lab setup at the rear of a large tech-center building along Tech Center Drive in Tigard. They have quite a large area for all of their equipment, as well as a few rooms yet to be utilized. There is a lot of room for growth at this physical location. I also met, in passing, Jeremy Sackett, the co-founder and Director of Operations who seemed full engaged in running a laboratory. Brianne (I do so hope that I am not butchering her name. I really need to start writing them down) and I spent some time conversing over our love of cannabis events. We look forward to seeing each other at the 420 games tomorrow in Sellwood Riverfront Park.
The Herbary – This dispensary is around the southwest side of an eatery along Pacific Hwy in Tigard. In the reception area where they check you in, they have a Keurig if you are in want of some coffee or other warm to hot beverage, and a public restroom if you have already consumed more than your body will hold. They also have a nice offering of shirts and caps and the like. It is a very inviting space in which to wait. In the dispensary, the budtenders are happy and helpful. When pressed as to their more interesting samples, they point out two flowers grown by Phyre Craft Cannabis – Stardawg (22.7% THC) and C’n’C (25.1% THC) and one from Terra Mater named J1 (17.48% THC). With my budtender’s loop I realized that the Stardawg had many purple leaves (threads) woven through it that we could not see because they were so covered in calyxes and stigmas that they looked white or a very pale green rather than the deep purple that they are.
Magic Castle – Last year when I visited this dispensary it was called Purple Organic (if you notice, Leafly’s link address still lists it as such, although all print references have been updated). The first thing that I notice is that they have quite a number of chemovars; we counted 45 and they informed me that they recently sold out of a couple of other strains, so they had even more. The prices run from $10/gram to $20/gram, and when I asked that they show me a sample that they hold in high regard, the one that they showed me is a $20/gram flower. Today they have a nice selection of pre-rolls (2 sativas, 1 indica, and 3 hybrids), running $5 for half gram and $10 for full gram. The best deal, however, is 10 half gram pre-rolls for $40 recreational pricing including tax. For us medical patients, that converts to 10 half gram joints (5 grams of cannabis) for $33.33. Assuming that you find the selection of flower to your liking, this is a great deal for those who like joints. Also at this dispensary today is Karl, the sales guru for O.penVAPE, manning a display of their products. He and I had run into each other a year ago, and will talk more at the 420 Games tomorrow.
I stopped by the next dispensary on the list, but it being Friday early evening, they were much too busy for me to properly “tour” them, so I will hold off until next week. Wandering south I stumble into Sylvania Natural Area Park along SW Capital Hwy and SW 53rd Ave. I mention this because there are so many of these small “natural area” parks or sometimes just areas all around the cities. I constantly find them as I wander through neighborhoods and am amazed that we have these wonderful areas for all of us to enjoy.
Saturday 6/10/17, 9.3 miles. Up around 6am (remember, this is all for fun!) and out the door by 7:15. Between up and out, I managed to wake and bake with a THC Honey Stick from Hive (17.5mg THC) in my cup of coffee to go, 0.06ml Siskiyou RSO (3 times the recommended dose), and 0.1g Yerba Buena Corazon flower with Yerba Buena Silver Hawk flower (yielding a sativa blend with 11.5% THC and 9.7% CBD, so good for me and my right foot). It took until 10am for me to make it from the very south end of Beaverton to Sellwood Riverfront Park, which is good since 10am is when the 420 games begins. Picking up my 420 racing bib, MC Chino, Josh and I head out on a slow 4 mile walk north and then south along the “Springwater on the Willamette” trail. As we walked the universe kept providing us with flower to smoke and oil to vape, which works well for a 420 wander. Along the way Josh spotted a couple of bucks and at least one fawn enjoying their morning brunch. Although we finished the wander in just over 80 minutes, Matthew and Josh waited patiently to take a photo of me celebrating the end of the wander with the race clock displaying 1:23:45. Part of my OCD is a thing about number sequences. Eventually I leave the 420 games and, keeping my 420 bib I head north to the EXPO Center for PDX Hempfest. PDX Hempfest is a non-THC event with many speakers and exhibitors displaying their wares to a growing audience of hemp enthusiasts. One of the folks I met is Terry Boyd from MOIS Organics. Our discussion was quite interesting and before I left I was carrying around a bag of his coconut-based homogenous mulch material. We shall see how it works for my small home grow this season. I also got the chance to reconnect with Evan Lemay (Auction House Cannabis Distribution, The CO2 Company, budtender, etc.) and will continue to be in touch over the next few months on some of his projects. I also spent time with Corina Sanford and will undoubtable volunteer with her again at other cannabis events. As I’m talking with Corina, FryBread Mary (yes, from Seattle!) walks by me, recognizes me (we hung out with Amber Joy at Dope Cup in Seattle last month), and we began another discussion. The more I wander around, the more that folks come up and hand me interesting things. I LOVE MY LIFE!
I am much too tired and laden with stuff to attend the NW Cannabis Club’s Medicated Chili Cook Off, so home I go. Peace out.
