We had yet another good weekend in a long line of good weekends this summer (how'd I get so lucky?).

Patrick and I received a gift card to the Slanted Door for our birthdays, so we took the train up to the city yesterday and had dinner there. We'd had lunch at Out the Door (their takeout place, also in the Ferry Building), and we'd enjoyed that very much.

We got there a little before they opened and decided to sit outside. When we finally went in, there was a huge line of people waiting to either be seated or put their name on the waiting list. Luckily, we had a reservation and the line moved pretty quickly, so there was no problem getting a table. We were seated next to a window, so I got to watch people walking by along the waterfront, and Patrick got to watch the chefs.

The restaurant decor was interesting. The tables and chairs were simple, made of light wood and metal--like something you'd get from IKEA. In that respect, it didn't seem very fancy. But there were other details, like the stacked plate glass accents under the lights and behind the bar, that looked cool and upscale. They used pretty earthenware plates made by a local potter. I guess they were going for simple and modern.

Patrick ordered a Ginger Limeade (kaffir lime vodka, ginger, lime juice) to start, and then a Tinted Gimlet (raspberry-infused vodka, fresh lime) later on. The Ginger Limeade was pretty good, but not as good as the Ecstatic Traveller (a similarly gingery and limey drink) we had when we went to Millennium. The Tinted Gimlet was too tart for me. Patrick liked both drinks though, which is good. I had a Summer Spritzer (Seltzer Sisters' soda water with Nikolaihof biodynamic elderflower syrup--it sounds like a made up fancy drink, right?). It was tart and tasted very fresh and summery. I liked it, though it would've been even better on a slightly hotter day.

We didn't realize that food is served family-style at Slanted Door and started out ordering way too much food, but our stylishly-bespectacled waiter set us straight. We started by sharing the grapefruit and jicama salad with candied pecans, which was more like a red cabbage and jicama slaw accented with grapefruit and pecans. It was dressed simply (probably sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and a few other things) and was nice and light. Good stuff.

Next, we split a Vietnamese crepe, which was not at all what we were expecting. It was a cross between a crepe and an omelet and was filled mostly with bean sprouts, with a little bit of meat. We were directed to cut it into pieces and place each piece on a lettuce leaf with a little mint, roll it up, and dip it in the provided dipping sauce. It was a messy procedure. The crepe was actually pretty good, but I don't know if we'd order it again. I think you could get a similar effect by ordering spring rolls.

Next came the Dungeness crab and sweet corn soup. I was expecting it to be a bisque, but it was a clear broth; not heavy at all. The ingredients were high enough quality that they could get away with the simple presentation. I wouldn't have minded if they'd dressed it up with a little cream and bacon though :)

We shared two entrees--the caramelized tiger prawns and the shaking beef--and had bok choy with shiitake mushrooms on the side. All three items were really good. The shaking beef was super tender, but I think I liked the tiger prawns even more. They were accompanied by oodles of caramelized onions in a tasty sauce. Mmm. The bok choy was very simply prepared, but delicious.

For dessert, I had the bittersweet chocolate bread pudding with fresh berries and vanilla-mandarin blossom ice cream. Patrick had the vanilla bean creme brulee (which was accompanied by tiny little muffin-ettes that were almond-lemon flavored, if I had to guess). Both desserts were awesome, but I think the creme brulee was slightly better. When we go again, I'd like to try the warm fig and walnut goat cheese pound cake. Sounds interesting!

It was a delicious and satisfying dinner, and we'd happily go there again. But we might wait until somebody else is buying or we have another gift card!

This morning, we woke up bright and early and drove down to Moss Landing to have our first kayaking experience. Based on Sahana's recommendation, we signed up for Kayak Connection's three hour guided tour of Elkhorn Slough. It sounded like an easy introduction to kayaking.

We made it down there faster than expected and sat around in our car for awhile, which was pretty boring. But once 9:30 rolled around, things got more exciting. There were only two other people signed up for the tour, so we got a lot of personal attention from our guide, a very friendly and cheerful woman named Jessie. First she showed us how to put on our splash skirts and life jackets and instructed us in some kayaking basics (how to paddle, mostly).

We walked down to the dock, and Jessie helped us into our two-person kayaks. We decided Patrick should be in back so he could control the steering (I had enough on my mind concentrating on paddling and looking at all the awesome stuff. We would've totally run into something if I'd been steering). I was impressed by the whole kayak setup. The splash skirt keeps water from entering the boat (theoretically; I think mine was leaky, as I was pretty soggy by the end of the tour), and there was a place to tuck a water bottle or small bag in front of each seat, so you didn't have to undo the splash skirt to get at stuff.

We had some steering troubles at first (not Patrick's fault), but once we got out of the harbor, things went smoothly. It was more of a workout than I'd expected; my arms, shoulders and back got sore. But luckily I had my powerhouse of a husband paddling too, so I could take breaks when needed. I felt much stronger paddling back, which is weird because we were paddling against the tide.

We paddled in a loop around the slough, stopping periodically so Jessie could tell us about the various birds and mammals around us. It was really awesome. We saw a bunch of different birds--most notably a majestic blue heron and a huge flock of terns that flew right over our heads making tons of noise. There were seals and sea otters all over the place. We had to keep our distance from the resting seals and otters, but there were a few playful ones who came really close to us.

Patrick and I came upon two young seals playing in the water, and we had to back paddle to avoid running into them, since they weren't inclined to move. There was also a really friendly sea otter who kept following kayaks around and would apparently climb onto kayaks if you weren't careful (we were warned of this by two friendly slough docents). The otter in question followed us pretty closely toward the end of our paddle. It was pretty damn cute, but also a little scary, as our guide said that otters, though normally not aggressive, could seriously hurt us with their shell-crushing powers were they so inclined. Not so cuddly after all! But still, awww, sea otter!

I think we were on the water for about 2 hours total. It was overcast the whole time, which was nice because it didn't get too hot. It was a really beautiful and peaceful experience. We'd definitely like to do it again. I think we'll try for a kayak tour of Tomales Bay next.

After landing and returning our gear, we changed into dry clothes and drove a little further down Hwy 1 to the main street in Moss Landing, in search of fish tacos. Apparently there was some big antique fair going on today, and the town (all one street of it) was packed. We had to drive around for awhile looking for parking, but luckily the place we chose for lunch was able to seat us right away.

We ended up going to The Whole Enchilada for lunch because they had bathrooms (in which we made our best attempts to wash off all the slough salt from our hands and faces) and fish tacos. Next time, we might try Phil's, as they also appear to have fish tacos.

