Portland - Lazy Sunday

We made it into Portland this morning with plenty of time for church. There was this really neat can parked across the street from the church building and I kind of expected that to be a good sign. It was fast Sunday and we attended the Portland Alameda ward. After church we got a hotel and headed to the Portland Market. I have been hearing that the markets here are awesome for the last 10 years or so and I think that may have built up my expectations too much, or maybe it is just that the market in St. Augustine that my mom does is just a better mix. There was a ton of jewelry. It was probably half of the booths that sold jewelry. All in all it was nice to walk around.

We didn't find much that we couldn't live without and in the end all I ended up buying wasn't even for me. I was really surprised not to find any vegan food booths at the market, but on the way back to the car I used my app to look for something and ended up finding a Lebanese Restaurant called Habibi. I got vegan grape leaves and a spinach lentil soup it was really good. After that Deb wanted a nap. I thought that she had set an alarm, but when I woke up 3 hours later it was obvious that we were both hoping the other one would wake us. We drove down to the Portland temple. Since it is Sunday the temple is closed. Apparently it is closed for some work as the grounds were roped off and there was a sign saying it was closed even to foot traffic. I was a little bummed that we didn't really get to explore the temple grounds, but there was a visitors center, so we got to go in there and that was a good Sunday activity.

Come back tomorrow to see what other fun things we find to see and do in the Pacific Northwest.

Day 4 August 4th 2012

We started the morning off with a 5 mile bike ride from the hotel to the pier and back to see some sea lions. It was really neat to see them in the wild. I have been to Sea World, growing up in Florida it is a popular Field Trip, so I have been at least a few times, but this was different.

During the bike ride Deb also had some laundry in the wash. So once the laundry was done and we had showered we checked out of the hotel and headed to the Astoria Column. It is 164 steps to the top and we took every glorious one of them. Here are some photos on top of the Column and of the Column itself. There are images of the Lewis and Clark Expedition depicted on the outside of the column.

 Next we drove to Cannon Beach, but it was a rare Oregon day, or so we are told, where the weather was in the 90's so everyone had flocked to the beach making parking a nightmare.

So we decided to get some shots of Cannon Beach from an overlook and call it good after all we had not really had a meal that day and here it was almost 2 pm. We stopped at a place called Pizza Garden. I asked for a recommendation at the Hotel and was directed to a food guide. Hidden almost all the way in the back was Pizza Garden. I almost died and went to heaven when I saw in the ad that they had Vegan pizza. They had other pizza too so Deb agreed pizza sounded good. We each spent $22 for lunch, but I ate leftovers for Dinner and I have enough for Breakfast also, so really not a bad investment. The restaurant was really cute and decorated to look like you were in a garden the only down side was the 90 degree weather and the place didn't have A/C, so it was really warm inside and the outdoor seating was in the sun. The pizza was really good and if in the area I would go again.

You may not be able to tell from the angle, but each flower center was the actual size of the pizza.


After Pizza we headed to Agate Beach. I had done some reading and apparently we must have been there at the wrong time of day as we didn't find anything. It reminded me of Vilano Beach in St. Augustine in that there were a lot of tide pools and the surf was very tame.  The weather was very cold in only 90 miles the temp had dropped 30 degrees.

We then headed toward Portland. There was a really pretty sunset on the interstate around the Salem / Keizer area. Sorry the pictures are from the car and just do not do it justice.

Hope you will come back tomorrow for more of the adventure.

Day 3 - August 3rd The Rainforest

Since we stayed at a B&B or what was billed as one we got breakfast, which for Deb was pretty good but for me not so much. Everything was cooked in Butter, which means I couldn't eat it. The lady was warned before she started cooking, but didn't seem to care. Typical. Anyways it would have been nice to have been able to eat the hash browns. There was a not quite ripe cantaloupe and some orange slices. About half way through the meal I noticed a pot of something that looked like really dry oatmeal. She said it was seven grain cereal and just cooked in water so I tried it. I mean by this point I was really hungry. It was interesting (meaning I didn't like it).

