Portland

Ok, let's see how good my memory is... Portland!

We decided to make Saturday a city day, which was perfect. The weather was ideal. We went to Kenny & Zuke's for a big, delicious breakfast. After realizing that we were insanely full, we tried to walk it off a little bit by heading south to the Portland Saturday Market - a good-sized farmer's market with tons of local fresh flowers, fruit and veggies, chocolate, and some other random, but cool, things. After poking around there for a bit, we moved on (using our handy Streetwise Portland map) to check out the retail area, not knowing what that would be like. On our walk, we were passed a few times by pairs of frantic and sometimes running people, who were apparently doing some version of The Great Race around downtown Portland. We never quite figured out what that was all about... BUT, we made it to Pioneer Square (said retail area) and realized that it was basically like one of the upscale malls at home. We easily decided to bail on this idea in favor of something more original and authentic Portland - The Pearl District. We made it back to our hotel by early afternoonish... below is a little fun map of the loop we made in the first part of the day:

We were kind of tired following this first outing, but really wanted to catch some more sights, so we decided to continue on for a bit and check out the Pearl. Now, I wanted to see if we could do some good (souvenir) shopping, but figured out after a bit that the shops in the Pearl District are not inexpensive! There are tons of very nice art galleries/shops and boutiques... just not in our price range. There are also a ton of cool looking restaurants, which was exciting, even though we weren't looking for a meal at the time (we'll come back to this).
One of the places that we wanted to hit was the Rogue Brewery pub. So we did. We both got a sampler, which gave us the choice of 4 beers each. I don't remember which ones we chose, but it was a cool little spot. It did, however, also put us over the edge in terms of needing naps. So, on finishing our 2oz. pours, we headed back to the Ace to recoup and get ready for the evening.
Fast forward to dinner that night - we chose to go to Jake's Famous Crawfish, a block away from our hotel. We enjoyed a nice cocktail before sitting down. The restaurant reminded me a lot of a Boston seafood joint in terms of decor... which makes sense as Jake's is now owned by McCormick & Schmick's. Jake's has been around for over 100 years and definitely had a great selection of fresh caught fish. Our waitress very kindly gave us a free dessert after learning we were newlyweds - our first freebie of the trip!
Dinner pretty much closed out our Saturday night in Portland... all of the fresh air must have tired us out during the day!

Sunday

On Sunday, we made the exciting drive into the Willamette Valley of Oregon - a rapidly growing (and not exactly new) area for great wine production. As wine tasting was one of the main things we were looking forward to on this vacation, this was a very exciting day! Our stops included:
August Cellars
Duck Pond
Erath
A to Z
Sokol Blosser
Penner Ash

One of the tricky things about doing a wine trail is that not all of the wineries have the same business hours. This can be interesting when you make your stops based on geographic location, not realizing that closing time might make more sense! We did ok for ourselves, however...
August Cellars wasn't as exciting as we had hoped, for our first stop at 11:00am on a Sunday. They had an interesting setup, in that they actually share a building with - and lend equipment to - 4 or 5 other winemakers (with very small production). We did buy a bottle of wine... hey, why not?!
Duck Pond was a stop that Mike convinced me to make (thanks, honey), as I was on a pre-set mission for the day. It turned out to be pretty good! We bought a nice bottle there, as well, and were also able to pick up a few gifty things. The winery keeps a slew of ducks on the premises, which is kind of cute.
Erath was a very pretty spot up on a hill, with a nicely sized tasting space. We did not buy wine here! No particular reason - they were all fine. We realized very quickly that we could easily spend $40+ per stop, which would add up way too quickly! Somehow, at least I (not sure about Mike) had the crazy idea that wine would be cheaper out west at the actual wineries. Guess not.
Our fourth stop was one of my favorites - the A to Z tasting room. Apparently, the downtown tasting room is about to be closed in favor of moving all tasting operations up to Rex Hill, which now owns A to Z (or vice versa). No matter, it was a cute little space, and the wines were great. Yes, we bought some. And a glass. Had a nice chat with the tasting woman about I don't even remember what... and then we were off to -
Sokol Blosser. AWESOME place. Another nice tasting room... but the wines were really nice. Even moreso were the staff doing the tastings. We had a lot of fun chatting up the winery staff and learning a little bit about the place. One of them was kind enough to make some dinner recommendations for us and print out a bunch of information. Definitely a recommended stop.
Not as recommended is Penner Ash... the wines we had heard are very good (probably an understatement), but they are also pretty expensive. A tasting of 4 wines was $15pp. The winery grounds and building are very nice, and probably worth the stop if you have more time than we did. Would not recommend coming here at the end of your day, though, as it just isn't the relaxing, lingering visit you're looking for at the end of the trail. Nevertheless, it was a good experience to wrap up with and head back into town for dinner!
Dinner was a fun time... We started with appetizers at Oba!, a funky Latin restaurant with great flavors. Definitely a recommended stop, and I'm sure that dinner is just as tasty as apps and cocktails. We almost stayed for dinner, but instead wanted to cover even more ground, and took up a recommendation for the Bridgeport Brewery and their funky menu. We weren't let down. Although it was a tiny hike from where we were, it was worth it. The food was great, as were the bevvies and atmosphere. We were refreshed enough to head back to the hotel and take advantage (finally) of Clyde Common, a trendy restaurant and bar adjacent to our hotel lobby. They had a huge chalkboard grid menu on the wall of scotches and bourbons - they must have known we were coming! I tried some of the different bourbon, and Mike explored some scotch. What made it more fun was that the bartender turned out to be from a nearby town in CT to where I grew up, as did the people sitting next to us. They, however, weren't as interested in chatting as we were, so, oh well. We still had fun - and had a great last night in Portland!
Next stop...Crater Lake!

