Food and Fun Adventures in Seattle

Beware! There are lots of food pictures in the post.  If you are already hungry, you may want to save reading this post until after you eat!  While in Seattle, we did a fair amount of eating. Thankfully, the weather was fantastic, so I justified all the eating because we did a lot of walking.

When we first arrived in Seattle late Friday night, after seeing Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier, we made our way to the area known as Capitol Hill.  We used yelp to find someplace to eat and found ourselves at a fast food diner called Dick's Drive-In. At 3.5 stars, it was the best we could find in that area late at night. The place was packed, but the burgers were extremely disappointing.  To me, they tasted a lot like fast food burgers you could find at any chain across the country

Unsatisfied with our burgers, we decided to get a vegetarian meal at HoneyHole, a 4 star restaurant on yelp.  We had never heard of Tomato Field Roast, a meat alternative, and decided to order the vegetarian Emilio Pestovez made up of that ingredient.  Our second sandwich was the vegetable-only sandwich, El Guapo. We were both pleasantly surprised at the Tomato Field Roast, which after investigating the product on the internet, I found to not be made of soy.  I like vegetarian meals, but don't like that most vegetarian meals seem to include a soy-based meat alternative. It's nice to see other products out there that taste good.  After our disappointing burger at Dick's, we were so happy to have a delicious meal at HoneyHole.  If you were wondering, we didn't actually eat our entire meal after each having a burger. We each took half of our sandwiches back "home" with us and ate them for breakfast the next morning.

Our HoneyHole sandwiches, salad, and bean soup.

Our first stop Saturday morning was to the farmers' market in the area of Seattle known as the University District.  There, we gorged on some local berries, and stocked up on a lot of fruit for breakfast and snacks for the upcoming days.  The market was packed with shoppers and musicians, and most vendors still had a lot to choose from at 11am.  

University District Farmers' Market

In the University District, I was also inspired to try a vegetable smoothie, aka "juice."  I recently saw the movie, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, where an Australian guy does a juice fast for 60 days to cure a skin condition and lose weight. He is successful in his endeavor and manages to get others to join him on his journey.  While I don't think juice fasting is a long term solution to an obesity problem and I do think there are other more effective (and enjoyable) ways to get healthy, I like the idea of juicing raw fruits and vegetables into a smoothie as a way to increase intakes of these wonderful foods.  I have tried making two juice recipes at home and neither tasted very good. So, I thought I would try a juice bar in the University District of one of the hippest cities in the country.  The Chaco Canyon Organic Cafe had good reviews on yelp, and the atmosphere was inviting as we approached, so we stopped in.  Unfortunately, the most popular "green cleanse" juice (cucumber, celery, kale, parsley, spinach, and lemon) tasted awful! I really struggled to finish the $6.50 6-oz beverage.

From the University District, we made our way by car to the Queen Anne District, where we could park on the streets for free and make our way downtown by car.  The first stop on our journey was through the Seattle Center, the area that boasts Seattle's most visible feature, the 605-foot-high Seattle Space Needle.  It was a great day to go to the top, and we inquired about buying the City Pass to see several museums and go to the top of the Needle, but with the gorgeous weather, we decided to stay outside and continue exploring.

The Seattle Space Needle on a clear day

We had a little trouble making our way down to the waterfront, but once we arrived, the views were fantastic.  The area reminded me of the West Side Highway and Hudson River in NYC, except that instead of looking across to more city buildings in NJ, we were looking out onto mountains and more expansive waterways.

Looking north on the waterfront, near Sculpture Park

The views reminded me of NYC's West Side Highway

By the time we reached Pike Place Market, we were ready to eat.  Colin found a place called Pike Place Chowder that had over 1000 reviews claiming that the very small restaurant deserved 4.5 stars.  We miraculously secured a seat in the restaurant, and enjoyed an award-winning clam chowder in a sourdough bowl.  The chowder was really good and I was very impressed that the restaurant won Newport's (RI) chowder festival almost every year in the past 10 years!

Clam Chowder at Pike Place Chowder

We took lots of photos in the market, but let me just hit on the highlights of our experience.

Several people bought fish at the famous Pike Place Fish Market

so we got to see fish being tossed and caught a few times!

