Day 6: Seattle Day 2/Portland Day 1

After an adventure-filled night out, we decided to take the day easy before we left for Portland. This meant lots of snacking and stocking up on food for our drive down. We perused Pike Place Market, again, and ate mini doughnuts, a matsuri hotdog, we bought some mini cheesecakes (from The Confectional) and I managed to sneak in another oyster shot when nobody (except Cat) was looking.
We walked down the street, peering into boutiques and cafes, and by then, it had started raining, so we decided to pack up and head out for our next destination!

It was a 2-hour drive (of course, I slept through most of it…listening to Slipknot. Yes, I fell asleep listening to Slipknot -___-), where we were again able to cross the state border by bridge (SO COOL!). We stopped off downtown, where we hit the tail-end of an gay pride parade. Our main aim was to pick up doughnuts from Voodoo Doughnut, but the shop turned out to be closed for renovations. Lucky for us, there was a Voodoo Doughnut #2, that we went to the next day. For dinner, we hit up “Blue Plate” for some excellent comfort food. We each got a homemade soda or shake, in addition to the burgers and sandwiches we ordered. I, of course, ordered a grilled cheese sandwich (with Tillamook cheese!) and tomato soup. It NEVER gets old to me :]
After filling our bellies, we found our way to Lindsey’s. She was our host for the next two nights. That girl is super cool, and her house was quite lively. There were two cats and a dog, and she had 7 housemates, so it was always busy. We walked to her local supermarket so she could show us some brews local to Oregon. We were curious to try many of them, so we took a bunch of 6-packs back, and started a game of Settlers of Catan. Needless to say, we had a great time!

Around Lindsey’s neighborhood. So green! *cry*

Portland has the second most breweries per capita. Who has the most? San Diego :]

Cheesecakes from the Confectional!

Day 5: Seattle Day 1

Jess and I woke up briefly at 6 AM to move the car off the street (T_T so. tired.), since we narrowly missed the closing of the parking garages when we arrived into the city the night before.

When everyone was up and ready (thankfully, we were able to get some more sleep before then), we started the day with coffee and some tasty doughnuts at the Seattle Coffee Works right next to our hostel. We then proceeded into the chaos that is Pike Place Market. Of course we watched one of the fish tossing “shows” at the Pike Place Fish Market and then wandered around a little on the ground level before heading downstairs to spend a good chunk of time looking at vintage posters and magazine covers in one shop, and used books at another (I bought Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” and a book of Rumi quotes).
We walked back out onto the street to get piroshkys and borscht at Piroshky Piroshky. We walked down a ways to look at the bay and to find a good place to sit while we ate. By our good fortune, an Honest Ade van had just set up 15 feet from where we were eating, and we managed to score free drinks from the promoters
We walked down to the sculpture park someone suggested we go see and took some pictures there, happening on some sort of private function being set up (so many tables with cute stuff on top!).
We all walked toward the Space Needle. Jess, Cat, and I went up the needle to check out the view. We got beers at the top (actually, I took some of Cat’s, since I forgot my wallet). I had a good time surprising a Korean family when helping them take their picture. Soyun taught me how to count to 3 when we were in Copenhagen :3
We met back up with the Lans around the Westlake Center Mall area (meaning we took the monorail). We got some tasty, but expensive appetizers at Lola, an upscale Mediterranean restaurant, and then walked up to the Capitol Hill area to meet up with my childhood/fencing friend (I’ve know her since ~1998!), Oriana. I hadn’t seen her since we were in Ohio for a collegiate tournament in 2008!

Coffee

“Pretend my arm is a fish. Now, pretend that you are catching it.” LOLOLOL.

Mimi got a flower for her hat. Towards the end of the day, it started to wilt. Panicked, she put it in her water glass at Elysian Brewing Company. The waitress got her a second glass to drink out of, lol.

Potato, Cheese, & Onion Piroshky

Liyin got a kid’s-sized drink, when the rest of us got a whole bottle of tea >.<

Space Needle.

Beer!

OMGOMGOMGOMG MANTI!!!!

We met up with her at Elysian Brewing Company, where we started our unexpected night of bar hopping. We had some grub there, and then headed over to Molly Moon’s for some ice cream.