You may be wondering why we were so intent on having fish tacos at Moss Landing. I don't have a good reason; I saw a sign for fish tacos when we drove through town on one of our many wedding-related trips to Big Sur/Monterey last year, and the idea stuck in my head that I'd like to have fish tacos in Moss Landing someday. That day was today.

Funnily enough, once we were seated I decided not to order the fish tacos (I was expecting them to have cabbage and a mayonnaise-based dressing, but instead they had lettuce and ranch dressing), but Patrick did and shared them with me. They were very good. I had the seafood enchiladas, one crab and one shrimp, with rice and beans. It all tasted so good. I'm not sure if it was because we were starving from all the kayaking or if it was actually really good food or both, but we sure enjoyed that meal!

Our drive back home took longer than expected because of the amount of traffic on Hwy 1 around Moss Landing. Patrick guessed that the traffic might be due to the Gilroy Garlic festival, and I bet he's right, as it was held this weekend.

Upon arriving at home, there was some napping and some doing of laundry (to get the salt and invisible slough grime off our clothes). We opted for a simple dinner of tomato, basil and mozzarella sandwiches with mayo and homemade pesto. The tomatoes and basil were from our garden (I love that!). We also had some storebought nectarines on the side. We ate outside, next to our garden. Patrick worried that we may have traumatized our plants by showing them just what happens to their babies after they're picked.

I'm afraid the sandwiches didn't live up to the mythical Flour sandwich that resides in my memories of Boston, but they were still pretty darn good, and it was satisfying to make a meal featuring food that we'd grown ourselves. Summer's so great!

Two things, neither of which is very exciting, but I wanted to document them before I forget:

1. We went to see A Chorus Line at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco on Wednesday night. There wasn't enough time between our workdays ending and the show beginning to get a fancy dinner, so we had burritos instead. Yum!

   The show itself was pretty good, but not spectacular. I enjoyed the dancing and the familiar songs. Patrick isn't as excited about musicals as I am, but he liked it okay. I'm glad he's willing to accompany me to stuff like that. We had bought the cheapest tickets possible and were seated way up high. We were surrounded by a gaggle of au pairs from many different countries. The au pair wrangler, a very nice (and loud) German woman, stopped by before the show to check on them all. I hope they enjoyed their night away from the kids!

   Seeing the show made me want to perform in an amateur musical or join a choir. I wouldn't want to be a lead or anything; I just like being involved in a production like that. It was fun to perform in high school, as well as before that, in the youth workshops at Magic Circle Theatre. But it's a big time commitment. Now that softball is over, I guess I have more time, but it's kind of nice being able to do whatever I want after work.

2. I made Bean and Bean Gumbo and Almost Fat-Free Cornbread from Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites. I was so excited to make something with okra in it and to find fresh okra at the store! Mmmm. The gumbo is okay, but not super-exciting (using broth instead of water would've been a good idea). I kept thinking it would benefit from some andouille sausage, but I guess that totally violates the spirit of the recipe by being both high-fat and non-vegetarian. It's pretty good when topped with grated cheddar cheese, green onions and crumbled cornbread. The cornbread doesn't really stand on its own that well (it's dense and doesn't really taste like normal cornbread), but it's good for crumbling into stuff. I conveniently had just enough mashed sweet potatoes in the freezer to make this recipe, left over from the Moosewood Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos I made a while back (I guess I never wrote about those; they tasted okay but were too homogeneous for me). It was fate!

   

This evening my work softball team (of which I have become the manager, somehow) played a pivotal game, which determined if we would get into the playoffs. We lost, which means our season is over. That wasn't such a big deal, but then when Patrick and I went to Szechuan Cafe for dinner, we found out that Chef Adam had sold it. Now that made me sad!

We'd gone to Szechuan Cafe quite a few times after I wrote that first entry, often after softball games. Chef Adam was awesome--he played his flute, made elaborate vegetable garnishes for everything, and was happy to make anything you wanted--you could just tell him what you liked and disliked and he'd make something up for you. Once we both ordered the Crispy Chicken, and Adam offered to add some green beans to it because he felt we should eat some vegetables, not just deep fried chicken bits. He was awesome. I should've asked the new owner where Chef Adam went, but I didn't want to be rude. On the plus side, the menu is pretty much unchanged (apparently Chef Adam left them the recipe for Wontons in Chili Sauce), and the food is still good. But it's just not the same without Adam and his staff. I don't know if we can go back there again. The atmosphere is all wrong now. Sigh...

Part 2 of 2. Read this entry first!

The drive to Portland took about 4 hours. As I passed Centralia (the midway point between Seattle and Portland where many of the STP riders camped on Saturday night), I saw people riding on a frontage road near the highway. Patrick and the others spent the night at a school in Napavine, while I was headed for the swanky 5th Avenue Suites in downtown Portland.

My first impression of Portland was not particularly good, as downtown is full of one-way streets and it took me three tries to figure out where to park in order to check in. But once that was taken care of, the hotel staff was really great. The valets helped me unload the car (with 4 peoples' worth of stuff in it) and directed me to the front desk, and the front desk guy (whose name was Leaf River) got me checked in quickly and got a bellhop to help me move all the luggage to the room. In retrospect I didn't tip the valet or the bellhop enough considering the number of bags I had, but hopefully they forgave me. I'm a novice when it comes to tipping at hotels.

The room was really nice. It had a living room and bedroom area with sliding doors between the two. It was decorated with pleasant and unusual fabrics and colors, and there were free Aveda products and Tazo tea to be had! It wasn't cheap, but all of the hotels in Portland were in a similar price range, and Patrick had stayed here before and said it was really nice. I agree. I'd definitely stay there again.

After settling in, I walked to the Pearl District and ate dinner at Silk by Pho Van (previously Pho Van Bistro), the second pan-Asian bistro of the trip. I sat on the sidewalk out front, next to a table of women who spent their whole meal talking about divorce and drugs and meeting rich guys on match.com.

I had limeade (too sweet, sadly), lemongrass chicken, and caramelized eggplant. Both chicken and eggplant were yummy, but I bet there were things I would've liked even more on the menu. I guess subconsciously I compared it to the awesome lemongrass pork we got at Out the Door in the Ferry Building, and it just didn't live up to that. But I'd definitely go back to Silk given the chance.

After dinner, I stopped in at Powell's briefly but was overwhelmed by the size of the store and decided to come back another day. I headed back to the hotel, took a bath and had some tea. It was a good day.

Sunday, July 16

On Sunday I repeated the mistake I'd made in Seattle by deciding to walk to breakfast someplace that turned out to be pretty far away (I guess I'm overly optimistic about how quickly I can cover long distances). I headed across the Morrison Bridge to Hawthorne, which ended up being a rather seedy route to take. The pedestrian underpasses on the bridge smelled like pee and had lots of wadded up newspapers strewn around (but there weren't any homeless people hanging out there when I passed through). The 10 or so blocks east of the bridge were very industrial and abandoned looking and not pleasant to be in. Plus I was getting very hungry and tired at that point and in need of breakfast! But I kept walking.