The line was too long to go inside the very first Starbucks Coffee

but we did catch a glimpse inside

For dessert, we had a divine brownie at 

Three Girls Bakery

Colin got a kick out of comparing his height

to that of the World's Tallest Man

Once we had enough of the crowds in the market, we decided to get out on the water. The least expensive way ($7.70 r/t each) that we found to do that was to take the commuter ferry across Puget Sound.  We opted for the longest ride, to Bremerton, in the hopes we might see some pods of Orca.  We were not lucky enough to see any whales, but we did enjoy 2 lovely hours on the boat, alternating between being out on the windy, cool deck and enjoying the warmer comforts inside.  The views of Seattle and Mt. Rainier were pretty awesome.

One of the many beautiful views of Mt. Rainier from the boat

Experiencing fantastic views of downtown Seattle from the boat

Of course it was time to have another snack when we got off the boat, so we made our way through downtown to The Chocolate Box for a rich cup of drinking chocolate.  Last winter, my friend in NYC introduced me to The City Bakery in NYC and I in turn introduced the chocolate shop to Colin.  Since that time, he's been obsessed with finding rich drinking chocolate.  We were rewarded in our search at The Chocolate Box with a 4-oz cup of chocolate, split in two cups. I enjoyed mine with whipped cream, while Colin drank his straight.  It was delicious, but not quite as good as The City Bakery.

A 4-oz cup of drinking chocolate for two from The Chocolate Box

From downtown, we tried catching the free bus back towards Seattle Center.  After waiting 15 minutes and not seeing a bus, we decided to walk the mile and a half back through Seattle Center and to our car.  It was nearing sunset, so we rushed to get to the top of one of Seattle's hills to catch a view.

Seattle sunset from atop a Queen Anne hill

Since it was after 8pm, and metered parking no longer required payment, we made our way back into downtown with the car and parked near Pioneer Square, the city's oldest neighborhood.  Here, we decided to find dinner (yes, I told you this post included a lot of food!!).  It was challenging to find a variety of options, but we settled first on a Mediterranean deli to split a falafal and then to Calozzi's for a huge Italian cheese-steak.  A few bites into the cheese-steak and I was done eating for the day! 

Falafal from Mediterranean Mix

Cheese-steak from Calozzi's

Nearing 10pm, we decided that after our full day of exploring, it was time to get back to our airbnb accommodations  located 15 minutes south of downtown in an area called Columbia City.  The "room" we rented was actually a furnished basement with a bedroom, sitting area, and huge bathroom.  The shower was probably the largest I have ever used in my life.  We had tried to stay on east coast time, going to bed early and getting up early, but it proved to be impossible once we were in the cities and had so much we wanted to see!

Sunday morning, we took our time getting up, packing up and getting out the door.  Because Seattle is known for its coffee and coffee shops, I knew I needed to get a cup before we left.  We took the advice from our airbnb host (which was also confirmed by yelp), and went to the Empire Expresso Bar in Columbia City.  As I enjoyed the most beautiful coffee I've ever had, we planned out some things we wanted to do in Vancouver, and used the free wifi to download maps and articles to our phones.  Leaving the U.S., we were unsure what cell phone charges we might incur, so we decided to restrict data on our phones as we neared the border.

My fancy coffee in Seattle

Stay tuned for the next post on our experiences in and around Vancouver!

What is your impression of the meat alternative Tomato Field Roast? 

Was it a mistake to not go to the top of the Space Needle on a clear Seattle day?

Tell me what you think!

Exploring Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier on a Beautiful Summer Day

After our packed day of exploration in Portland, we were ready to see more natural beauty in the Pacific Northwest, so we decided to take the scenic route to Seattle by way of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier.

Our first stop, however, was to exchange our San Jose-to-Portland rental car for a Portland-to-Portland rental.  If you have ever rented a car, you probably are aware that one-way rentals cost more than roundtrip rentals.  We ended up getting a Subaru Forester for 11 days out of Portland for less than the Chevy Sonic we had for the first 7 days from San Jose to Portland.  We had planned for a compact car, and when Budget didn't have one we lucked out with the Subaru Forester upgrade (and thankfully were not stuck keeping the Chevy Sonic).

From the Portland airport, it was a quick ride up to the main visitor center at Mt. St. Helens.  Thinking we would be better off driving to the visitor center on the back side of the volcano, we ended up driving almost 2 hours for a view we could have seen in about 30 minutes.  It was the only real mistake we made on our journey, and the day still turned out just fine, even though we would have preferred more time on our hiking expedition later in the day.

If you ever go to Mt. St. Helens, I recommend driving the main route to the Johnston Ridge Observatory on route 504 and not going to the entrance on route 99, unless you don't mind driving a long time on very curvy roads.  We actually got so sick of driving (and thankfully did not get motion sickness), that we didn't even go all the way to the end of the road.  We still managed to get a good look at the volcano and the damage it caused back in 1980.  There are many trees that have fallen or remain barren from the damaging lava and ash the volcano emitted more than 30 years ago.

