Today I woke early and went across the street to grab coffee at the 7-Eleven. After coffee, we headed up I-5 to Albany to have breakfast at a restaurant that was suggested by a good friend of mine – Novak’s Hungarian Restaurant. We found a great parking spot and walked a short block to the restaurant. Mum had the Mama’s Favorite Crepes (ground walnut and apricot preserve filling, garnished with bittersweet chocolate) and I had the Blueberry Ricotta Crepe.
After breakfast, we headed back up the I-5 towards Portland. We made very good time going through town and for the first time we went over the Hawthorne Bridge. We found a parking spot near New Seasons Market and walked a couple of blocks to the store. Mum was on the hunt for a particular brand of honey – Shippers & Growers – and was finally able to find it. Our next stop was Fire on the Mountain Wings. This was my need-to-stop place and, again, we lucked out and found parking. I waited in line and grabbed four 80z jars of El Jefé, 2 8oz jars of Raspberry Habanero and 1 8oz jar of Jamaican Jerk. I hope that’ll be enough to last me until next time I’m in Portland.
Once we were done with our last-minute Portland shopping we were back on the highway and heading northbound. Just as we were leaving Vancouver, Washington, it started raining. I know we can’t complain, but I would much prefer rain to happen when I’m not driving at 65 MPH. It rained on and off as we headed north, but the sun finally came out as we were approaching Kalama, WA. I had no sooner mentioned to Mum that the weather looked like it was getting better than we came around a corner and we could see a wall of rain. I have never seen such a division of weather before and it was quite disconcerting. It thankfully stopped with a few minutes, but it was insane while it lasted.
We stopped at the Centralia Outlet Mall to grab Nikes for my sister and pants for my Mum at Pendleton. We were able to find the particular shoes that my sister wanted but when we went to line up, we realized that there were over 100 people in line. For the amount that we were saving, it definitely wasn’t worth waiting in line and we gave it up as a bad job. We then headed over to Pendleton and I was able to find a sweater and Mum was able to find a “consolation prize” for my sister.
After shopping, we were only 30 minutes from the hotel and we were able to make it without any further weather issues. I did, however, miss my exit and had to backtrack. We checked into the hotel and decided to head to dinner before it got too busy at the restaurant.
We went to Fish Tale Brew Pub – for the third year in a row. We started with bar pickles (which turned out to be pickled vegetables and not at all what I expected). Mum had the Soup (Bacon Cheese Potato) and Fish Tale Salad and I had Fish Tacos with Soup. It was a huge bowl of soup and Mum couldn’t finish it – I had no problem helping her out.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and Mum had a bath while I organized the car. I usually organize things on the day before we cross back into Canada, but decided to organize while the sun was still shining. I have organized in the rain before and it is no fun.
It’s hard to believe that we are almost done our trip – the last two weeks have just flown by. Tomorrow we are navigating through Seattle holiday traffic and staying in Anacortes.
Thank you for reading and I will talk to you soon.
L