Farther in, the surroundings became more residential, which was nice. My original plan had been to walk to Paradox Cafe for breakfast, but I ended up giving in and stopping for breakfast at the next restaurant I passed that was open. That restaurant was Wild Abandon, and it turned out to be great! Yay, serendipity!

They seated me on their new backyard patio, which was very nice and homey. The waitress was super friendly, the table settings were all charmingly mismatched (the coffee mugs were all different--near me were mugs with the Safeway logo, a Christmas wreath and "World's Best Dad" printed on them). They were playing a Johnny Cash CD inside. It felt very comfortable and local. I would have loved it more had I not been ravenous at that point!

I ordered a big stack of blueberry pancakes, and once the food arrived and I dug in, I started feeling better. The pancakes were good, though not the best I've ever had, but the ambience made up for it. I could totally imagine Patrick and I going there for weekend breakfasts if we lived there. I was again seated next to a table of women, but these women all worked at local schools (one a librarian, one a counselor) and seemed much happier with their lives. They had some complaints about how the schools were managed, but they seemed to be happy. One had gotten a job at a new school that she was really excited about (yes, I shamelessly listen to other peoples' conversations when I'm eating alone). They were regulars at the restaurant, and the owner came out to say hi and chat about things. What a nice place!

Next, I walked down to Hawthorne Blvd, which seemed like a nice street. Not as clean and polished as the Pearl District, but very comfortable and familiar. It had some friendly-looking bars with cute little half-size picnic tables along the sidewalk, yarn stores, restaurants--all sorts of good stuff. I ended up going back to the Hawthorne District twice more during our trip, and I'd say it was my favorite neighborhood in Portland. I could totally see us living there if we moved to Portland.

Next, I walked up to Burnside and across the Burnside Bridge, which was nicer than the Morrison Bridge (but the Hawthorne Bridge, based on future experience, seemed the nicest of all). At the west end of the Burnside Bridge was the Portland Saturday Market (also open Sundays), which I explored briefly. It was full of people selling their handmade goods, as well as food carts. I would have liked to have visited a farmers' market in Portland too, but I didn't manage to do that.

Most of the items at the market didn't really interest me (it was a lot of the same stuff you might find at the Marin County Fair, for instance, but slightly nicer). Lots of hippie-ish items. One thing that caught my eye were the glass mobiles by Leah Pellegrini, but they all cost over $100, so I figured I shouldn't buy one without Patrick's input, and he was busy riding his bike at the time. Maybe we can buy one in the future.

Next I walked around the Pearl District a little bit, visiting Oblation, Dig, and Print Arts Northwest. Oblation was great, but after visiting Flourish, I was spoiled and not as thrilled as I would've otherwise been. Their letterpress facilities are located in the rear of the store, so you can watch them at work, which is cool. They don't offer any classes, which probably makes sense, as they need to use the presses to print their products. The lady I talked to at Oblation said many of the local colleges offer letterpress classes, which is nice. Even better would be to find a place where I could buy time on a letterpress, since I already took a few classes in college.

Dig had some interesting items, and the woman working there was really friendly (she also recognized my purse as being from Queen Bee/Buy Olympia and asked if I'd bought anything else from them. I had, in fact, and told her that I was really happy with both items I'd bought from them). If I had a real garden, I might actually buy something there! There were some interesting pieces at Print Arts NW, but they were all pretty pricey, and the woman working the desk there seemed kind of snooty (I guess it was a gallery, so maybe that's just how they are at galleries). Oh well!

I had planned to have lunch at Wildwood, but when I got there (more walking!), it turned out they aren't open for lunch on Sunday. Man! Instead, I walked over to 23rd Ave and had lunch at Jo Bar. I'd wanted to eat at Papa Haydn, but the wait was too long, and as it turned out, Jo Bar is owned by Papa Haydn. If I'd known that, I would've gotten dessert, since that's what Papa Haydn is known for.

I had a salad topped with crab and shrimp cakes that was pretty tasty. Once again, I was seated next to a table of women talking about divorce and drugs (this time legal drugs--Ativan is apparently a god-send). One of the women monopolized the conversation, talking about her daughter's love life and how her daughter is so lucky to have been going to a therapist for two years--most kids don't get those kind of life tools. People are interesting.

Jo Bar was nice enough, but there wasn't anything special enough to make me want to go back there. Maybe if I'd had dessert I would've felt differently.

I walked back to the hotel, rested my tired feet and cooled off a little bit (it was warm in both Seattle and Portland), and then took the MAX to Holladay Park near the Lloyd Center, where the ride finish was. I sat next to two girls on the MAX who were probably in high school. One recounted the tale of when she and a friend ran away to Portland (I guess they live in a suburb nearby) and didn't have any money, so they got a strange man to buy them a meal and ended up staying at his apartment, where he tried to take advantage of them. And then they got run over by a (slow-moving) car when they were trying to push-start it and then peed their pants laughing. Kids today! My adolescence was nowhere near that interesting, thankfully.

There were many people in bike clothes at Holladay Park. Patrick and I located each other and then went and sat in the (New Belgium!) beer garden with the others for a while. I'm so proud of them all for finishing!

After a while, we had to say goodbye to Ashly and Isaac (they took a shuttle back to Seattle). We took the MAX back to the hotel, taking advantage of the bike hooks near the doors to the train (what a good idea!).

After everybody had showered and enjoyed the luxury of our hotel, we decided to go downstairs and have dinner at Red Star, since nobody felt like walking very far. It's a good thing we stayed close to the hotel because people were pretty tired by the end of dinner.

The food at the Red Star was really good (even if you haven't just ridden 200 miles in 2 days), and our waitress was super nice. I started with a roast corn, onion and watercress salad, which was pretty good. Tree and Patrick both got the special--a roast torpedo onion topped with fromage blanc. It was delicious! For our entrees, I had seared pancetta-wrapped diver scallops with heirloom tomatoes (yum!), Patrick and Tree both had the fajitas (also a special), and Andrew had an awesome steak. Desserts were equally good. Tree had a brownie sundae, Andrew had a piece of the buttermilk pie, Patrick had a cherry-peach crisp, and I had an American fool (a waffle cone filled with bavarian cream and lots of fresh Oregon berries). Now that was a good meal!