Mt. St. Helens from the northwest (rt 99)

Tree damage visible on the right side of the picture

After our long detour to Mt. St. Helens, we were anxious to get to Mt. Rainier so we could get out of the car and enjoy some hiking.  We were rewarded with beautiful views of the mountain all the way up to the hiking point.  The road climbed to 6,000 feet, where many hiking trails started from the Sunrise visitor center.  From there, we were able to hike the moderate 1.5 mile trail to Mt. Freemont with plenty of time to explore other trails on our way back down.

View of Mt. Rainer as we drove to 6,000 feet

The starting point for many trails in the area at Sunrise Visitor Center

Looking back down on glacial water and mountains
from almost 7,000 feet after climbing 1 mile

We literally felt like Mt. Rainier was at our fingertips

Look closely - can you see the little cabin that is our destination

at the top of the second peak on the right side of the picture.

The rocky trail as we approach the ranger's cabin

The former ranger station and stunning views north of Rainier

A nice view of Rainier through the ranger station on a nice day

Mt. Rainier from Mt. Freemont

Looking out to the Northern Cascades

As it approached evening, we decided to take a different route down the mountain and had some fun with photography.  People told us about several photography contests going on, so we kept trying to get photos that would be contest-worthy.  It was actually a lot of fun until we came upon a group hiking into the woods that told us that a family had been scared away from their dinner by a bear not long before.  Once we heard that, we continued photographing, but maintained a heightened sense of awareness of our surroundings.  I had a whistle in one of my first aid kits that I kept close at hand just in case.  Thankfully, we did not see any bears, and made it safely back to our car with a tad bit of daylight left.

Some of the many wildflowers at Mt. Rainier National Park

Sun setting on our path back down from our hike

As we exited the park, we caught a glimpse 

of the last bit of daylight on Mt. Rainier

The full day of driving and hiking left us tired as we approached Seattle, but since we are not ones to rest much while on a sight-seeing vacation, we managed to get downtown for a bite to eat after checking in to our airbnb room rental.  

Stay tuned to hear all about our fun adventures in Seattle, the non-rainy city during our trip!

If you've ever been to Mt. St. Helens, where did you see the best view?

If you've been to Mt. Rainier, what hike did you do?

The 14,000 ft high Mt. Rainier still towered above us at 7,000 feet. What's the highest you've ever hiked or climbed?

Exploring Portland's Main Attractions

The almost 5 hour trip from Crater Lake to Portland was all we could manage after spending the morning on the lake, so we had a very low key evening on our first day in the city. After two nights of camping, I was ready to sleep on a real bed and we had decided to try the apartment/room rental website Airbnb.  If you have never heard of it, you should definitely check it out! We had such a great experience the first few nights staying at people's houses, that we ended up using the site to book almost all of the remainder of our nights on the trip.

The first night we stayed in an "urban farm" where we enjoyed fresh eggs in the morning, were able to air out and dry our tent, and did some laundry.  The house smelled a bit like a "farm," but the people who lived there were very nice and we had a pleasant stay.

Once we packed up our clean clothes and dry tent, we set out to explore Portland.  Our first stop was the highly recommended Portland Japanese Gardens in Washington Park, just west of downtown. We had heard that this 5.5-acre garden is the most authentic Japanese garden outside of Japan from several reviews (and it is listed on their website).  The $9.50 adult entry fee was a little steep, but we decided it was worth paying for the preservation of a park.  The gardens were really beautiful and mostly peaceful.  We occasionally found ourselves near a group and had to move away to continue enjoying the serenity the gardens offered.

The Strolling Pond Garden housed colorful fish

One of the many Japanese sculptures in the Garden

The waterfall was one of my favorite areas

We enjoyed walking on the narrow paths through the different areas

From the Japanese Garden, we walked across the street to the Washington Park International Rose Garden, a free garden that houses 9525 rose bushes.  The only disappointment we experienced was that there were no rose buds on the bushes that were supposed to be the "blackest" red.  

One of my favorites - a two-toned rose

An amphitheater right next to the rose garden

Walking around the gardens built up our appetite, so we made our way to Dick's Kitchen in the northwest area of Portland.  The restaurant was recommended to us by our airbnb hosts and we had a delicious meal.  We decided on meat entrees in this farm-to-fork restaurant - of which there are many in Portland!  Colin went with the sausage, and I couldn't decide on a burger.  Instead of one large burger, I did the 3 sliders - one beef, one buffalo, and the "guest burger" of the week which happened to be the "dork" (duck/pork).  They were all very good.  The dork was the driest, and my beef cheeseburger was the most satisfying.  