The night continued at Still Liquor, where we met up with Oreo’s boyfriend, Max, and his friend. I got to hear some good words about my brother from Max. That made me really happy, actually, haha!
Our next stops were the Six Arms and the Stumbling Monk. I had a great time catching up with Oriana on the past many years. Even though we ran into each other in Ohio, we hadn’t really hung out since we were both in high school and still going to NACs (North American Cups). I think Max was telling the other girls some good stories, so that was good :]
Oreo managed to get us into a speakeasy, the Knee High Stocking Co. We stayed for a while, since the ambiance and the drinks were excellent. The bartenders were AMAZING. I felt bad that I couldn’t finish my drink, but I was well done by that point.
We left and went to get some 2 AM Seattle-style hot dogs from the Comet, a little booth out on the street. There were so many booths on the street corners, but Oreo said this one was the best. I don’t doubt her :]
I was feeling too ill to eat any, but I watched as the girls devoured them, haha (I got to try one the next day, and it was good, but sure enough it was not the same). I remember Jess saying something about how it was awesome to have friends who lived in places we traveled to that knew about stuff like this. Sure enough, I was super thankful that Oreo was living in the area. We would’ve missed out on a true Seattle experience were it not for her.
Soon after, we parted ways with Oreo, Max, and his friends; the 5 of us girls walking down the hill, all the way back to our hostel. Though I felt pretty sick, I thought the night was a success. I’d gladly do it all over again (maybe with one less drink…).

LOL.

Oreo!

The girls, all queued up.

NOMNOMNOMNOM

Road Trip Day 4: Arcata to Seattle

Yeah, I’m taking my sweet time writing all these posts. I may have graduated, but the studying just never stops :[

After a short night of sleep, we packed up and headed out. We stopped at the Wildberries Marketplace to grab rations. We went nuts--there were so many fresh and healthy--AND TASTY options!! We grabbed some bagels and smoothies, and then hit the road.

I spent the first 20 minutes of the ride eating. When breakfast rolls around, I'm ravenous, so I ate maybe two bagels and then my banh mi from the night before (SO SPICY, YET SO TASTY~), and polished off my smoothie, much to the disbelief of the other girls in the car. I finished in time for us to take a quick stop to look at some elk. From a distance, of course.

Rosemary and Cheddar Bagel

My tofu bahn mi.

Elk!

We also stopped a distance before the California-Oregon border to check out the HUGE Paul Bunyan and Babe statues. I don't know where the employee is sitting (probably on the second floor of the gift shop), but he can make Paul Bunyan move (neck and arms), blink, and smile. He also picked up everything we said and replied back by microphone. It was cute. He had a good sense of humor :]

We stopped for gas at one of the first towns past the border (perhaps not the wisest choice), where THEY PUMPED THE GAS FOR US AND WIPED OUR WINDSHIELD CLEAN (so bug-free~)!!! It was amazing! I think we were kind of anticipating it, but it was still so exciting for us Californians.

The rest of the drive was a blur, since I slept for most of it, at least until the last stretch before we hit Eugene (mainly because I drove it). We stopped at Papa’s Soul Food Kitchen for dinner. Oh man, that was such a good dinner. So flavorful, and it hit the spot–just perfectly! The menu layout was visually interesting and I thought it was a cute touch that they used mason jars as drinking cups. It was the right boost we needed to get us to Seattle.
Oh–we were surprised at the lack of sales tax in Oregon! When the restaurant accidentally added an additional dish to our bill, we told a waitress, who just crossed it off the tab. We were so confused until we realized that we didn’t have to bother with the sales tax. Oh, it was wonderful :3

A page from le menu.

Cute!

Jessica’s fried catfish

My jambalaya.

It definitely felt like we were in a friend’s backyard.

We powered through for the rest of the 4-5 hour drive. We drove past Portland, on the way up, and I was quite impressed with the downtown area. That aerial tram we passed by was really cool, actually! Passing the Oregon-Washington border was pretty exciting, since you have to cross a bridge to get to the other state. We were in such lush areas from Arcata upwards, that it made everything so picturesque, especially as we entered Washington, and the sun was setting. We were amused by the highway signs, which featured a silhouette of George Washington’s head.

We got into Seattle around 11 or midnight (I’ve forgotten since…) and checked into the Green Tortoise Hotel. We left our car on the street, since all the parking garages closed right before we got there, so Jess and I had to wake up at 6AM to move the car, since it wasn’t permitted to have the car parked on the side of the street during the day (how odd!).

It had been a long day of driving. We knew it was doable, but we also knew it would be tiring. I’m glad we did it, despite the hiccup of losing our original lodging in Seattle.
We joked about how it took us ~4 days to get through California, but only one to pass through Oregon on our way to Seattle. In theory, we probably could have gone through California quicker, but there would have been no fun in that.

Road Trip Day 3: Santa Cruz to Arcata

We got a late start out from Santa Cruz. Though, we did manage to enjoy a delicious breakfast at on-the-go at a place a few blocks down from Cat’s sister’s place. The Abbey is a coffee house/lounge that serves up comforting options like cheese and spinach-filled croissants. Their coffee/espresso drinks were good, too. I liked how they arranged their space and how it was decorated. They even had art from local artists to sell–how awesome is that?? I wish we could have stayed longer there, but I suppose the next time I go home, I’ll just have to make a trip down to Santa Cruz.