Monday, July 17

For breakfast on Monday, we walked a few blocks to Greek Cusina, which Patrick had been to before and recommended. There was a giant inflatable purple octopus crowning the entrance, and the twin themes of purple and octopus/squid were predominant throughout the restaurant. Patrick had a waffle, and the rest of us had the greek scramble (eggs with feta cheese, roasted tomatoes and olives--with the pits left in, oddly enough). Our scrambles came with toast made from thick-cut bread. It was pretty good, but a little butter-logged. It was a fine breakfast, but not my favorite of the trip. Apparently they have plate breaking later in the day, which could be entertaining.

Next, we walked to Powell's, and we fared much better than I had the first time I tried visiting. Tree and I navigated the store with the help of their online directory, and we picked up a few books that her sister had recommended for my book club at work (I have to pick the book for September). Tree also bought World Vegetarian. I think we both could've spent all day there. I like that they have both used and new books for sale. I bet they would've bought all of our books that we don't want anymore. If only we'd brought them with us to Portland! Used bookstores around here are so picky about what they'll buy!

Tree and I left Andrew and Patrick at Powell's and spent some time at Oblation. A little later, we went to Let it Bead, which was a few blocks from our hotel. They had a ton of pretty beads, and I could've spent a long time there. My only complaint was that the store smelled like patchouli. But I would definitely go there for all my bead needs when in Portland.

After a brief respite at the hotel, we all took the bus to the Hawthorne District (much easier than walking there, though the downtown bus stop smelled all pukey, which reminded me of Central Square in Boston). I was a little too quick on the draw with the bus pull cord, and we ended up walking a bit on Hawthorne to reach our lunch destination--Hot Lips Pizza.

There seemed to be some sort of lecture about buying organic outside the pizza place (after checking online, I think it was the owner of Hot Lips who was doing the talking), and though there was free pizza for the lecture attendees, we decided to go inside instead. We each had a big slice of pizza and local beer/strawberry soda (the soda was made at Hot Lips; they also had bottled raspberry and blackberry Hot Lips sodas).

The pre-made pizza selection was kind of limited when we got there, and Patrick almost ordered a piece of vegan pizza by accident. The nice butch girl behind the counter offered to put cheese on it for him, but he decided that pepperoni would be a safer bet. The pizza was pretty good, and I would definitely go back just because it seems like a friendly place that cares about the earth. They have interesting daily specials (the special that day was a summer squash and brie pizza, which sounded good, but we would've had to wait 10 extra minutes for it). They also have a cute little electric car that they use to deliver pizza. I like it!

Our next stop was the Yarn Garden and the neighboring cafe, the Sipperie, a few blocks down on Hawthorne. They sure had a lot of yarn, but since I haven't knit anything in the past year (I don't know why!), I didn't buy anything. Patrick and Andrew had tea and a brioche at the Sipperie while Tree and I looked at yarn. It seemed like a welcoming place to hang out (and decorated so sweetly!). There were some cute little girls and a harried mother (aunt?) having a tea party and knitting session while we were there, but one of the girls had a meltdown, so they had to go home. I want to have a tea party! On our way out, the proprietress of the Sipperie stopped Andrew and said that she loved his shirt (pictured below) and that she wanted to make a shirt that says "My BF is a DM." That was unexpected!

Tree needed to get to Hillsboro because she had an interview scheduled for the next day. We employed multiple forms of transportation to get there (bus to hotel, MAX to airport, rental car to Hillsboro). I was glad to have a chance to visit Hillsboro, as I was interested in seeing Orenco Station, which was featured in Sunset a few months ago. It sounded like the kind of neighborhood we might like--very walkable and close to a light rail station so Portland would be easily accessible.

We had a bit of trouble actually finding downtown Orenco Station, as I hadn't printed a map of Hillsboro, and we ended up wandering around in some of the Orenco Station housing first. I was a little disappointed, as it all looked the same, and I was under the impression that Orenco Station was trying to have some variety in their home options, so it wouldn't look so much like a planned community. We saw two funny dogs biting confusedly at a sprinkler, which was entertaining.

We ended up getting back in the car and found the downtown area, which turned out to be a block from where we'd parked the first time. It was a very small downtown with maybe 15 stores in all and a nice park at the end of the street. There was an Indian restaurant (Swagath) and an Italian restaurant, and I think that was it in terms of eating options. I was expecting it to be a little bigger (clearly I had too many preconceived notions!).

We stopped at the Starbucks there and got snacks. The man who helped me was very nice--a little too nice. I think he may have been a robot. Anyway, Patrick and I split a piece of reduced fat banana chocolate chip coffee cake, which was too good to be healthy.

After our snack, we walked over to the Orenco Station grocery store--New Seasons Market. I'd read about New Seasons when researching Portland, and I was excited to see what it was like (plus I just like walking around nice grocery stores!). I really liked it there. They had big aisle of bulk food bins and a really nice produce section. I think I would enjoy shopping there very much. Their general corporate policy seems right up my alley too. They seem like a grocery store I could love. And it looks like they have a store in the Hawthorne District. I'm swooning!

Next we stopped at the nice little park at the end of the main street and took pictures in front of the nice ivy-covered columns at the park entrance. I'm wearing my new favorite skirt, which I got at 4 Clothing Solutions here in Menlo Park. It's all nubbly-textured and has a pretty floral print. All in all, Orenco Station seemed like a nice place, but a little too artificial and new for us. Maybe as it grows it'll get bigger and more interesting. I think we'll stick with Portland proper if we move up there.

After that, Patrick and I took the MAX back to Portland, and Tree and Andrew stayed in Hillsboro so she could go to her interview the next day. While we were waiting for the train, some guy started hitting on a woman next to us. She didn't seem interested, but she had nowhere to go since the train hadn't arrived yet. He asked her if she'd been to Swagath (of course she had--it's one of two restaurants in Orenco Station!). The woman ended up turning around and talking to us about how long the train was taking to arrive in order to get out of talking to this guy. That was no problem; she seemed nice enough. But then when the train came, she sat right across from us and talked to us for the whole ride. It's not like she was annoying or anything, but I'm not used to having long conversations with people I don't know. Maybe I should learn to be a little more social.

Anyway, this woman had recently moved to Orenco Station after getting divorced (see, there's the divorce thing again--what is it with Portland?). She seemed pretty down about being divorced but was positive about Orenco Station, since it allowed her to live within her means. She had worked for the Portland school system previously, and she didn't have a very high opinion of their public schools. She recommended Catholic schools instead, which is where her kids went. I am not inclined to take this advice. When we parted ways in Portland, she wished us the best of luck with our future. That was nice of her.