Sausage and beef, buffalo, and dork sliders

The other tip we received was that we could park in the Whole Foods parking lot downtown for up to 2 hours for free if we bought something there.  We've never had a problem finding something to nosh on at Whole Foods!  Leaving the car in the parking garage, we set out on foot to explore downtown Portland.

Walking around downtown Portland

We just happened to come upon a yelp.com recommended dessert shop called Saint Cupcake, and we just had decided to go in for a treat.  The cupcakes were good, but nowhere near as good as Magnolia's or Gigi's.  We actually had one cupcake that was not good. I know that seems impossible to have a cupcake not taste good, but they put salt on the frosting and it was not a pleasant sweet-salty taste.

Seven layer bar and an assortment of mini cupcakes

The other sights we visited on our 2 hour walking tour of downtown Portland included the Central Library, Ira Keller Fountain, Pioneer Courthouse Square, and the Portland Building.  Central Library's interior was impressive, with its etched-graphite staircase.  I had read that this library is the oldest on the west coast.  The  18-foot-high waterfalls that comprise Ira Keller Fountain were soothing, providing us with a wonderful place to rest.  We did not spend much time in Pioneer Courthouse Square, the area which had been compared to Union Square in NYC by several travel guides. The area is much smaller than Union Square in NYC, and an Italian festival took almost the entire square with it's food trucks and music.  Our final stop, the 15 story Portland Building, had an impressive statue of Portlandia - the Goddess of Commerce - on a second story balcony.  Looking up at the statue from the street I could believe it is the second-largest hammered-copper statue in the world (after the Statue of Liberty).  We were invited in the building to visit a gallery, but decided we had to get back to the car.

Central Library's etched-graphite staircase in the main lobby

We walked through quite a few parks all over downtown

Taking a break at the Ira Keller Fountain

Looking up in awe at Portlandia sitting on the Portland Building

Back at the car, we made our way up through the northwest district to the Farmers' Market, before heading to our airbnb accomodations for the evening.  The farmers' market was pretty good, with about 10 farmers offering a variety of late-summer produce.  We were fortunate to find a really great airbnb rental for this second night in Portland. The location was on a bus line to downtown, or we could walk the 2 miles if we wanted, the house was so clean, and the hostess went out of her way to make our experience wonderful. She had 3 different types of coffee makers for her renters and showed me how to use her cappuccino maker, and she gave us some change for the bus.

This farmers' market had some of the largest zucchini I've ever seen

After "checking in" and a quick meet-and-greet with the homeowner, we took the bus downtown to get some dinner.  Since we had such a big lunch, we opted for some Happy Hour appetizers on the outdoor patio at Pink Rose, in the upscale Pearl District. I immediately decided on the bacon-wrapped dates, thinking back to how amazing the bacon-wrapped figs were in Napa.  Colin ordered the chorizo-manchego stuffed mushrooms, and both proved to be delicious and thoroughly satisfying.
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Bacon-wrapped dates (L) and chorizo-manchego stuffed mushrooms (R)

We spent the rest of the evening walking the mile along the waterfront and making our way back through downtown. One thing that stood out to me as we walked along the water was the visibility of homeless youth.  They seemed to congregate along the main roads that we walked along and unlike NYC, homeless individuals seemed to hang out together.  Almost every group had a few dogs with them, and neither the people or the dogs seemed to be starving.  Under one of the bridges, there was a soup kitchen being served out of a truck. Obviously, this was the reason for the large gathering of people in this area, but we found groups in many areas where food was not being served.  When we spoke with some of the locals about our observations, we were told that many of the homeless youth chose that lifestyle as part of their anarchist beliefs and the groups moved north from California as the weather got warm and moved back south when it got cold in Portland and Seattle.  The explanation seemed logical as these individuals gathered in groups, unlike most homeless individuals we typically saw in NYC that were almost always alone.

Enjoying a nice 1 mile stroll along the water.

Before heading back to retire for the evening, we make a short stop into the massive Powell's City of Books to check out Mt. Rainier hiking books and decide on a hike for the next day.  Then, we completely exhausted ourselves with the almost two mile walk through Nob Hill and back to our room in the northwest section of the city.  Colin kept his GPS watch on for most of our travels and said we walked about 15,000 steps during our day in Portland!  With the amazing weather, we felt we had to be outside.  For the second night in a row, I was grateful for a warm shower and a clean and comfortable bed.