Once we got packed up we headed to the Rain Forest. We did a couple shorter hiking trails. I would have liked to have done the one to the glacier, but it was already 11 am and the trail was 18 miles long, so we skipped it. Maybe I can come back at some point and do it. We went through a trail called the Hall of Mosses and it was pretty, but just not quite what I expected it to be based on the name. I am too literal sometimes and I know it. Here are some pictures.

  From there we stopped at a place called the Hard Rain cafe to look for some food. Really all they had was salad, which I was sure would be iceberg lettuce (not my favorite) and fries that I could eat, so I ordered Deb and I each a fry while she was in the bathroom. They were pretty good just your basic fries. When the girl saw Deb's girls camp shirt she said that she had a friend serving in the Jacksonville mission and if we were to meet him to say hello. So if you are reading this and have an elder in your ward from this area please help me pass along the greetings from home. I didn't ask her name, sorry. I think she said that her mission was abroad.

Next we went to Ruby Beach. It was pretty amazing and the rocks were really fun to climb on. I got a little wet, but it was worth it. This is a must come back!

This is the hole we had to climb through to get to the good climbing parts.

Climbing is Fun!

 Believe it or not we are at about the same part in the rocks in these pictures.

This is about how far out we had to go to get the pictures of each other climbing and sitting on the rocks. I went out a little farther for Debs shot. I was trying to get all of the rock in.


Then we went to the Kalaloch Lodge for an early dinner. When we got there it was really foggy and the beach was hard to see, but by the time we left there was a really nice view. What a difference an hour makes.

before

after

 I had the Scallop Salad and Deb had some chicken and potatoes with a sage gravy and a slice of Strawberry Cake for dinner. My salad was severely over dressed, I had to hold the plate bowl sideways to drain off the excess so I could eat it.

 We drove on to Astoria, Oregon. Yep that is right I have officially only 11 more of the states to have been in all 50 states. I will get there and you can bet I will blog it. Thanks for coming along on the adventure with me. Check back tomorrow to see what happens next.

So much to see and do

We started the day with a bike ride to Breakfast. We ate breakfast at this really cute place in Port Angeles called the Oven Spoonful. When we got there I was a little worried because it seemed all quiches and pizzas with lots of cheese. The girl behind the counter was like what are you looking for when Deb told her I was Vegan she was like oh, for breakfast we have..... She was having a hard time coming up with something. I could tell that she was perplexed. She did say, we have a really good vegan sandwich for lunch and I was like ok, can I get that now? The answer was sure why not. The bread was really good and the sandwich was tomatoes, cucumbers, spring mix, hummus and avocados, I approved.

After breakfast we took a bike ride along the waterfront and I really enjoyed seeing more of the little city. It was really nice there and I was told by one of the ladies in a tea/coffee/massage shop (see below) we stopped at that it rarely gets below 30 degrees and almost never snows.

 I found some truly awesome handmade chocolate bars (at the afore mentioned shop). They didn't have milk listed as an ingredient, so I got a caramel and sea salt dark chocolate bar and a caffeine free chai tea soy latte. I was on cloud nine. We actually came back on the way out of town so I could buy one of each of the chocolate bars that they offer. I had asked the lady if they shipped the bars and she said no, I am pretty sure this was the only place that they sell the bars, so if you are ever in this area - GO to Renaissance and get you some cause you better believe that I will be hogging all of mine.

After that we went off to explore Olympia National Park. There was a waterfall right before the entrance to the park, so we went to check it out. Madison Creek Waterfall  was a really short walk and a nice waterfall.

Exploring Olympic was a lot of fun and during our hiking we came across a huge felled log with a giant C in it and at one of the park gift shops I found this really cute necklace that I fell in love with and had to buy.