Things We Did

I have no pictures on my computer at the moment, but thought as an alternative, I would catch up on what we actually did with our days. We seem to have left off in Seattle - which was a long time ago! Here's what happened next:

We left Seattle on Thursday morning with the intention of driving to the Northern Oregon coast, via Rainier. We got about 60 minutes into our trip when we realized that we'd left Mike's dry cleaning back in Seattle. Biiiig oops. So we turned around and made the trip back to town. 2 hours later, we picked up where we'd left off on the road to Rainier and kept on. I would say we crossed through the entrance gate at around 4:15ish... Made our way up the scenic road to Paradise, where the Rainier Lodge and Visitor Center are. We pulled in right as the center was closing, snapped some of the pictures you see below, and continued on our merry way. We still had quite a drive before us to get to Oregon!
Pulled in to Seaside, OR around 10 or 11pm, made a little blog post (below), and hit the hay.

Friday

First thing we did was wander around the town of Seaside, which was really cute/really touristy. In one direction were cute shops, bakeries, and the like. In the other was the beach, and something like any other boardwalk/seaside tourist area you've ever seen (New Jersey, New London, CT, etc.). It was pretty chilly, and we stuck around for some scenery pics before hopping in the car to go up to Astoria, where the movie Goonies is based. Again, some picture taking and driving around, and then we headed back south to Cannon Beach, home of Haystack Rock. The beach was pretty chilly still, and there was a good breeze coming off the water. We took a little beach walk and picked a spot for a little picnic of Bremner Wafers (ode to Ta), Truffled Goat Cheese with Lavender and Rosemary, a different goat cheese with Mt. St. Helen's Ash and a paprika stripe, and roasted garlic. Deeeelish. After bugging Mike about being really cold, we hopped back in the car to start our winding trip in to Portland.
Took about 90 minutes to get in to the city, but when we finally did, we were pretty excited. Our hotel, The Ace, was awesome. It is a small chain of boutique hotels in Seattle, Portland, New York, and Palm Springs. Highly recommended for a cool hotel experience. It has a definite hipster feel, but there were guests of all walks. The lobby spun vinyl 24-hours a day of all genres; there was a coffee shop (Stumptown Roasters) to one side, and a restaurant (Clyde Common) to the other. The lobby also boasted an old-school photo booth, which was obviously a big hit. **We never got to take pictures in the photo booth as it was out of order by the time we got around to it.**
Our room (photos later by Mike) was decorated with torn out pages of a dictionary papier-mached to the walls, which was perfect. The bed had a really cool Pendleton blanket (which you can actually buy), and the best mini-bar snacks I've ever seen - including beef jerky which Mike bought. Clawfoot tub in the bathroom, witty signs around, blah blah blah. At some point, after we marveled over the hotel, we went out for food/drink.
We decided on Widmer brewery/pub, which we walked to - through the Pearl District and over the Broadway Bridge. It was a little bit of a hike... Widmer hit the spot, and we called it a night afterwards.

The next 2 days were really fun times in and around Portland, so that makes this a good stopping place before we get in to those stories. You'll just have to come back later!

Crater Lake

Trying to catch up on photos still, especially now that we are home! Starting with the most incredible spot, Crater Lake.

