We are still alive!

Hey all,
So sorry for the hiatus. We have just been too tired to post blogs since leaving Portland on Saturday July 3rd. We will hopefully start posting about those adventures today or tomorrow, so please stay tuned. As of today July 8th, we are back in Seattle and not ready to come home tomorrow.
Love
George and Johanna

The Historic Columbia River Highway and Food

Sadly we have found that there is not a lot for tourists to do in Portland, or at the least things are not as convenient here as they were in Seattle. Thus, we decided on taking one of the many scenic drives to be found in Oregon. The Historic Columbia River Highway began construction in 1913, is the first scenic highway in the U.S., and is considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the modern age. But we needed breakfast before we could venture on our trip.
We went to Pine State Biscuits, a place Johanna had seen on Food Network’s Diner’s, Drive-ins and Dives. George ordered The Reggie (fried chicken with bacon, cheese and sausage gravy on a biscuit. Johanna ordered the Flank Steak (steak lettuce tomato’s and bleu cheese dressing). And we ordered a biscuit with butter and honey. YUM!!! As with all our meals we shared back and forth. The Reggie was the far superior biscuit as far as the two sandwiches go. Because the restaurant was small and packed we took our food to go and ate it in the car.
Once we had finished our breakfast we took off toward the scenic byway. We actually only took half of the route because it took us 4 and a half hours to go less than 40 miles. Between the slow speed limits (switch backs and narrow roads) and stopping to hike to waterfalls, we actually thought we made pretty good time. We chuckled though when we made it to interstate 84 and found we were less than 40 miles outside Portland.
The weather started out in the morning pouring rain, but by the time we were leaving the hotel it had cleared up nicely. Our drive was, for the most part, clear and rain free, with a few drizzles towards the end. The scenic drive began in Troutdale (Mt. Hood Community College is located here). It’s a quaint little town, and one we could actually see ourselves in. The drive took us past scenic outlooks over the Columbia River and to gorgeous waterfalls that rushed down the mountainside. It is so vibrantly green with tons of wild flowers popping up everywhere…so beautiful.
By the time we passed Multnomah Falls, which is pretty much the halfway point of the scenic byway, we decided to head back to Portland for dinner. Our diner choice was another Diner’s, Drive-ins and Dives choice, a BBQ joint named, Podnah’s. We ordered a wedge salad, a small basket of rib tips, a brisket sandwich, a pulled pork sandwich and a piece of pecan pie. The homemade bbq sauce, yeah…it had mole in it! SO YUMMY!!!!

Please Note:

Due to a long travel day and spotty internet access (our hotels wi-fi sucks) we just posted the last three days all tonight. So enjoy.
Love George and Johanna

Another Day in Portland

Yesterday our first stop was breakfast at the Tin Shed. George had come here last summer and raved about it. The food was good. He had hash browns covered with eggs, sausage, and bacon gravy with a side of bacon and a biscuit, while Johanna had a yogurt and fruit plate with biscuits and bacon gravy on the side. Our first adventure of the day started by going to Mill Ends Park. Mill Ends is the world’s smallest park, measuring 24 inches in diameter. It was created in 1948 by Dick Fagan, a columnist for the Oregon Journal, and was based on his column, entitled “Mill Ends,” and is home to Patrick O’Toole, a leprechaun.

We then walked the waterfront area taking pictures of bridges, water fountains, and other items that caught our fancy: a memorial to the U.S.S. Oregon, commemorating its service to the United States in various wars, and a water park, strategically placed in front of the municipal sewage pumping plant, to name a couple; we stumbled upon a memorial reflecting the emotional history of Japanese interment during World War II; there was the statue of Portlandia the world’s second largest copper repousse statue in the United States (the first being the statue of Liberty); we enjoyed a coffee in the rain at Pioneer Square; we visited the Portland Courthouse, which is the second oldest courthouse west of the Mississippi still in operation; and we also walked through Lownsdale and Chapman Parks. These two parks, with a street separating them, had originally been created to segregate the sexes.

On our way back to our car we saw a sign for indoor glow-in-the-dark miniature golf. We figured, “what the hell, it’s raining anyways.” It was quite entertaining and a nice way to kill some time before going to dinner.

As George has been craving Chinese food for days we decided to head to Portland’s Chinatown. Our restaurant of choice? The House of Louie…yeah, we chuckled at that. The food was decently good, though.

In sum, this was a good and somewhat eventful day, despite the rain and overcast weather.

Love,
George and Johanna

Portland Explorations

Hello,

Wednesday was gorgeous here in Portland. Our first stop was the International Rose Test Garden: 4.5 Acres of roses in a multitude of colors and sizes. As you walked around the corner into the park you are delightfully surrounded by the scent of roses. It was beautiful and serene. We walked around and took quite a number of pictures.