From the MAX station, Patrick and I took the streetcar up to 21st Ave (we really made good use of Portland's public transit system that day--thank goodness for the $4 all day pass!). We had dinner at Wildwood, which was open this time. The part of the restaurant in which we were seated had curved wood ceilings, which reminded me of Mudd's in San Ramon. I started with a salad of dates, frisee, pancetta, spring onions and a champagne vinaigrette. It was yummy, though the dressing was a little overly vinegary for my taste. I love the combination of dates and pancetta though. My entree was a ragu of roasted tomatoes and fava beans topped with panzanella (bread salad). Yum! It was definitely a good meal, but I wasn't wowed by the experience. I think my expectations were too high. I'd go back again though. It's definitely a nice place.

After dinner, we walked down 23rd Ave and stopped for pearl milk tea at Tea Chai Te. They definitely weren't a run-of-the-mill pearl milk tea place--they were more like a tea place that just happened to make pearl milk tea as well. We really liked it though. It was on the second floor of an old building, full of couches and tables and very cozy feeling. One wall was lined with an array of tiny stoppered glass jars, each one filled with a different kind of tea leaves, so you could experience the tea before ordering. Luckily the pearl milk tea ordering process was pretty easy--we chose (1) the type of tea (black, green, rooibos or mate), (2) the flavor (a list of maybe 20 flavors; not as extensive as most bubble tea places), and (3) the accompaniment (tapioca, pudding, or both). I had black tea with almond flavoring and tapioca pearls (plus non-dairy creamer and probably some sweetener). It was different from normal pearl milk tea--I could actually taste the tea in it, and it was less sweet than usual. It was good, but not quite what I was expecting. I would definitely go there again to relax and have a cup of tea, but I would probably seek out a more traditional pearl milk tea establishment (Fat Straw, perhaps?) for my Portland bubble tea needs.

It was getting late, so we tried to take the streetcar back to our hotel. However, the streetcar we boarded only went two stops and then everybody had to get off. It was unclear whether another streetcar would be coming, so we just walked the rest of the way. We passed the place where all the streetcars sleep at night and came upon another Hot Lips location in the Pearl District, housed in the shell of an old warehouse (the Ecotrust Building, apparently, which is where I could've gone to a farmers' market had I been there on the right day). I thought it was a pretty cool use of the building. There was also a stretch of sidewalk nearby that was made of wood planks instead of concrete. People are so creative in Portland and Seattle!

The last stretch of our walk back to the hotel, through downtown, made me a little nervous because it was dark and downtown seems a little sketchier than other parts of Portland, but nothing bad happened. I'm sure I had nothing to worry about.

Tuesday, July 18

On Tuesday morning, I again tried to go to Paradox Cafe in Hawthorne for breakfast (this time with Patrick in tow), but I opted to take the bus instead of walking. Success! Paradox is primarily a vegetarian/vegan cafe, but they also have meat and egg options for those of us who haven't learned the error of our ways. The cafe was decked out with turquoise blue vinyl diner seating, and it felt very cozy (this seems to be a recurring theme in my descriptions of Portland establishments). The bathroom wasn't so great--I had to walk through the kitchen to get there, and it was basically a closet with a toilet in it (the sink was just outside the door), painted entirely red. But whatever; I should just be happy they had a bathroom!

Our waitress was nice, though she forgot to bring Patrick the orange juice he asked for until nicely reminded (but it was really good orange juice--worth the wait). I ordered the vegan french toast, scrambled tofu (I was so excited to have an option other than eggs for once!) and a chicken-apple sausage. The french toast was actually really good! It had what I think was margarine on top, and it was almost too buttery and delicious. Patrick liked it too. Being a vegan doesn't seem too bad if you're living someplace like Portland :) The scrambled tofu pretty much tasted like tofu, but I still enjoyed it. The texture was good. The chicken-apple sausage was fine. Patrick had a wheat biscuit with almond gravy, potatoes and sausage. The biscuit and gravy were pretty good (I think he liked them more than I did), and the potatoes were yummy. They were more like oven fries (all covered in seasoning and crispy) than home fries, as there were no onions or peppers accompanying them. It was a good breakfast, even for us omnivores.

After breakfast, we made a brief stop at Clogs 'n' More, as it seemed like an appropriate thing to do, and I thought I might be able to find some dressy close-toed shoes that I could wear in lab. I tried some clogs on, but none were quite right, and we left the store clogless. The staff seemed nice though.

Next we walked down to Division Street to have a post-breakfast snack at Pix Patisserie (a little after-breakfast French pastry is acceptable when you're on vacation!). We shared an Amelie--chocolate mousse with a praline center, topped with orange creme brulee, caramelized hazelnuts and gold leaf. It was like a giant Ferrero Rocher chocolate, only fancier. It was delicious, of course.

They had a nice selection of French macaroons, which we were eager to try after our positive experience with Miette's macaroons. We shared a grapefruit macaroon, which turned out to be filled with chocolate. It was so pretty to look at and delicious to boot! I loved their little macaroon plate as well. We took two back to the hotel for Tree and Andrew--another grapefruit and a pistachio--but sadly they did not get to eat them off of little macaroon plates.

As we were walking back toward downtown, we happened upon yet another Hawthorne yarn store/cafe, this one called Mabel's Cafe and Knittery. Since we had just eaten our mid-morning pastry, we did not buy anything there, but it looked very appealing, and I think it would be a very pleasant place to knit and have a cup of tea and a scone (or whatever baked goods they sell). Their blog is quite charming too. Man, those yarn store/cafe combos totally know the way to my heart.

We reached our next destination, River City Bikes, after walking through the less savory part of town that I'd encountered on my original visit to Hawthorne on Sunday. I'd noticed their building on my Sunday walk. The building has a parade of metal people riding bikes along the roof (I tried to take a picture of it, but it was too far away). And their garbage/recycling bin corral has a gate made of bicycle parts. Again, I am impressed by all the creative stuff going on in Portland!

Patrick thought it was a sweet bike store, as did I. It was pretty big, and they had these beautiful (but expensive) wood bike fenders made by the owner. Maybe if we moved to Portland Patrick could buy a set (for all the rain! I mustn't forget about the rainy part of the year!). The location of the store isn't great, but we read in the newspaper that they're thinking of expanding the streetcar line to run along the east side of the river, which would make it more accessible (and perhaps lead to improvement of the abandoned places nearby).

We tried to go across the Morrison Bridge to get back to the hotel, but this time there actually was a homeless guy hanging out in the pedestrian underpass, so we turned around and took the bus back instead. Everybody else was just going around him, but I'm a wimp.

Andrew had taken the light rail from Hillsboro back to the hotel while Tree was doing her interview, so we met up at the hotel and walked to the Pearl District for lunch. We decided to eat at Andina, a Peruvian restaurant that was featured in Sunset a while back (Sunset proved to be a good resource in planning our trip, as did citysearch, tripadvisor, and local newspapers' best of issues). The menu was a little foreign to us, and I wasn't sure what to order, but our (very quiet) waiter encouraged us to take risks. So I did, and it was so much more exciting than ordering something safe!

