Venturing Into The Great Unknown

Today was our last full day in the States. We awoke to a partly cloudy day with the sun trying to peek through the clouds. We packed up the car and headed to Pine State Biscuits for breakfast. They have been featured on Diner’s, Drive-Ins & Dives; Food Paradise; and Unique Eats.  This was our fifth visit to PSB, but our first visit to their new location on SE Morrison. As with every visit, we lucked out with not only parking but also not having to wait in line. This year I decided to switch it up and got the Chatfield (fried chicken, bacon and cheese topped with apple butter) and Mum got a biscuit with whipped butter and local honey. We were not disappointed – it was scrumptious as always.

After breakfast we headed to an Italian supermarket, Pastaworks, to look for some dried pasta that Mum can’t find on the Island. We were able to find the shapes that she was looking for but didn’t think the $8-$12 cost per package was reasonable (they were all about 1lb each). The one other thing that Mum was looking for was a can of Brio to have for lunch, but for some unknown reason, they did not carry it. We then headed to Edelweiss Deli, which was featured on Triple D, to grab some lunch meat for our picnic lunch. It was also slightly overpriced, but the wine cured salami, landjager and jagdwurst were all quite good. We then headed north out of Portland.

We stopped at the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center in Woodland, WA (about 30 minutes north of Portland) to check on the cloud cover on the summit cam. As in prior years, I was denied the ability to see the summit and had to settle with just getting some small souvenirs from the centre. One of these days I will see my favourite mountain – just not sure when that time will come. Since we were denied the ability to have a picnic at MSH, we stopped at a park in Chehalis instead.

After lunch we headed to Michael’s Craft Store and a pet store in the same mall. Mum and I both were able to find things that we were looking for; including name tags for our pets – bone-shaped for Mum’s doggies and a heart for my cat. A few miles up the road we stopped at the Outlet Mall in Centralia where Mum found a of couple shirts in the Pendleton Outlet Store.

We arrived at the hotel in Olympia just before the skies opened up and the rain came down in torrents. While we waited for the rain to stop, we looked at our two options for dinner. We had originally planned on Darby’s Café but after talking to the very helpful front desk clerk, we found that there was a second Food Network stop in Olympia, Fish Tale Brew Pub. We took a look at the menus and reviews for both and decided to stick with Darby’s…until we tried to find parking. We ended up finding parking in a lot next to the Fish Tale Brew Pub. It was the weirdest lot that Mum and I had ever seen – you put the payment in a board with slots for each stall.

We headed into the pub and looked for a seat…this turned out to be harder than finding parking. Luckily a waitress noticed the lost look on our faces and took pity on us, finding us a table upstairs. I started with a Fish Tale Organic Blonde Ale and mum had an apple cider. For dinner I decided on the fish & chips and Mum had the bangers & mash. The fish was panko-breaded – which is not normally how I like my fish – but it was beautifully cooked and I even enjoyed the homemade tartar sauce (yet another outside my comfort zone event). The bangers came with grilled zucchini which is not one of my Mum’s (nor my) favourite veggies, but both of us totally enjoyed them. Yet again the fates were shining on us and we lucked out on choosing a restaurant.

On the way back to the hotel we passed by the Capitol Building but it was too dark for pictures – maybe we’ll get some in the morning. Thank you for reading, and I will talk to you soon.

L

Today was a simple day of shopping and resting. We awoke to the sound of rain on the pavement as the cars passed the hotel room. We had a breakfast of leftovers at the hotel before we heading to the Lloyd Center – the biggest mall in Portland.

We spent over three hours here; visiting most of the stores, and shopping ’til we dropped. I was able to get some scarves, shoes and a new purse. I also spent some time looking at the mannequins to see how the latest fashions are being worn – my daughter will be proud that I am at least trying to be fashionable.

After shopping we headed back to the hotel to drop off our bags, then headed across the street to Red Robin for lunch. We started with an order pretzel bites, which we shared. Mum had a soup and sandwich combo of clam chowder & a BLT with avocado. I had the Burnin’ Love chicken burger with jalapeños.

Once we were done lunch, we headed back to the hotel to relax. Our dinner consisted of more of our leftovers, mainly so we don’t have more food than we can finish before we cross the border.

The rest of the evening was spent watching television and doing some reading. And, just before sunset, the sun came out – hopefully that means we may have good weather tomorrow.

Talk to you soon and thank you for reading.

L

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