There was a turn off for Maymere Falls along the way and I was shocked that Deborah even questioned the should we stop. I was a firm yes even though we had planned to eat dinner around 5-6 that night in hopes to move it up some since the night before it was almost 10 pm when we finished eating. But I was more than willing to push back food for a waterfall. I know you are shocked beyond belief, but pick yourself up off the floor and keep reading there is more. Here is a pic of the falls.

We went into Forks for Dinner. I was craving Mexican and right at the entrance to the city was a Mexican Restaurant. I ordered Shrimp fajitas (they had carrots in them).

It was kind of weird, but I love carrots so I went with it. I have had seafood 3 days in a row. It is so hard to pass up when you know it is fresh, and there have been very few options despite people telling me that eating here would be easy. I think it would have been in Seattle, but the only place we ate there was the Space Needle. Oh well that just means I need another trip to explore more and eat :)

After dinner we went to a few stores to try to find our traditional sweatshirt buy for the trip. It all started on the first trip in 2007, we got Yellowstone Sweatshirts and a few years ago when we were in Maine we got Bar Harbor zippered sweatshirts, so we decided that as a souvenir from this trip we needed Olympic National Park zippered hoodies. We looked, but there was really only one store open and the selection was more geared toward Twilight than the massive and beautiful park that was mere moments away. After that we drove down to Rialto Beach to try to capture the sunset. There was a lot of cloud cover, so there was not much to see except some massive pieces of driftwood.

 

It was really late by the time we finally settled in for the night (after 10:30). We tried to find lodging in Forks, but it was either booked up solid, ridiculously overpriced or the rooms only had one bed. So we kept looking. We drove towards the Hoh Rain Forest entrance thinking there would be something there, but there wasn't. We decided that we would go 8 miles past the entrance to the park and if nothing appeared, we would go back to Forks and spend a small fortune. Six miles past the entrance for the rainforest we see a sign that say lodging 1/4 mile. I was ecstatic. It was even better that it was a B&B and the rate was only $55 for the night. Deb was excited to get a full on home cooked breakfast and the young guy that checked us in assured me that they would be able to make some kind of arrangements for me too. So we settled into what was quite literally a room in someones home, not your typical B&B. The room was clean, but there was a dog and several cats about the property and in the common areas, so if you have pet allergies it is definitely not the place for you. Here is a picture of the house in the daylight. These were actually taken the next morning.

 Hope you will come back tomorrow for more of the adventure.



Hello August

So in case you were wondering. I got sick again on the flight from Atlanta to Seattle. It was an hour late getting in and then Deb couldn't figure out how to find me at the airport. Eventually I told her to stay put and I would come to her. It worked and I finally got to bed about 12:30 Seattle time, which is 3:30 EST in case you were wondering. Not good since I got up at 4:15 to take my Dad to the airport.

Today was an awesome way to welcome in a new month. How could it not be great to start off the month on vacation. We first took a trip to what was supposed to be a Dunkin Donuts with vegan options. It turned out to be a greek place with donuts. Deb got a few but I walked away empty handed. She stopped at a Mc Donalds to get something to eat, so I got a hashbrown and an oatmeal with no cream.

Then we headed off to the Seattle Temple, it was amazing and beautiful there were so many flowers in bloom on temple grounds I think we picked a good time to visit.

Leaving the Temple we hit a little bit of light traffic on the way to our lunch reservation at Sky City, the revolving restraunt at the top of the space needle. They had a salad on the menu that was vegan, but I decided to splurge and get the king Salmon. It was really good and I haven't had any seafood in a few weeks, so i figured why not.

Then back to the car to get the bikes and some jeans for me since I was still wearing my dress we took off to Pike Place Market for some shopping it was only a 20 minute bike ride. The market flowers were so beautiful and not overly expensive it made me wish I lived here so that I could take some home and at these prices I could almost always afford to have fresh flowers in the house. Small bouquets were $5 the largest ones were only $15 and they were beautiful and very diverse. I settled for some fruit and a really cute bag ( you can see it in the ferry photo).