I ordered chicha morada to drink, which was a spiced purple corn drink. It was very purple. It smelled like spiced apple cider and tasted kind of like grape juice. It was pretty good. I'm glad I tried it.

We started out with complimentary salsa and bread. The salsa was not a typical tomato-based affair, oh no. At left we have a concoction of mint, garlic and jalapeno; in the middle is passion fruit, brown sugar and some kind of pepper (I should've taken better notes!); at right is a peanut-based salsa with head cheese and cilantro. They were all tasty; I liked the middle one best.

Andrew and Patrick shared a small plate of fried, cheese-stuffed yucca logs with a cheese sauce. They looked kind of like Twinkies but did not taste like Twinkies. They seemed to go over pretty well.

I had three small plates, all strikingly presented. The first was Tabule de Cereales Andinos, a salad of Andean grains sprinkled with queso fresco, avocado and olives. It appeared to have two colors of quinoa, but it may just be that I don't know my Andean grains well enough. It was really good, and it seems like something I could replicate at home. The second plate was Anticucho de Pulpo, a grilled octopus kebab with a rocoto (apparently a kind of pepper) and caper chimichurri. It was good, but not very flavorful. I liked the texture just fine though. The third plate was Causa Mixta Nikkei (I totally butchered all of the names when I ordered, I'm sure), a potato-lime cake topped with spicy tuna, crab salad and a crispy shrimp and garnished with avocado. The potato cake would've been a little ho-hum by itself, but the addition of all the seafood on top made it really good. Yum! I am so glad I ventured out of my food comfort zone. I'd love to go back and try some more Peruvian tapas.

After lunch, we walked to the Chinese Garden (we only had time for one garden--Japanese or Chinese--and Andrew's uncle said the Chinese Garden was best). There was an admission fee, but it was worth it. The garden was beautiful and peaceful. Lilypads are so nice to look at! We had tea at the Tower of Cosmic Reflections. The tea I chose (Tuocha from Tao of Tea) tasted grassy, like alfalfa smells. It wasn't bad, but I think I haven't learned to appreciate tea fully.

Next we walked to Saint Cupcake to see what Portland's cupcake scene was like. The shop was cute, and the cupcake presentation was appealing, but I'm afraid they weren't quite as good as those at Cupcake Royale. I think the key is the frosting. But their cupcakes were nothing to scoff at, and I was still happy to eat them. Patrick and I got three dot (mini) cupcakes to share: banana chocolate chip (Patrick's favorite), vanilla toffee and pumpkin spice (my favorite). Andrew got a full-size cupcake for himself and picked up a pumpkin spice for Tree (poor girl had two desserts waiting for her when she got back from Hillsboro!).

We took the MAX back to the hotel and hung out until dinner time. Andrew met up with his Uncle Ron at Saucebox (yet another pan-Asian bistro, the fanciest of the three), and we met up with Tree upon her return from Hillsboro and headed there to join them. Saucebox is known for their cocktails. Andrew, Uncle Ron and Patrick got mai tais and Tree got something called the Kickboxer, I believe.

The entrees were awesome. I had halibut with pea shoots and bok choy, topped with fried lotus chips. Tree, Andrew and Uncle Ron ordered a salmon dish that was equally delicious. Patrick got green curry and a Saucebox sushi roll, which was filled with the tenderest salmon ever. Yum! We did not order dessert because there were late-night donuts in our future! In retrospect, this trip was not good for my diet. But at least I walked around a lot!

We headed back to the hotel and waited until 10pm, because that's when Voodoo Doughnut opens. We walked down to the tiny storefront, which was packed with people. There were a surprising number of people out and about, considering it was a Tuesday night. I'm such a square!

I felt a little frantic trying to decide what to get, as there were many donuts to choose from (displayed in a big glass case as well as on the menu), and I had to decide by the time we got to the front of the line! The inside of the shop was too small to stand to the side, so everybody was in line by default. I decided to order something unusual, which may not have been the best choice. I got a Mango Tango, a donut filled with mango and topped with Tang powder. I did not enjoy eating it very much and ended up disposing of half of it. That was probably for the best anyway. Patrick got a Froot Loops donut and felt equally lukewarm about it.

Tree and Andrew wisely based their decisions on flavor instead of kookiness and were both happy with their donuts. I forget what was in Tree's donut, but it was shaped like a cone and involved chocolate and red sprinkles (it was meant to look like a joint, you see). Andrew got a Tex-ass donut, which was bigger than his head! Sadly, the lighting in this photo wasn't great, but this is him consuming his donut. He ended up saving half for later and then sensibly threw it away the next morning. Donuts don't seem as appealing after sitting in a fridge overnight.

So the lesson here is that if you visit Voodoo Doughnut, choose based on what sounds tastiest, not craziest.

Wednesday, July 19

We had to head home on Wednesday, sadly. I would've enjoyed spending a few more days in Portland (or Seattle), but I think I got to see a lot of it while I was there. I think we'd be happy living in Portland, but first we need to go back and visit again in the winter when it's rainy (even then, we might not get the full experience just visiting, but it's better than nothing). Seattle was awfully great too, but their public transportation system didn't seem as well-developed to me. I should really poke around online a little bit more to make sure that's right, as I would hate to rule out Seattle on a false assumption. But we won't be moving either place anytime soon, as we need to (1) visit again when the weather's crappy and (2) figure out if we could actually find jobs in our chosen professions up there. Plus we're doing quite well living in the Bay Area right now, and we're hesitant to move somewhere else when we like it here.

Anyway...we got up pretty early and had breakfast at Red Star. Our waitress this time around seemed kind of surly, but maybe I just got on her bad side. Tree and I had hot apple cider, and Patrick and Andrew had orange juice. Here is Andrew drinking his orange juice in a very apropos T-shirt (but not a very appropriate T-shirt).

I had oatmeal with toasted hazelnuts, brown sugar and dried cherries, which was good. Everybody else had granola with fresh berries--so many berries in the Northwest!

We checked out, loaded up all our stuff and got the bikes on top of the car without any mishaps. And then we started our drive south. We stopped in Eugene once again for lunch, this time at Metropol bakery. Good sandwiches were had by all, though we cleaned them out of pastrami (maybe it's not a hot ticket item in Eugene). The guy who made our sandwiches was friendly and had some sweet muttonchops.

After lots more driving, we stopped for gas in Yreka, which was very toasty. More driving, and we stopped for dinner in Mt. Shasta at Lily's. It was a nice place. It felt like the kind of restaurant local kids might go to before prom or homecoming. I had some sort of lentil-walnut burger (at this point I wasn't taking food notes--I just wanted to get home!) that was pretty good.