What has your experience been like with airbnb.com?

What is the most interesting combination of meat you've ever had in a hamburger?

An Impressive Sight at Crater Lake

We woke to a cold, damp morning in the Redwoods, and the depressing weather made us eager to leave the area.  Each mile we traveled away from the coast, brought us closer to the giant trees and away from the fog and by the time we reached the main road, the car's heat had warmed us up.  We stopped once to hike among the old trees that resided near the Newton B. Drury Parkwary in Prairie Creek Redwood State Park, which got our blood flowing before we set out for Oregon.

The 4.5 trip from the Redwoods was rather uneventful and felt long after a not-so-restful night's sleep.  We did manage to find a beautiful spot to have lunch in Grants Pass, OR just over halfway to Crater Lake,  The Tap Rock Northwest Grill offered us good food and a wonderful outdoor balcony overlooking the Rogue River.

 The Tap Rock Northwest Grill in Grants Pass, OR

The Dungeness Crab BLT Chopped Salad

Colin's Dungeness Crab BLT Chopped Salad was delicious and my BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado) was also very good. I'm not sure why, but the picture of my meal somehow disappeared from our camera.

We finally arrived at the Mazama Campground near Crater Lake around mid-late afternoon and secured our campsite shortly thereafter. We quickly set up our tent, hoping the slightly warm air and sun would dry the dampness from the morning, and I managed to get a nice, long, warm shower in the "upscale" campground shower facilities.  It was refreshing to be clean and I was ready to check out the lake.

Our campsite at Mazama Campground near Crater Lake

Our first view of the lake was unbelievable. People had told us that seeing Crater Lake is similar to the Grand Canyon - the beautiful images you see in photographs do not compare to the beauty and experience of seeing it in person.  We definitely felt that experience.  Even as the sun began to set, the crater's enormity and vivid blue waters were breathtaking.

Our first view of Crater Lake 

 Circumnavigating the lake near sunset

The "ship" formation in the lake

In the hour it took us to circumnavigate (one of Colin's favorite words from the trip) the lake, it got chilly as the sun dipped into the horizon.  The forecast predicted overnight temperatures in the upper 30's, so we dressed in several layers and zipped our sleeping bags together when we went to bed in the tent.  I was very grateful for our warm sleeping bags and even more grateful that we have ones that can be zipped together.  The only thing I lacked was a hat!  The dry, cold air was actually a better experience than the damp warmer weather in the Redwoods.  For some reason, I usually feel colder when it's damp than when it's cold and dry.  It also helped that we were better prepared for it to be cold.

We woke to beautiful, clear blue skies on Wednesday morning, the 4th day of our trip. Our early morning rising in the campground allowed us to spend a long morning exploring the lake.  The first stop we made was to Crater Lake Lodge where we enjoyed some breakfast, coffee, and warming up basking in the sun on the rocking Adirondack chairs, taking in the beauty of the lake.  The lodge was beautiful and the view from the lobby could not be beat.  Unfortunately, rooms were booked when we tried to reserve them and they were a tad bit out of our price range. It was still nice to enjoy a morning acting like we belonged there!

The lodge's lobby

Beautiful reflections during the morning sun

The lodge has quite a view! Glad we got to enjoy it!

Once we were sufficiently warm and full, we made our way to the northeastern side of the lake to hike down the the boat launch and swimming area.  The 700 foot descent down the crater's edge was very steep and there were many warnings at the trail's start.  The switchbacks made it easier on the knees, and going down is always easier than going up.  Each time we looked down into the water, we were awarded with views into the clear blue-green water.  Sometimes I felt like I was back in New Zealand hiking in Abel Tasman National Park.

Once we arrived at the water's edge, we threw off our socks and sneakers and got our feet in the water.  Some people near us swam in the water, indicating is was very cool, but it felt really nice with our feet in the water.  The air temperature quickly reached the upper 70's/low 80's, providing us with the most dramatic temperature change of our trip.

 Cooling down

Enjoying the warm air and cool water

Not far from where we enjoyed the shallow water, we found a group of people cliff jumping into much deeper water.  It was fun to watch these people of all ages have the courage to participate in such an exhilarating activity.  We watched as a mother and her son counted to three before jumping in together.

The "cliff" from which people jumped into the refreshing water

By late morning, we were ready to start our journey to Portland.  Stay tuned for those details!!

What is the most impressive place you've been?  Were you able to take photos that did the view justice?

Where was the coldest place you've ever camped (and what was the temp)? How did you stay warm?