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!

Seattle, Day 2, Part Un

We woke up. :) First stop - REI flagship! We found it this time, and it was... heaven. Oh, but first - some pics from the roof of our hotel (see above and below).

Pretty decent, huh?
Ok, THEN we went to REI and it was amazing. I think we were there for almost 2 hours, but can't be sure. Trust me, wayyy better than the 24-hour LLBean in Freeport. There are bike and hiking trails for testing gear, and a really large indoor rock wall. No, we didn't have time to climb it because we were too busy enjoying mecca and, of course, doing a little bargain shopping, in the form of: Marmot fleece jacket - $29, Teva water shoes - $23, North Face hiking shorts - $15. But, just check out some of the pics, starting with the street level entrance:

Very Steve Irwin - "Let's go see what's in here!"

The entryway. Nuff said.
I'll put up a couple more later - have to do a little basic editing. So much for picture blogging on the fly.
Ok, so after REI, we walked into the retail district again to buy stamps - so we can send you all postcards!
That wasn't that exciting, so stay tuned for Chapter 2, where we spend another 2 hours at The Pike Brewing Co. and meet some cool people.

We're Here

So, as some of you already know, we've arrived! We're now 3 days into our honeymoon and spending the night in Seaside, OR. So far, we've been to Seattle, Mt. Rainier, and, well... here. Since we've already got a lot to update on, I'll start at the beginning and go as far as I can (today was looong).

Seattle

Our flight got in to Seatac right at noon on Tuesday. Mike took lots of pictures from the plane. :) After dropping our luggage at the hotel, we walked from Lower Queen Anne through Belltown to the Pike Place Market and retail district. The market was buzzing, and it didn't take long for us to find a really cool place for lunch - Matt's in the Market. Lunch consisted of:

White Bean & Serrano Ham Soup
Halibut & Dungeness Crab Chowder
Butter Lettuce Wedge Salad w/ Pancetta, Avocado, Bleu Cheese & Cava Vinaigrette
Hoisin BBQ Pork Sandwich w/ Asian Slaw

Also, of course - local brew: Scuttlebutt Blonde.

We then did some more walking around. Here, want to see the fish throwing?

Fish throwing!

After taking in the sights of the myriad vendors at Pike Place Market, we walked toward the retail district, and hopped on the historic Seattle Monorail. This runs straight from downtown to the Space Needle, which was a 5-minute walk from our hotel. (Note: Mike has a ton of pics of the Needle.) After a re-group, we decided to head to the flagship REI store pre-dinner... but we couldn't find it. So we just went to dinner. At Ten Mercer - a really cool little restaurant with fun and trendy decor, great food, and great service.
What did we have, you ask? Deliciousness, thats what:

Stilton Burger w/ accoutrements
Baby Spinach Salad w/ Cherries, Almond-Crusted Goat Cheese, Orange Blossom Vinaigrette
Champagne
Sokol Blosseur White Wine

After a quiet dinner, we headed back to the hotel to start catching up on sleep! 8 hours on a plane, 6 hours of walking around... it adds up! Plus, we covered a lot of ground on Wednesday... details coming soon.