Mimi got us up to the Mission District in San Francisco, where we had ice cream (before lunch!) at Humphrey Slocombe and then wandered around the area, checking out an art/mural shop as well as a store selling clothing and accessories from local brands. Our meter ran out, so we headed to the Union Square area, where we did a short stint of shopping at Macy’s, being misinformed that a purchase of $25 or more would allow you to get your parking validated for the Union Square parking structure. You only get your parking validated if you’re an Elite Member -__-”

Jessica had never been to San Francisco before, so I insisted that we take the trolley to Fisherman’s Wharf. We waited for a long while to get on one, realizing that we had exceeded our (loosely) scheduled departure time. We pushed it back from 2:30 to 7, and took our time wandering around the Wharf area. Some of us got food at Tanguito, an Argentinian food truck (that also served paella) while the others got food at the truck next door, The Codmother, a fish and chips joint.
We walked through Le Musee Mechanique (one of my favorite attractions) and skipped the tourist trap that is Pier 39. We had some oysters (oddly, I think I was the only one who had had raw oysters before) at one of the stands on the Wharf, and then queued up to take the trolley back.
Before going back to the car, we walked about a mile to Spice Kit to grab some gourmet bahn mi sandwiches for the road. Oh man, that limeade was super refreshing. The only downside was that I liked it so much, I drank it a little too quickly :/ Good thing we made a few stops on the way up to Arcata. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to enjoy the sandwich until the next morning, thanks to my long-time habit of napping in cars, and then taking the last drive shift up to Arcata. This worked in my favor, since it was easier for me to locate and pick out jalapenos from my sandwich (I ate a few, but the burning was too much for me to handle after a while).

We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped on the Sausalito side to take some pictures and admire the city from across the water. It was getting pretty close to a full moon, so we stayed a little longer to watch the waxing moon as it rose up (It kind of freaked Cat and me out, since it looked as if it was rising too quickly, lol). We left the area around 9 for Arcata, which was a 5-6 hour drive. We took turns driving, with pit stops along the way. One was at a rest area with HUGE bugs in the bathroom. LARGE ants and mosquitoes. I was too freaked out to snap pictures there. It was really dark and we were driving through the woods, at one point (I had a good portion of that drive), which made things kind of creepy. We passed some gruesome roadkill on the way, as well :[
We arrived in Arcata at 2 AM, checked in, and immediately settled in for bed.
I did something that could have possibly been foolish: I checked my grades before going to bed. Curiosity got the best of me, but, lucky for me, I got the grades I wanted, so I was happy. I slept pretty soon after, thankful that I didn’t get any bad marks (which surely would have ruined my sleep for the night).

Roadtrip Day 2: Solvang to Santa Cruz

We woke up early and walked over (with a stop at these cute seaside boards with the bodies of two types of Danish soldiers) to get breakfast at Paula’s Pancake House. I got the Danish pancakes combo that included Danish-style sausages and eggs. I am not normally a fan of sausage but the ones at the restaurant were soooo good!
The eggs were meh (kind of dry), but I enjoyed everything else about the meal. I think back to the rolled-up pancakes we had in Copenhagen’s Rådhus (City Hall). They were different in presentation–these pancakes in Solvang being presented flat on a plate, much like how Cat and Jessica said the Dutch (not Danish) do it. But the texture was nice–fluffy and moist–so I was happy.
Afterwards, we walked around the town for a bit, checking out some of the shops. There was a Jule shop, where I bought this candle-propelled trinket (pics later). I also bought a snake ring at another shop. We picked up some pastries, and then headed out for Hearst Castle.

Danish sausage and pancakes (I don’t think I’ve had that kind of sausage before, but it was super good.

Uhm. That clog be Dutch (says Heineken on it). LOL.

On the way there, we stopped at Splash Cafe in San Luis Obispo. We shared 2 clam chowders in bread bowls amongst the five of us as snacks, since we were still full from breakfast. This may be the best clam chowder I’ve ever tasted.

And the bread bowl! Soooo good!

We got to Hearst Castle in San Simeon, and the whole area was gorgeous! The tour was worthwhile and informative, though definitely told in a way VERY favorable to the man. That should probably go without saying, but I am still amused at how they depicted the man.
The drive up to his mansion from the tourist center was impressively long and helped to demonstrate exactly how much land the man had.

One of the rooms in the guest house.

I want this pool.

After the tour, we drove off on the Pacific Coast Highway, enjoying the gorgeous view. I got some good practice in at taking pictures in a moving car (with a window that did not roll down all the way). We only stopped once, because a couple of the passengers got carsick, but we were soon on our way to Carmel, where we wandered around the 17-Mile Drive for a bit. We got out to take some pictures at a couple of the stops. Saw some cute cute otters, too. Quite a few, actually–we got really lucky with that. We then headed off to Santa Cruz.

Pit stop.

Fan Shell Beach.

The Lone Cyprus.

We stopped at burger., a burger joint with a WIDE variety of burgers and pizza. They also had some great beers on tap. We crashed at Cat’s sister’s place that night, after settling in. Their place was so cozy :]

Coolest bar tap thing I’ve seen yet!