After more driving, we got to Tree and Andrew's place, unloaded their stuff, and drove the rest of the way home. It was a good trip.

I may have neglected to mention that we were going to visit Seattle and Portland for a week. Well, we did! Patrick, Andrew and Tree did the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic (200 miles in 2 days), and I drove between the two because I am less awesome than they are (but I'm still riding my bike to work once a week, so that's good!). We're considering moving away from the Bay Area in a year or two (so we can actually buy a house!), and the Pacific Northwest seems a likely candidate, so I was excited to visit the two cities and see if they might be a good fit.

Thursday, July 13

We'd spent the night before at Tree and Andrew's so that we could get on the road nice and early (the drive from San Francisco to Seattle is ~14 hours). They strapped the bikes to the top of our car, and we got on the road around 9 am. After about half an hour, we heard a thump and looked out the rear window to see Andrew's bike wheel bouncing along the shoulder of the highway. That was not a good feeling at all. Very luckily the wheel did not hit any other cars, and it came to rest at the side of the highway, where it could be retrieved without going into traffic.

Patrick pulled over to the side of the highway, and Andrew got out and sprinted back to where his wheel was. I cowered in the car, freaking out a little bit. Andrew retrieved the wheel, and we drove to the next exit, in Hercules, CA. Amazingly enough, his wheel was in good shape. The tube had blown out, but the rest of it seemed fine. Our lesson learned, we took the wheels off the roof rack and jammed them in the back cargo area, since apparently the wheel holders don't work so well. Tree and I spent the rest of the drive nervously checking out the moonroof to be sure all three bikes were still there. They were. I guess it was just the wheel holders that weren't reliable--the bikes made it there and back without any problems.

A little farther along, we couldn't get Tree and Andrew's FasTrak to work at the Carcinas bridge (we'll probably be getting a ticket someday soon). The trip was off to a bad start. But from there on out things went swimmingly (phew!).

I had made a list of places we could eat along Hwy 5 so we wouldn't end up eating at Wendy's for all our meals. For lunch on the way up, we stopped in Redding at Logan's Roadhouse. It was reminiscent of a chain restaurant, like Chili's, but I guess that's because the chain restaurants want to feel like a local grill. Our waitress was friendly, and we got to throw peanut shells on the floor, which is always a plus. The food was okay--a little on the greasy side--but it was definitely better than fast food.

We drove and drove and listened to America (the Audiobook). It was enjoyable. When we got to Oregon, we stopped for gas and were excited to remember that gas is full serve there. Still, it feels weird having some guy pump your gas and wash your windshield. I was also repeatedly thrilled about the wild blackberries growing everywhere in Oregon and Washington. I mentioned them a bit too frequently, I think. But it's so exciting--free food (with only a little bit of dog pee on it)! Sadly, I did not pick any of the wild berries, as they mostly grew along the side of the highway and were not accessible.

We stopped in Eugene for dinner and saw a big gathering of hippies in a park, as it should be. We ate at Zenon Cafe, which I really liked. It was laid back with good food and an enticing dessert case. Most notable were the chicken and corn chowder (full of smoky bacon) and the yummy desserts. Patrick and I shared a big glass of fresh blueberries and whipped cream (so good!), Tree had a very rich chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream and raspberries, and Andrew had a huge slice of caramel cheesecake. It was all good.

After lots more driving, we arrived at Tree's sister Ashly's house in Seattle a little after midnight and went to sleep soon after. I slept really well.

Friday, July 14

We had yummy egg sandwiches for breakfast, courtesy of Isaac, Ashly's husband. They were very self-contained, which I find appealing in food. Tree was going to spend the day with her sister, so Patrick, Andrew and I set out for a day on the town.

Our first stop was Recycled Cycles (probably unrelated to the store of the same name in Fort Collins, CO), to have Andrew's wheel looked at. Isaac had recommended it, and it seemed like a good, friendly local bike shop. They had a bunch of loose gears and bike parts that would be great for arts and crafts projects. I was tempted to buy some, but I decided to leave them for people who might actually need them for their bikes. Andrew's wheel was deemed safe to ride on (the rim was true), and we went on our way.

Next, we drove downtown to the REI flagship store, which was quite impressive. It had a waterfall, a huge climbing wall, a mountain bike test trail, and a hiking trail. It was so nice! I made Andrew and Patrick stand in front of the lower part of the waterfall outside of the parking structure, much to their chagrin. The waterfall looked more majestic from the higher levels of the store, but they wanted to go inside instead of taking more pictures. We walked around inside for a while, and they got their ride packets.

Our next destination was downtown, so we drove around looking for parking downtown, but all the lots were full, so we drove back to REI and parked there again. I wish we could've taken public transit downtown from Ashly's house instead of driving, but Seattle doesn't seem to have a great transportation setup outside of downtown, which is too bad. But it's possible that if I'd done more research we could've avoided driving.

We walked down to Pike Place Market, looking for a place to eat lunch. I had a few restaurants in mind (true to my need to be super-prepared, I had made a list of places to eat and things to see in both cities), but we couldn't find them, and I got a little overwhelmed by the crowd and wanted to get out of there. It seemed nice though, and I think if we lived there, I could get more comfortable with it. There was a lot of delicious-looking produce on display. It seemed like you could assemble a good picnic and then eat it by the water, if you were so inclined.

We went to Wild Ginger for lunch--a short walk from Pike Place but much more relaxed. We ate in their nicely-decorated bar area. I was especially fond of the tables, which appeared to have been hewn from found pieces of wood. Very natural and flowing.

They had two prix fixe options. I went the safe route--spring rolls (with sweet pickled cucumbers and pineapple dipping sauce), pad thai and baby bok choi. It was all tasty. Patrick had the Wild Ginger Fragrant Duck with cute steamed buns and plum sauce (the waiter instructed him to make small duck sandwiches with these items). It was good! Andrew had the Seven Flavor Beef, which he seemed to enjoy. We'd overheard the waitress mention the curse of the Seven Flavor Beef to the bartender earlier, but Andrew did not seem to suffer from eating it. I was impressed by the meal, which isn't too surprising, as I'm a big fan of upscale pan-Asian bistros.

After lunch, we went to the Seattle Public Library on Patrick's recommendation. It was way cool. Awesome architecture and so many books! Even a gift shop and a cafe. Our favorite floor (the 4th, I think) was full of meeting rooms and was very red! I hope the meeting rooms are painted in a slightly calmer color. The library was definitely worth visiting, and we picked up a free map of Seattle that was invaluable later in the day (my google maps of bits and pieces of Seattle just weren't cutting it).

