6th Annual Tour – Page 2 – Venturing Into The Great Unknown

Arrived in Ashland

Aug 252016

Today we woke around seven and had coffee and leftovers for breakfast. Once the car was loaded and rush hour had subsided, we headed south on I-5. It was a fairly uneventful drive, and we were grateful for that after the hellish drive we had between the border and Portland on Sunday.

We stopped at a rest stop near Canyonville for a picnic lunch of our remaining leftovers. Not surprisingly, the local wasps found my brisket from last night appealing and I was forced to cover it and save it for later. We headed back to the highway and within an hour and a half, we were arriving in Ashland.

We found a parking spot with no difficulty and headed to the box office to pick up our tickets for Twelfth Night. We then decided to visit the gift shop. Mum grabbed a nightie and a couple of greeting cards and I grabbed a t-shirt that listed all of Shakespeare’s plays on the back and 1616-2016 on the front – celebrating 400 years since Shakespeare died. I also picked up a Shakespeare bobblehead as a gift for a friend.

Since we had some time to kill – and it was dreadfully hot out – we stopped for a drink at Louie’s. We found this place last year and quite liked sitting next to the creek on a path that they call Calle Guanajuato. Mum had a ginger beer and I had a flight of the six daily beers that they had on tap. The waitress was quite helpful and wrote the names out for me so I could record them in my Untappd app.

We checked into the hotel and while Mum was having a shower, I called hubby and chatted for a bit. We then went next door to the Wild Goose for a small bite to eat before the play. Mum had roasted garlic and brie on crostinis and I had a New Orleans Chicken Sandwich.

We arrived at the theatre in plenty of time to listen to the live music that they had in the courtyard outside the theatre before heading in and grabbing our seats. The play was quite good and, although it took a while for me to understand exactly what was happening, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The performance ended close to eleven and we headed back to the hotel. On our way back, we were forced to stop at an intersection to allow a deer to finish crossing the road – at least he was using the crosswalk. Mum turned in shortly after we arrived and once I am done writing to you all, I will be turning in myself.

I leave you with a picture I took of the final number – shhh, don’t tell anyone.

Thank you for reading and I will talk to you tomorrow from Sacramento.

Exploring Portland Day 2

6th Annual Tour, Food Network Tours 2 Responses »

Aug 242016

This morning we awoke slightly earlier than yesterday, and I grabbed coffees at the motel’s front desk. After taking a look at the different locations for Pine State Biscuits, we decided on their new location on NE Schuyler (pronounced Skyler) – mainly because we could easily get there by transit. This is our seventh visit to a PSB and our fourth location. This location was only slightly larger than the original location on SE Belmont, but for the sixth year in a row, we lucked out and, not only had no lineup but also found seating. Mum had a biscuit with honey and I had a Reggie with the biscuit on the side. I, unfortunately, can’t share any pictures of the food as we were so hungry that we both starting eating as soon as we got our food. I am able to tell you that it was absolutely divine. One thing that I would also like to mention is that the price for a Reggie hasn’t changed since we first came here in 2011 – that is quite impressive considering the popularity of the restaurant.

After breakfast, we jumped back on the streetcar and headed across the bridge to downtown. Not long after we crossed the bridge, we were informed by the driver that there was a fire blocking the tracks and they had to stop the streetcar. Since it wasn’t too far to Powell Books, we decided to walk. We have never explored the Pearl District before so we took our time walking the eight or so blocks that we had to go.

Powell Books is another requisite stop on our trips to Portland, however, today we only spent 45 minutes browsing. I still have several books to read from our last trip and Mum found the one book that she was looking for – a Del Shannon novel that she hadn’t read yet.

After Powells, we headed to Blue Star Donuts for, well…a donut. It was featured on Best Ever (Best Breakfast Ever). I grabbed a Maple Bacon Donut. I would say that it was better than Voodoo Doughnuts, but I’m not sure if I would say that it is better than Dynamo Donuts in San Francisco.

After Blue Star, we were ready to head back to the hotel and then go to the Lloyd Center for more shopping. We walked the few blocks back to the streetcar and were just able to jump on before it left the stop. One stop later, the driver informed us that there was no power on the tracks on the east side of the river so we would need to transfer to the #77 bus. This turned into a ridiculously long search for the proper bus stop. We asked a person sitting at the stop where we got off and she directed us to the Office Max a couple of blocks away, saying there was a stop outside. When we couldn’t find a #77 stop by the Office Max, I used my Transit PDX app and found that we had walked several blocks in the wrong direction. We headed towards the place that the app said we could catch the bus but once we got there, I noticed that the stop # wasn’t the one that the app said it should be and that we had to walk back two blocks. I apologized to Mum – who, by this time, was sick of walking in the sun – and informed her that we had to go to the other stop, or at least I thought we did. We decide to walk to the stop and concluded that if it was the wrong stop, we would just have a tour of Portland as we made our way back across the bridge. We got on the bus a few minutes later and after riding several blocks, found out that we were, in fact, on the wrong bus and that it would not be making the loop back across the river. We got off the bus, crossed the street and waited, yet again, for the bus. While we waited the fifteen or so minutes, we struck up a conversation with a nice older lady who had gotten rid of her car almost a decade ago and now enjoys being able to ride rather than drive. To be honest, I don’t blame her when it comes to downtown Portland. We finally made it back across the river and walked a couple of blocks to the hotel.

