Venturing Into The Great Unknown

Today we explored Portland on foot. We took the MAX Line downtown and headed to the Pendleton Store (Mum wanted to take a look). After the sticker shock, and realization that most of their clothing is actually made in China and not Oregon, we headed to find a coffee. I was happy to see that we weren’t far from Voodoo Donuts – well we were farther than Mum wanted to go, but I enticed her by telling her they had a Bacon Maple Donut. Voodoo Donuts has been featured on several shows: Man vs. Food,  No Reservations, Food Paradise, and Unique Eats, and has also been recommended to me by a friend – it did not let us down. We ended up sharing the Bacon Maple Bar, but devoured it before we had a chance to take a picture of it (sorry).

After our coffee and donut break we headed to Powell’s Books…another necessary Portland stop each year. Any bookstore that is so big that it needs its own parking garage is okay in my books (pardon the pun). The purple and red rooms were under construction, but both Mum and I still loaded up on reading material. And, although the picture doesn’t show it, the parking garage was full – that’s how popular this place is.

After we left Powell’s we were feeling peckish and decided to grab lunch. Since it was raining, we decided on Bunk Sandwiches – another place that was farther than Mum wanted to walk to, but she acquiesced. Bunk has been featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate; Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives and Best Sandwich in America. Both Mum and I had the Roast Beef Sandwich which was absolutely delightful, and we both completely finished our sandwiches off.

After lunch, we crossed the street and waited for the train back to the hotel. The rain that we had been escaping for the last ten days, finally caught up with us and we dodged raindrops as we walked from the MAX Line to the hotel.

For dinner we decided to return to Fire on the Mountain Wings at their Interstate location. This is the third visit to this location and we chose it for its proximity to the MAX line – why drive if we already had a day pass for transit. We shared an order of fried pickles for an appy and Mum had a Buffalo Chicken Salad (with Spicy Peanut sauce) and I had an order of boneless wings with extra hot sauce. I also had two pints of beer to try to calm to burn that was happening on my lips and in my mouth. I am so glad that I didn’t have El Jefé sauce, but I did grab a half a litre of it to bring home. One thing I like about Portland is the friendly people and we were lucky enough to sit next to a group celebrating a birthday and we chatted with them throughout dinner.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, watched the result show for DWTS and also an episode of The Voice before turning in for the night. Although we had a day full of food, we also had a day full of walking and I think we burned more calories than we consumed – if not, that’s the story I’m sticking to. Tomorrow is still up in the air, but I’m sure it will involve a trip downtown to visit the local food pods (a group of food carts).

Thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you soon.

L

What a great day. We started our day with a relaxing breakfast at our hotel…it was such a short drive to our first stop that we were able to take our time. We hopped on the I-5 and before we knew it, we arrived at Woodburn Outlet Mall. This has got to be the best outlet mall that I have ever gone to.

We both have our go-to stores that we visit each trip. Columbia Sportswear and Shutterbug are usually my first two stops, while Mum heads to Lane Bryant and Jockey. This trip wasn’t much different except we didn’t split up as much as long as we normally do…Mum went looking for shoes and I popped into Shutterbug quickly before heading to Columbia. I was unimpressed by Columbia’s styles for shoes this year, but I still found a shoe that had good tread (kinda bummed it isn’t red though). We then headed to a few stores to search for pants for Mum…I also perused the racks while she was shopping and decided that I needed to get some new work clothes. We went into Dressbarn and I became a shopping fool…it was actually fun trying clothes on (probably because they fit for a change). I got a bunch of sweaters and tops and think I should have enough to carry me through tax season now. After my marathon shop, I helped Mum pick out a pair of shoes and we decided that we were shopped out. Three hours of shopping will do that to a person.

Since it was almost two, we decided to forego Shirley’s Tippycanoe in Troutdale and just head to our hotel. I am very glad we did that as the drive in from Troutdale at rush hour is hellishly slow. We decided to relax at the hotel for a while and ended up watching WarGames before walking to dinner.

Dinner was at Frank’s Noodle House which was featured on Diner’s, Drive-Ins & Dives. We started by sharing an order of spring rolls as an appetizer. Mum chose the Shrimp Noodle Dish and I had the Cashew Chicken with a side of steamed rice. Not only do they pull their own noodles, but they give you an option of spiciness (1 to 4). Mum had her noodles at a 3 spicy and I, of course, had the 4. I also had a Sapporo as it seemed appropriate – especially with the heat level. It was an absolutely delicious dinner, and I am so glad that we had leftovers to bring back to the hotel.

That brings us back to the hotel and the end of another day. Tomorrow we will be exploring Portland on the first of our two days here.

Thank you for reading and talk to you soon.

L

Today was a short drive, but a long day. We started the day with coffee and some leftovers at the hotel before heading up the back roads toward Salem. Once we arrived in Salem, we went straight to Busick Court Restaurant. As we drove by we noticed a small crowd of people outside – obviously waiting to get tables. I pulled a U-turn and parked in the shade just down from the restaurant…just in case we would be there for a while. Luckily, there was only a 30-40 minute wait, so we put our name on the list and went for a short walk around downtown.

We were seated in the middle of the restaurant and spent a few minutes perusing the numerous selections on the menu. I immediately knew that I was going to have the Eggs Benny; Mum eventually decided on the Quiche of the Day, which was a Denver. The portions were huge, and scrumptious – so good that I forgot to take pictures before we dug in.