We then visited the grounds at Pittock Mansion. The Mansion was commissioned by Henry and Georgiana Pittock, who moved into it in 1914. The couple is well known for their community service. Henry took over ownership of the weekly Oregonian newspaper in the 1860’s and was involved in banking, real estate, railroads, steamboats, ranching, mining and the paper industry.

Johanna was craving a deli sandwich and so we went in search of a deli. A quick search of the AAA tour book listed Elephant’s Delicatessen. Having noted seeing someone at the rose garden with a picnic lunch from there we decided to give it a try. What a delightful surprise (and that’s an understatement)! It was, to date, the BEST meal we have had during our trip (and unequivocally one of the best meals we’ve both ever eaten). It is difficult to equate the deli to anything we have at home. You can get all kinds of fresh breads, baked goodies, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, burgers, cheeses, beverages and oh so much more. Think of it as a Trader Joe’s or Henry’s except that the majority of items are prepared foods. We could not decide on just one item and so got a little of this and that. We ordered a turkey club on homemade wheat, broccoli salad, tomato and cucumber salad, capresse pasta salad, macaroni and cheese, bistro burgers (sliders with grilled onions and bleu cheese), vanilla crème brulee and a local brew. We cannot even begin to describe how wonderful this lunch was! Johanna made George promise to go back on our way out of town (mostly because eating there for every meal would not be conducive to getting to know Portland) to pick up some goodies to eat on the way to Grant’s Pass.

Our next stop was Powell’s City of Books. If you have any sort of love affair with books, then this bookstore is your Nirvana. Imagine a three-to-four story Costco full of nothing but books and magazines, that sells both new and used, mixed-in together on the shelves. The store is organized by color, number, and subject, and is so big it offers maps to get around. You will find history books in the Purple Room (each room could be a bookstore on its own, literally), literature is in the Blue Room and novels are in the Gold room and Coffee Room (this is not even half the rooms). And yes we each bought a couple of books!

After Powell’s we walked down to Voodoo Doughnuts, but the line was long and our parking was about to expire. So we walked back to the car and drove to Voodoo Doughnuts Too across the river. We ordered a Voodoo Dozen, which consists of 13 doughnuts that are selected for you. The doughnuts were good (not great) but their uniqueness makes them worth the try.

Because the day before had been so long we headed back to the hotel and called it a night. Our hotel offers a free evening reception where you can get a free beer, wine or soda and munchies. We each enjoyed a pint of beer and shared a plate of veggies with dip. We fell asleep watching Planet 51…

Love,
George and Johanna

From Olympia to Portland

Hello All,
Tuesday was a long, but enjoyable day. We left Olympia at 11am and did not get to our hotel until after 10pm. By the time we unloaded and got ready for bed it was midnight. So what did we all see yesterday? Well, before we could leave the Olympia area we had to go back to Tumwater Falls and take a picture of the Crosby House (as in Bing Crosby, this was his grandparents house).
The original plan, when we decided to take this trip, was to just sail down Interstate 5 the whole way to Portland and be there in four hours. That didn’t happen, as four hours turned into ten hours. We decided, on the fly, to take the scenic route and come down the 101. This required us to drive out to the 101 and then back to the 5 in Portland. It was a beautiful day to do so: the sun was shinning and the forests areas were bright green!
The most exciting part of the day was driving into Astoria, Oregon. It’s such a magnificent little town with a cool culture and rich history. The scenery and environment is very English seaboard picturesque.
While in Astoria we ate at Rogue Ales Public House, located on the Columbia River (Yes! I said ON the river, literally! We had to drive over a wooden bridge at 5mph onto Pier 39. So cool!). At Rogue, we ordered two beers (Dead Guy and Mom’s ½ Weizen), pizza, a burger, and onion rings. So good!
After eating, we drove up to the Astoria Column with a brief visit to the house from Goonies. Yes, Johanna is a nerd too. The Astoria Column was amazing: from the construction to the artwork to the view it provides at the top, it was absolutely beautiful.
We then drove to Fort Clatsop but we did not make it there until 7:30pm, and the park closed at 6pm. We found a hiking trail that had not been closed (because it closed at dusk, but we did not realize it until we returned to the parking lot. Yeah, we thought we were adventurously dissenting…) and decided to see if we could walk to the Lew and Clark Fort. After a half-hour of walking on this trail, we decided to turn back. We never saw the fort. So bummed : - (
The rest of the time was spent getting to Portland taking highway 26 to the 405 and then the 5. It was a beautiful drive, and in the future we know that we want to drive down the 101 instead of coming inland. Oxford Suites at 10pm is where our day ended. We were so tired from the long day that we crashed pretty fast. BUT, we got a lot of great pictures of nature and saw lots of historical sites! All in all, it was a great day.
Love,
George and Johanna