Day 2 – Centralia, WA to Grants Pass, OR
Unfortunately I am a bit late posting our day’s itinerary, but we kept pretty much to plan. After a quick bite to eat at the hotel (last night’s leftovers) and coffees from the gas station, we were heading southbound on the I-5 by 8:30. The drive through the remainder of Washington was quite dreary, but not rainy, though Mt. St. Helens was shrouded in dense clouds (hopefully I will finally get a pick on the return trip this year).
We arrived at Otto’s Sausages (after getting lost several times – stupid GPS) in Portland, just after it opened. Mum grabbed half a veggie on rye and a small bean salad and I grabbed half a “kitchen sink” sandwich. We also talked to a person that had recommended Podnah’s BBQ Pit to us. Both my Mum and I had crossed it off our list on our first trip as neither of us like pulled pork, but we are both reconsidering and will possibly grab brisket instead.
We headed out of the city (with less snafus than the entry had), and soon found ourselves back on the I-5 South. We drove by Salem and Eugene, and ended up stopping for our picnic at Lynx Hollow Park, just south of Eugene. The sandwiches were as good as always (this is my third kitchen sink sandwich), and the sun made it a beautiful stop even though we had a cool breeze.
After about a half hour, we packed up and again headed south. We passed through several places that we had seen on previous trips and recounted some of our memories and mishaps. Just before we reached Grants Pass, we made a stop in Sunny Valley to take some pictures of the Grave Creek Bridge, one of the numerous covered bridges in Oregon.
By this time we were only about 15 minutes away from the hotel and were able to arrive perfectly in time for check-in. After checking in I spent the next 90 or so minutes on live chat with my phone company trying to stop the perpetual text messages that were telling me I was roaming and that I needed to get a roaming package (which I actually did have). In the end I gave up, actually my CSR closed the chat on me, and I decided to deal with it when I return to Canada and can actually call them rather than type my complaints.
By this time my Mum was getting peckish so we headed to Applebee’s for dinner. The food was not too bad, but I have definitely had better (at an Applebee’s), but our waiter left A LOT to be desired. A dinner with one appy (to share) and two entrees (one being a salad) took two hours from walking in the door to walking out. Slow doesn’t quite describe the speed that our waiter was moving at. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he is just new – if he isn’t he does NOT belong in the restaurant business.
We returned to the hotel after dinner and did some internet research. Topics of the day were: Harry Connick Jr., F. Scott FItzgerald, Sebastian Cabot, and the Bonnie and Clyde remake. Like I said before, we have random conversations when we drive.
Below I have included a picture of the Grave Creek Covered Bridge. I have also updated yesterday’s post to include a couple of pictures from dinner.
Grave Creek Covered Bridge
I do like a covered bridge. So few of them left on the left coast…
Surprisingly, Oregon has 50 covered bridges, though this is the only one I have seen. There is an actual “covered bridge” route that goes past quite a few, I just didn’t have time this route. For more information on the covered bridges, I found a great link.