Next, we headed to Schmancy, but along the way also encountered Pants (or maybe Fancypants?), which turned out to be part of the Schmancy-Fancy-Pants collective (there was also a store nearby called Nancy, but I'm not sure if it was part of the group). I ended up buying a button ring at Pants, made by the owner of Schmancy. The girl running Pants was so nice! She complimented me on my purse and totally knew it was from Queen Bee (she carries lots of stitched vinyl goods at her store and feels like Queen Bee was the one who really started it all). If I'd stayed there longer I probably would've bought more stuff, but Patrick and Andrew had headed off to a donut shop mentioned in one of the books carried by both Pants and Schmancy, so I made it snappy.

The donut shop was called Top Pot. It was charmingly outfitted with big windows and floor to ceiling bookshelves full of fancy old books. Patrick said it was the nicest donut shop he'd ever been to. I had a bite of Patrick's donut, and it was just as good as it looked. Mmmm!

You may think that after having donuts, we would call it a day and not have any more snacks. But on vacation you're allowed to have multiple snacks in a day! Our next snack destination was Cupcake Royale in Ballard. It was jam-packed with cuteness and delicious cupcakes. Patrick and Andrew liked this blackboard at the entrance ("Friendly robots love cupcakes and america").

Patrick and I split an Orange You Glad (orange and chocolate), and Andrew had a Lemon Drop (beautiful presentation!). We also bought cupcakes (Ballerina, Orange You Glad, Peppermint Patty, Ultra Violet (chocolate on chocolate), and Lavender on chocolate (not pictured)) to bring home to Tree and our gracious hosts. They were well-received. Man, I could go for a cupcake right now. Those things were good!

Cupcakes in hand, we walked over to the Ballard Locks, which has a fish ladder! We stood around for a while watching fish jumping up the ladder (or in some cases attempting to and then suffering harsh wipeouts). It was surprisingly entertaining!

It was getting late, so we headed back to Ashly's house where we had a yummy homemade dinner of grilled chicken, beets, and lentils topped with greens, caramelized onions and yogurt (recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian). It was so much better than staying in a hotel. We got to experience what it's actually like to live in Seattle (the house was in Ravenna, which felt comfortable and friendly). The whole family (including cats) made us feel very welcome. I wish we could've stayed a few more days!

Saturday, July 15

We woke up super early (4am) on Saturday, so everybody could start riding. I was in charge of driving all the overnight bags to the start. The start was only a mile or so from the house, at the University of Washington. I had a bit of trouble navigating the parking lot as it was full of people on bikes, but we got all the bags on the shuttle and they all said goodbye and rode off toward Portland. Here's a pre-ride picture (l-r: Ashly, Isaac, Patrick, Tree, Andrew):

I returned to the house and got ready for the day at a leisurely pace, since it was still pretty early in the morning. I decided to have breakfast at Julia's in Wallingford. I'm not a fan of driving, so I decided to walk there from Ravenna, which turned out to be a bit ambitious, but I did it anyway. Both Ravenna and Wallingford seem like nice places to live, and I was glad to be able to walk around both, even though I was starving by the time I got to Julia's.

Along the way, I was able to find a Honey Bucket port-a-potty to take a picture of. These things are all over the place in Seattle. I find the name quite disturbing. Apparently they were the port-a-potty of choice in the STP ride, and Patrick reports that they're actually very nicely equipped for port-a-potties. Why couldn't they pick a less delicious name?

Julia's was comfortable and homey. There were a few families there, and it appeared to be staffed mostly by local kids on summer break. It was just down the street from the site of the weekly Wednesday farmers' market. It was a pleasant place to have breakfast.

I considered ordering the enticingly named Hobo's Breakfast but ended up ordering the Granola Extravaganza and an English muffin. The granola extravaganza was aptly named. It consisted of a bowl of granola buried in bananas, blueberries, melon, pineapple and grapes. I poured a little 2% milk on it, but I think that detracted from the overall effect. It wasn't the best granola I've ever had, but it was good, and I liked the abundance and variety of fruit. They also had good strawberry jam for my English muffin. I was satisfied by my experience. I wish I could've shared it with everybody else!

After breakfast, I walked around and looked at the neighboring stores, waiting for Flourish to open. I bought a cute Chilean piggy bank at Bonnie River.

I thought I'd just look around Flourish briefly once it opened, but I ended up spending a good deal of time there. They had a ton of cute stuff, and so nicely displayed! I especially liked their ribbon display. It was an armoire with spools of ribbon on their sides, stacked on top of one another, organized by color. It was very pretty. I asked if I could take a picture of it, but the very nice shopkeeper looked sad and said that no photography is allowed. She said that the ribbon-oire makes her very happy too.

I ended up buying two letterpress cards (one a goat by Jane Buck and one by Old School Stationers). I'm going to frame them and hang them up because they're too pretty to keep in a drawer! I also bought three little pins made by blissen out of old pieces of fabric because I'm a sucker for stuff like that. Because Tree couldn't be there (and I'm sure she would've loved it there), I got her a box of floral-print cards (by Carrot and Stick Press), which I wrapped with skinny brown polka-dotted ribbon and accented with one of the fabric pins. And I bought a thank-you card to leave for Ashly and Isaac. It makes me happy buying nice things for other people (and myself).

Next, I walked to the University District to check out their pearl milk tea offerings and their farmers' market. The market was pretty big and had a good selection of stuff (produce, bread, cheese, and a banjo player and accompanying clogger!). There were signs posted saying that only local items were sold at the market, so they only operate when stuff is actually growing. I guess I caught it at its peak. I bought a bunch of lavender which I left for Ashly and Isaac after I got back to their house.

The lavender lady was selling three types, and she let me smell them all to figure out which kind I wanted. She also gave me detailed instructions on how to keep the flowers looking good as long as possible. How nice!

The pearl milk tea place I'd intended to go to (Pochi Tea Station) was closed, but luckily there were a few other places down the street. I went to Yunnie Bubble Tea instead and had an almond milk tea. The girls working there were really nice, but the tea wasn't as good as the stuff at Tapioca Express in Mountain View. It was fine though, and it was nice to be able to sit down and relax for a little bit.

I headed back to the house taking a rather haphazard route, and I ended up walking through Ravenna Park, which was really impressive. I figured it would just have a few swing sets and picnic tables, but it had all these cute little trails and forested areas. For a while I was afraid I'd get lost in the park and never find my way out. But I did, and it was a pleasant, though unexpected, break from sidewalks and cars.

I finally got back to the house, tired from all the walking and the heat, but satisfied. I made sure the cats were inside, gathered my belongings, and started my drive to Portland. I'm glad I got to spend time exploring Seattle's suburbs. They all seem like they could be home.

to be continued...