Next we took a ferry to Kingston.

Once off the ferry we drove on to Port Angeles and had dinner at a place called Bella Italia. I ordered the Pasta Primavera with no dairy and a small salad. It was really quite good. Then we went hotel hunting, or was the hotel staff hunting us? We stopped at this place called the Flagstone Motel to see how much the rooms were. Deborah went in and I stayed in the car. She was in there a few minutes and then came back and started the car. We had already been on our way to a different hotel which the online rates were $32-55. I asked "how much?" Deb's response was "$90, but she said she would come down to $80." She puts the car in drive and starts to pull out when this little Korean woman in a night gown and slippers comes out the front door. She hits the brakes and rolls down the window and the lady leans in the car window and says, "oh hello (looking at me) ok for you I do $65. Deborah trys to explain that we had another lead on a much cheaper hotel and the lady says its a very nice room. I give you the single rate even though there is two of you and I give you two beds also.  Deb hem haws a little and looks to me for an answer, so the lady says ok $60 and Deborah caved. I mean this woman was working hard not to let us leave and it was like 60 degrees out and she is in a thin t-shirt material night gown trying to persuade us to rent a room.

For the record it is a really nice room. Hope you'll come back tomorrow for more of the adventure.

First Flight

I have been packing for weeks piling anything and everything that I thought I could want or need. I missed one very important thing. I won't forget it next time I fly. I got to the airport with plenty of time. Security was fairly painless. I was leaving seat assignment up to fate, bonus was a cute guy was seated next to me that actually wanted to have a conversation. The downside was since neither of us picked a seat we were placed in the absolutely last row of the plane. Before I tell you anymore I think that the turbulence must be worst in the back. It is definitely louder back there. So we are sitting there having a nice conversation about competitive swimming and how he did it for 15 years. I was impressed I only lasted 6-7 years. And then came some nasty turbulence. I must have turned white as a sheet since he got serious, up til then we had been kinda laughing and almost flirty, he was like are you ok? I said no, I am seriously trying not to puke right now.
Too bad my stomach and my brain were unable to communicate. Yes I am horrified to admit I puked. Luckily I was in an aisle seat, so I didn't puke on him. Eventually I made it out of my seat belt, put the tray table into the upright position and figured out how to work the lavatory door. After cleaning myself up a little I was able to make it back to my seat. Unfortunately my body was not finished. We hit more turbulence during landing. This time I realized there was a vomit bag in the back of my seat, so I was able to use it. Once I stopped this time he offered me gum. What a sweet guy. I said well at least the flight was interesting, no dull moments and he said except when you were in the bathroom, that was kind of boring. I am grateful that I met Andrew he was not just nice to look at but a genuinely nice guy. As we were exiting the plane the lady sitting in front of me offered me some motion sickness pills which I gladly accepted. Wish me luck on the 5 hour flight to Seattle.

Almost time!

It hit me today that it is almost time for vacation. I only have one and a half work days left before I leave. This will be a hybrid trip of sorts as this time I am flying to Seattle and then the road trip part of the adventure begins. I hope that Deborah and I will have a good time and you will enjoy following along.

I bought a new laptop just for the trip since my old one got stolen 2 weeks ago. The upside to being robbed of all your goods before vacation is there is nothing to worry about while you are gone. Except for the cat. But I have someone checking in on her to make sure she is good.

Only a four more days :) This weekend is going to be a busy one. I better get off here for now and get some laundry done so I can start packing. I know what you are thinking.... I did start packing earlier. I gave a bag of clothes to Deb when she left with the car, but I need more. She calls me a compulsive over packer and it is true I admit it. I want anything and everything that I may want to wear in my possession even if the mood to wear it never strikes. The adventure begins on August 31st :)