I was recently going through my apartment trying to de-clutter when I found one of my old journals. These entries were from one of my first “big” trips- a road trip through the Pacific Northwest. I had completely forgot that I had written these!
My friend Mel and I flew into Seattle, rented a car (we named her Brenda), and drove down the coast as far south as Big Sur, California. This nine-day road trip really solidified my love for travel and desire to see everything that both this country (and this world) have to offer. A big part of who I am today is because of this trip.
3.18.16
Hello from Seattle! What a great start to our Pacific Northwest road trip. Mel and I couldn’t have timed our separate arrivals into Seattle better if we tried. I had great flights, an empty seat next to me for the long one, and the weather today was absolutely perfect for activities!
Our luck started by getting complementarily upgraded to a full size car, and from there we immediately hit the city. First stop was to the iconic Pike’s Place Market. This place was so much better than either of us expected. We both underestimated just how many vendors would be there, and they were all selling fresh fruits, meats, flowers, and everything in between.
From there, we strolled down to Olympic Sculpture Park to escape some of the crowds and enjoy some funky public art. We grabbed some Starbucks (because you have to when you are in Seattle) and sat on a bench watching the trains zoom. The views of the Puget Sound with the mountains from Olympic National Park in the background made for an incredibly tranquil setting. From there, we made our way up onto the hill to Kerry Park. This little park offered killer views of the city skyline and was the perfect place to watch the sunset.
A quick stop for dinner and now we’re back in our hotel, completely exhausted, and going to try and sleep off our jetlag. Tomorrow, we’ll spend the morning in Seattle and make our way down to Portland, Oregon. Today was so much fun that it is crazy to think that the best of this trip is still yet to come!
3.19.16
Greetings from our (sketchy AF) Econolodge in Portland, OR! Today was, not surprisingly, another great day. We were able to check everything we wanted to do off our list, probably due to the fact that we’re wide awake at 5:30 am with no alarms. The jetlag is so real!
We jumped into Brenda (our rental car) and went back into Downtown Seattle to Pike’s Place market to stock up on essentials for the rest of our trip. There was a vendor making fresh mini donuts, and since we were there so early we were able to get some hot out of the fryer. After we brushed all the donut sugar off of us, we hit the road and cruised down to Portland!
The views of Mount Rainier and Mount Hood along the way were spectacular and made the drive fly by. Our first stop in Portland was to Powell Books. This. Place. Was. Amazing. So many aisles and floors just filled to the ceiling with books. Every kind of genre you could imagine, all with a “hometown book store” feel. I snagged a few travel books, some souvenirs, and a set of coasters. We then decided that one order of donuts per day is not enough, so we stopped at VooDoo Doughnuts where I got the “Pothole”. It was this adorable stick-figure shaped donut covered with crushed Oreo’s and filled with Boston cream. Cue the drool…
From there, we happened to stumble upon a market/craft show, which we later discovered was their famous Saturday Market. We strolled around and looked at all the locally made art and goods and snagged a few more souvenirs to take home with us. We then rode the aerial tram up to the top of the hill near the hospital for stellar views of downtown and Mount Hood. And what trip to Portland is complete without a trip to Mill Ends Park, the world’s smallest park? It was hilariously quirky and gave me all the Parks and Recreation feels. We then cruised in Brenda over to Jonsrud View Point for even better views of Mount Hood and watched the sky change colors as the sun started to set.
Busy, busy day! Tomorrow, we’re hiking the Columbia River Gorge. It’s supposed to rain, but what else do you expect in the Pacific Northwest?
3.20.16
Hello from our tiny house hotel in Portland, Oregon! Yes, you read that right: tiny house hotel. This place is absolutely adorable. It’s this small lot in the middle of a super artsy, hip, trendy neighborhood in Southeast Portland that has a half dozen tiny houses spread in it. Each one is different and unique, and the one we are staying in was actually used in an episode of Portlandia! The house even had a signed copy of a guide to Portland signed by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein! I swooned.
We were, once again, up before the sun and on the road en route to the Columbia River Gorge right away. This stretch along the river was beautiful, filled with gorgeous cliffs and waterfalls. We knew if we wanted to beat the crowds, we had to hit Multomnah Falls right away, since it’s the most popular and iconic waterfall in the valley. The rain (thankfully) let up during our hike to the top, which was only about a mile long but incredibly steep. Views over the valley were incredible, and well worth the burning in my thighs.
It bummed us out when the rain started to pick up even more, and it was cold so we spent some time driving through the rest of the gorge. We kept the heat on high and got out of the car only long enough to snap a quick photo. The Vista House was the perfect place to have a picnic lunch under a roof, while still enjoying 360 degree views of the gorge.