After brunch, we headed to Silverton to visit Oregon Garden. We lucked out and were able to get a 2 for 1 coupon on Groupon, but it would still have been worth it at full price. We spent two hours in the gardens, riding the tram around the property and then walking around the gardens that interested us the most. I took around 200 photos, but narrowed it down to four that I will share with you.

We were quite tired, and hot, after walking around the gardens so we headed to the hotel to relax before dinner. Dinner was at the local Sizzler and an anticlimactic end to the day.

Tomorrow we are off to Portland – can’t wait!

Talk to you soon and thanks for reading.

L

Today was the first of our relaxing days…and also not at all what we had originally planned to do. Today was originally supposed to be a visit (and picnic) at Crater Lake, but after further investigation, we realized that a major part of the rim road was closed today to motorized vehicles. We then decided to visit Newberry Volcanic Monument. It turned out to require more walking (5.5 miles) than we wanted to do with the temperature in the mid-20’s. It was also similar to the lava flows that we saw at Craters of the Moon, so decided to just drive to Eugene. We took the same route that we had planned to take today; we just turned onto Oregon State Route 58 from US-97 instead of continuing on to Crater Lake.
The landscape started out much the same as it was yesterday, with sagebrush and small pines covering the dry, brown flatlands. Before long however, the sagebrush disappeared and the small pines were replaced with taller evergreens of the Deschutes & Willamette National Forests. Along the way we stopped next to O’Dell Lake to take a picture of Diamond Peak, before continuing over the Willamette Pass.

As we neared Oakridge, we could see (and smell) the smoke from the Deception Complex fire. There were also several signs that referred to fire fighting activity in the area but it was still a ways from the highway. In that same general area we passed an A&W Drive-In – I haven’t seen one of those in decades and it turns out that this is one of two remaining in Oregon. We also saw signs informing us not to pass snowplows on the right (I can’t believe that they need to tell people that).

We arrived in Eugene just after twelve and decided to have a picnic lunch of leftovers at the top of Skinner Butte. I didn’t bother taking any pictures as the smoke from the forest fires made it hazy. With some time to kill before check-in, we decided to enjoy the A/C in the local shopping centre. Mum and I both got sunglasses at JC Penney, and I picked up a couple of long-sleeved shirts for work from Macy’s. We then headed to the hotel to relax before dinner.

Dinner was in nearby Springfield, at Giant Burger which was featured on Meat & Potatoes.

Mum had a BLT, while I had the Juicy Lucille Burger with chipotle cheddar and pepper jack cheeses. We also shared an order of Fire! Fire! Fries, so I opted for a milkshake to calm the burn from the inferno sauce that they make from habaneros. I had an Oregon Berry Shake which is made from raspberries, marionberries and blackberries with strawberry ice cream – extremely yummy.

It was a delicious (and spicy) dinner, and I’m glad we made the trip out to Springfield.

Tomorrow will be another lazy day as we head to Salem.

Thank you for reading and I will talk to you soon.

L

Today didn’t go exactly as planned, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a good day. We started the day with breakfast in the lobby of the hotel. The clerk at the front desk, Vickie, was a riot and definitely added to the enjoyment of the meal. After a quick bite, we were off…heading west across the Great Sandy Desert towards Bend. It was a warm 25°C, and we were grateful for the A/C in the car. This was another day when there were times that there were no cars in sight…and seemingly no civilization around.

About halfway between Burns and Bend we passed through Brothers, which is basically just a post office, a couple of houses and a rest area.

 Just after we passed through Brothers, I added a new bird to my bird list…a Mountain Bluebird. I was unable to get a picture as I was driving at the time, but I am positive as to its identification – even Mum hadn’t seen one before. We decided against visiting Newberry Volcanic Monument today, and opted instead to have lunch in Sisters.

We parked the car in the shade on a back street and picnicked on leftovers. While eating we also espied several Pinyon Jays and  Gray Catbirds flitting around the Ponderosa Pines. After eating we walked around the downtown area and did some window shopping as well as look at the local objet d’art. The town hadn’t changed much since we were here two years ago, however, my leather store was gone (recently it seems). The flags that they used to have for crossing the street were also gone but we understand that is just temporary as they are fixing up the “main drag”. Mum was happy to see that the Quilt Shop (The Stitchin Post) was still there and she picked up two fat quarters and a cute tote bag pattern.

We left Sisters just before 3 and headed back to Bend to check in to our hotel. After relaxing for a couple of hours at the hotel (while watching Triple D) we headed out to dinner at Deschutes Brewery & Pub. As we neared downtown, we noticed that a couple of the streets we closed and it seemed like a street fair was going on. After parking, we learned it was Bend’s Oktoberfest. I am not one for crowds, but Mum told me to make some lemonade (When life gives you lemons…), so I decided to brave it – I’m glad I did.

We walked the block or so to the pub and found that it was surprisingly quiet…probably because everyone was drinking at the street party. After perusing the menu Mum decided on the Moroccan Salad and I had a pretzel and hot wings. We also decided to have a beer sampler which is six 4-oz servings of beer. Since this trip is about going outside of my comfort zone, I chose several types of beer that were new to me. I chose Black Butte Porter, Deschutes River Ale, Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Oktoberfest, Botanic Ale, and finally Bachelor Bitter. I chose the ones with the lowest IBUs, and was quite surprised that I enjoyed all of them, especially the Porter.

After dinner we walked around the street festival for a few minutes and then headed back to the hotel. All in all, it was a great day.

Talk to you soon and thank you for reading.

L