The Pumice Desert:

The Lake:





Guess who, hiking down to the lake:

Other nature:

Some more pictures

Morning! Getting ready to head out into Napa for the day, so again, not much time to write. But some pictures for you!
Mike taking pics at Seaside, OR:

One of the views in Cannon Beach:

Dinner, first night in Portland:

Portland Saturday Farmer's Market:

Just pictures

Hi again! Its Monday morning here, BofA and ML just merged, and last night we met a bunch of Portlandites from Connecticut at the hotel bar! All kinds of weird stuff going on, clearly. We're getting ready to check out of Portland and head to Crater Lake for the night, so we're shooting to get on the road shortly. Also, I've had a ton of requests for pictures. So, for the sake of giving the people what they want and also saving time, here you go! Starting from last randoms in Seattle, then Mt. Rainier, and onwards.



Seattle Monorail

Welcome to Mt. Rainier!


Ok - thats it for now. We're off for another day of scenic driving!

xoxo
K&M

Seatttle, Day 2, Part Trois

Ok, we're getting ready to take a nap before dinner/evening time here on day 1 in Portland, but I'm desperately trying to catch up on Seattle, so here goes -

Dinner at Steelhead

Um, ridiculous. Steelhead Diner was recommended to us by someone at the wine seller. We weren't necessarily going to eat there, but we passed it and ended up deciding "what the heck?" When we went in, we asked where would be the best place to sit. The hostess recommended the tasting bar - basically a diner-style counter which faces the kitchen, so you can watch the chefs, and as the hostess pointed out - sometimes the chefs like to hand out free food. This sounded promising, so off we went. Little did we know... we were seated in front of the kitchen station of Kevin Davis, Executive Chef and Owner of Steelhead Diner. Nice work! As we ooh'd and aah'd over the menu in general, Kevin quickly made small talk with us - cool! As we were deciding and about to order, someone put in front of us a plate of... Crispy Camano Island Silver Smelt with Hot-Sweet Mustard Vinaigrette. My first words to Mike were something like, "the skin is still on them!" For those who don't know smelt, they are bigger than minnows, but definitely smaller than trout, etc.. Being taught to eat whatever is put in front of you (which I never follow, otherwise), I politely dug in... and Mike got right in there. I have to say, they were pretty decent! Probably helped by the fact that they were fried... everything is good fried. After a few fish were put down, I realized that Mike was eating them wings-style - ergo, leaving the bone/spine behind. I never processed this idea and had been eating them whole! Oh well, they were still tasty.
So, after the smelt we ordered dinner, which was:
Barron Point Oysters on the Half Shell
Heirloom Beet Tartare w/ Rogue Creamy Oregonzola and Yucca Chips
Grilled Eastern Washington Lamb Top Sirloin w/ Local Chanterelle Mushroom Sauce
Sound good? Well, guess what the next surprise was...

What's that familiar-looking stuff, you ask? Thats right, its caviar. Neeever thought we'd eat caviar. But, Kevin sent us this nosh as our second freebie. Basically, it was cream cheese, topped with 4 kinds of caviar, served with toasts, capers and onions. Be proud - we pretty much finished it.
After the caviar, everything pretty much followed suit - by being incredibly delicious. Kevin did us the lovely favor of a picture, taken from the chef's post:

Hey! They look familiar!
So, after more of the same amazing food and fun, we strolled around a little bit more and found the flagship Starbucks down in Pike Place. A little nugget of victory for me. :)
After a long day of walking, exploring, eating and drinking, we grabbed another good night of rest before the long drive to the Oregon Coast, via Mt. Rainier. Wait till you see those pics!

Seattle, Day 2, Part Dos

REI - check. One additional picture for you:

Um, there's no way to convey how funny this was - when we came upon this kid, he was typing jibberish into the computer, which was only made more hilarious by the fact that his feet don't even touch the floor!
Next stop - Sixth Avenue Wine Sellers. A place that Mike had found online, and that we found completely by accident while heading downtown. They had a wine tasting bar (thank God, because their bottles were expensive!) and a fabulous munchie menu. Observe Mike perusing the delicious menu:

We had 2 wine flights (1 each, don't worry) - Washington State Reds, which consisted of: 05 Bonair Cab Franc, 04 St. Laurent Merlot, and 05 Fidelitas Cab Sauv; Pinot Noir, which was: ?Papillon, 05 Domaine Henry Pelle, and 06 Cottonwood. We also ordered some Baked Brie w/ Pesto, which totally hit the spot. After a good while at the wine seller, we walked to the waterfront and meandered for a bit. Finally, we got to The Pike brewery, where we enjoyed yet another flight and met some very nice people. One gentleman offered to get us tickets to the UW football game!

After The Pike, we went on to a bit of an impromptu dinner at Steelhead Diner. This was so much cooler than we could have expected... enough so that it definitely needs its own "chapter" of this blog. Coming up... next!