We chilled at the hotel for a couple of hours and then headed to dinner. Although Mum isn’t a big fan of BBQ, we decided to go to Podnah’s Pit. Mum had a 1/4 rack of rib with red pepper mac & cheese and cucumber salad and I had the brisket with mac & cheese and dirty rice. It was soooo delicious, and luckily I have enough leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.

After dinner, we went looking for Oregon Growers & Shippers Honey which was supposed to be sold at Safeway. We were unable to find it so we decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night.

Tomorrow we are heading to Ashland and seeing Twelfth Night at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

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

Portland – Day One

6th Annual Tour, Food Network Tours No Responses »

Aug 222016

Today we decided to sleep in until eight. After several failed attempts to get a decent coffee, I finally found one at a coffee shop in a hotel down the street. I always forget that hotels in Portland are not allowed to keep milk or creamer in the lobby with the coffee and Mum and I are not fans of whitener. We have since remedied that by grabbing a small container of fat-free half & half. After munching on leftovers for breakfast, we decided to have an outlet mall day.

We waited for rush hour to die down and then headed off to do some shopping in Woodburn. Mum grabbed two pairs of shoes at Naturalizer and two pairs of shoes at Clark’s, while I headed to my favourite store…Columbia. Last year I was unable to find a pair of flip flops that I liked, but this year I found a perfect pair. Not only were they a neutral colour, but they also had great tread. When I found out that they were only $17 I bought both pairs that were left. I was also able to find a very reasonable, waterproof pair of runners for hubby.

We browsed through a few clothes stores without finding anything for ourselves but I was able to pick up something that my daughter, K, had asked for. We then attacked the kitchen gadget store – a very dangerous undertaking. Luckily, we were able to control ourselves and we didn’t spend too much.

By this time it was after one, so we decided to take the long way (Hwy 99E) back to Portland so we could grab lunch. We decided on Tin Shed Cafe and arrived just as they were switching from their breakfast menu to their dinner menu.

After looking at the menu, we were both torn as to what we should order. As it would happen, we were both trying to choose between the same sandwiches. Mum decided to have the Heartless Artichoke (a blend of artichokes, garlic, lemon, parmesan, roasted red peppers and pepper jack cheese on grilled wheat) and I chose the San Fran (House-roasted chicken, applewood smoked bacon, green apple and blue cheese on grilled sourdough). I had originally planned on having chips for my side, but when the waitress told us that we could substitute a small bowl of the mac & cheese of the day (three cheese with sweet potato), Mum and I were sold.

Mum had a glass of white wine (in a mason jar) and I had a pint of local cider. When our meals arrived, we gave each other half of our sandwich which solved the issue of which to order.

After a very leisurely lunch, we headed to Safeway to do some quick shopping. We grabbed some beverages, snacks and most importantly the half and half. By this time it was 5:30 and we decided to head back to the hotel. Since we had done so much walking, and eating, we decided to stay at the hotel and chill for the rest of the evening. We watched some Food Network and ate some leftovers. I was rudely informed by my Shomi app that I need to be in Canada to enjoy my shows, so I guess catching up on Chicago Fire will have to wait till I get home :(.

Tomorrow we are planning on heading to Pine State Biscuits for breakfast and then downtown to do some exploring, shopping and eating.

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

Arrived in Portland

6th Annual Tour, Food Network Tours No Responses »

Aug 212016

Today we awoke early and made our way up through the Saanich Peninsula to Sidney. Neither of us was very hungry so we both had a small breakfast at 3rd Street Cafe. Although I didn’t eat much, I made sure that I grabbed some of their homemade mango habanero hot sauce for my eggs.

After breakfast we drove the short distance to the ferry terminal and before long were boarding the ferry. We had planned on staying in the car for the duration of the crossing but decided against it after a nearby truck’s alarm decided to continually sound. We had a fairly uneventful crossing – other than the truck alarm – and before we knew it, we were heading down the highway towards the border.

We spent about 20 to 30 minutes waiting to get up to the CBP officer – chatting about this and that while we waited. We told him that we were going on a two-week trip to visit different restaurants that have been featured on the Food Network – in previous years I have said we were on a Food Network Tour which usually required me explaining that we weren’t being “employed” by the Food Network but just going for fun. The CBP officer asked not only to see my hotel reservations (nicely stored in my Booking.com app), but also wanted some name of the restaurants that we had visited on prior trips. One such restaurant – Fire on the Mountain Wings – he had heard of and also asked if they had some kind of hot wings or something. I replied that they had El Jefe sauce which was 250,000 Scoville units. He then pulled out his mace to compare the Scoville units and I found out that they now carry spray that is almost as hot as pure capsaicin – 16,000,000 units. Good to know ;). He wished us a good day and sent us on our way.

