My friend Todd and I went to Portland yesterday to see Cake in concert. We drove through heavy rain the whole way down, and we were a little concerned when water was lapping onto the road on the way down, but there was no way we were going to miss that show, so we kept driving.
It was still pouring rain when we got to Portland, so we hung out at Powell’s awhile before the show. Right before the concert, I looked at my cell phone and saw that I had a text message saying I-5 between Portland and Seattle had been closed because of flooding. I didn’t recognize the sender of the text message, so I called the number. Turns out the text was from Candace Heckman, the assigning editor for breaking news at the Seattle P-I. She was actually trying to send the message to a reporter covering the rainstorm, but accidentally sent it to me instead. It was a pretty serendipitous mistake, giving Todd and me heads’-up about the closure.
After the concert, I called my friend Meg to get more info about the road closures and see if we could figure out an alternate route to take home. The Department of Transportation’s recommended detour would have taken us seven hours, so we decided to find a hotel to stay at for the night and see how things looked in the morning.
View Larger Map
The DOT hadn’t changed its recommendation by 9 the next morning, but Todd and I didn’t want to spend the whole day driving, so with the help of the DOT’s website and Google maps, we worked out a different route. Our route took us less than four hours total, and the roads were clear of both water and cars the whole way. It definitely pays not to follow rules.
View Larger Map
By the way, the concert was totally worth it.
I wish I could have gone!!! Even with the getting stuck in Portland part. I love cake… All forms of cake
Great, now I’m hungry for cake. 
Glad you guys had fun!!!