This was the first year I have been able to get a good picture of the weird sculpture that is by the US side of the border – I have no idea what it is supposed to be, but Mum and I have always thought it looked neat.

We then headed south on I-5 and made it as far as Mount Vernon/Burlington area before we hit traffic. We had 375 km/235mi still to go by this point and neither of us was very impressed. After fighting a ridiculous amount of traffic through Skagit County, Lynnwood, all of I-405 around Seattle and along through Tacoma, we finally got to Portland. Five and a half hours later.

For the first time on any of our trips, getting into Portland and our hotel was the easiest part of the day. We then took a quick rest at the hotel before walking a couple of blocks to Red Robin. I started with pretzel bites and Mum had the artichoke and spinach dip – I tried some of her dip and can now say I’ve tried artichokes. For an entree I had the smoke and pepper burger and Mum had the Ensenada chicken platter. All in all a pretty good meal for a chain restaurant.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel, watched part of a Chopped episode and then did our Wikipedia and IMDB research of the day. Not long afterwards, Mum headed to bed and I sat down to write my blog.

It is now my turn to roll over and go to bed. Tomorrow we will be exploring Portland but our exact itinerary is up in the air still.

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

Arrived in Victoria

6th Annual Tour, Food Network Tours No Responses »

Aug 202016

Today was a slow start to our trip, but a nice one. Mum met me in Duncan and we left my car at hubby’s work after transferring over my luggage. We, unfortunately, didn’t get a “start” picture as we had no one to take our picture, but we plan on doing a selfie at the ferry terminal tomorrow.

We had a fairly uneventful drive over the Malahat to Victoria and parked downtown at my favourite parkade. We then explored the Bay Centre and Munro Books while we killed time before lunch. We had originally planned to go to Jam for breakfast but the lineup was too long for us to wait in the direct sun. Next on the list was Shine Cafe, which luckily, was not as busy.

I had the Peachy Pork Benny which is August’s Benny special. It was a housemade pork sausage patty, roasted peaches, and brie cheese on roasted garlic cracked black pepper artisan bread topped with two poached eggs and fresh thyme hollandaise. Mum had the Cascadian Cobb Salad. Both of enjoyed our meals immensely. This is my third visit to Shine as I am in Victoria quite often, but this was the first time for Mum.

After lunch, it was time to check into the hotel – which was luckily only a few blocks away. Mum decided to relax for a while in the coolness of the room while I did some last minute errands.

Before we knew it, it was time to go out for dinner. I had originally planned on going to La Belle Patate, but after such a large lunch there was definitely no room for poutine. We instead went to The White Spot for a small bite to eat. I was quite happy when I realized that they were broadcasting the last Hip concert from Kingston over the speakers. I saw their opening concert in Victoria last month, but the concert today was their last of this tour and the last concert they will ever put on. Hopefully CBC will rebroadcast it again, but luckily I remembered to set my PVR.

Tomorrow we will be waking around 6 and heading to John’s Place to grab breakfast just as they open so we can catch the 10AM ferry from Swartz Bay. (UPDATE: John’s Place doesn’t open until 8AM – the TVFoodMaps app that I used lied to me ugh). We will now be going to Third Street Cafe in Sidney. It also opens at 8, but is much closer to the Swartz Bay ferry terminal.

The majority of tomorrow will be driving. I hope to get some pictures of Mt. Baker and Mt. St. Helens on our way southbound, but other than that, it’s just a driving day. We will be arriving in Portland around dinner time – which we will be having at Red Robin. I know Red Robin sounds weird for a Food Network trip, but it is a Portland tradition.

Sorry I don’t have many pictures to share today, but thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you soon.

One more sleep

6th Annual Tour, Food Network Tours No Responses »

Aug 202016

I can’t believe there’s only one more night before Mum and I embark on our sixth Food Network tour. As always, we are planning to revisit some old haunts and try some new and unique places.

We are pretty much staying on I-5 with a few detours along the way and heading as far south as Arroyo Grande, California. We haven’t been to California since 2013, so we are both looking forward to going back. This is the farthest south we have gone – on our first trip we went as far as Carmel – and also one of our straightest as far as venturing off the beaten path. We have run into a few forest fires on our previous trips and I wanted to keep off the more remote roads. My one remote road that I did pick was CA SR-1 from Carmel to San Luis Obispo…which unfortunately may be closed due to an extremely large forest fire near Big Sur. We will be watching the updates and determining our route as we get closer to Carmel.

We are stopping in Portland on the way south this time – we normally stop on our way home – and also doing our Wine Country exploring later in the trip rather than earlier. Next Wednesday we will also be catching a play in Ashland at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

I hope this will end up being our best trip yet.

Thanks for reading and I will post again tomorrow about our day in Victoria, BC.

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