The rain really put a damper on the day (pun intended), and unfortunately prevented us from doing much more hiking. It was just so cold. When we got back to Portland, we checked into our tiny house hotel, grabbed a quick dinner, and explored the rest of the neighborhood from the comfort of a warm car. Looking forward to making our way out to the coast tomorrow!
3.21.16
Good evening from Florence, Oregon! You know when you have a day where you just know you’re going to remember for the rest of your life? Today was one of those days.
We woke up bright and early and hit up a local breakfast place in Portland before heading out to the coast. Obviously, we had to do a quick drive-by past Roloff Farms so I could geek out and get a photo op. Little People, Big World used to be my favorite show so I loved seeing the farm in real life.
Today was one of those on-and-off rainy days that we’ve learned to expect in the Pacific Northwest. Fortunately, it worked out okay since today was a lot of driving. Our first stop was to Cannon Beach to see the iconic Haystack Rock. It was so much bigger in person and covered with birds and nests. Unfortunately it was far too cold out to even touch the water, so we walked along the beach a bit, drove through the town, and pressed onward.
We must have stopped the car over a dozen times on our drive down to Florence. I’ve heard this coastline was beautiful, but it completely blew my expectations away. How can a place this beautiful be real? Pictures will never be able to do it justice, and I’m surprisingly okay with it. Sometimes things are better experienced and kept alive only in your memory. I’m content with knowing that the Oregon Coast will be one of those things. Every turn was filled with new cliffs, new bridges, new rock formations, and each one was more beautiful than the last.
Tomorrow, we’ll hit the coast in the southern part of the state. If it’s anything like today, we are in for yet another treat. We hope to visit the Sea Lion Caves and the Sand Dunes, since tomorrow’s drive is much shorter than today. Can’t wait to cross into California tomorrow!
3.22.16
Greetings from California! I’m so excited to be in the Golden State for the first time. California has always felt like such a magical, far away land. It felt pretty surreal driving past the welcome sign and crossing the border.
Tonight, we’re staying in Crescent City, a small town not far from the state line from Oregon. Today, we somehow managed to take a 3.5 hour drive and turn it into a 10 hour one. Our first stop was to the Sea Lion Caves, and it was a lot of fun! Once you were able to get past the smell, it was wild to see (literally) hundreds of sea lions huddled onto rocks in the caves. Their barks echoed off the walls, and was actually so loud at times that I needed to plug my ears. It was really great to be able to see these animals in their natural habitat, rather than in a zoo exhibit. To watch them swim into the caves, shimmy up onto a rock, take a nap, and then dive back out into the ocean was pretty incredible.
Our next stop was to the Oregon Dunes, where we got to walk along the cliffs of sand that towered above the ocean. At one point, we even walked down one to be close to the water, and a local stopped us saying, “I walk these dunes every day and I would never go down there. It’s very dangerous!” She didn’t have to tell me twice. I didn’t think about it, but she explained that high tide approaches very fast and she’s heard of many people getting injured walking down there. Noted!
We continued our drive down the coast, stopping at every view that took our breath away (which was often). The buzz of driving literally alongside a cliff over the coast never got old to us. One of our last stops along the drive was in Samuel H. Boardman Park, where there were even more beautiful rock formations and beaches to awe at. Now, it’s time to hit the hay so we are well rested for the Redwoods tomorrow!
3.23.16
Hello from Potter Valley, California! Today, we woke up extra early and were out on the trails in Redwood National Park by 7:00 am. That time of day, we had the entire trail to ourselves.
We started on the Stout Grove Trail, which was a flat 1.6 mile loop among giant trees. Then, we got in the car and drove South through the park and down the famous Avenue of the Giants. This was the ultimate photo spot! The trees are indescribably large. If you looked straight up, you truly cannot even see where some of them end. The Chandelier Tree is a massive tree in Leggett that you can literally drive your car through. It is to believed to be as old as Jesus!
One of the most enjoyable parts of the day was the drive back out to the coast and down to Fort Bragg. I guess you can say we missed the coast today, since we went pretty far out of our way to see it! The road to and from the coast was curvy, windy, and hilly and an absolute blast to drive. And the views of the coast? So worth it.
From there, it was a drive back inland down another windy road to our Airbnb. This place could not be further off the beating path. The room we booked is in a “community house” and they invited us all to their “group dinner.” It was a hard pass from us (mostly because we were exhausted). Tomorrow, we’re off to Napa for some wine tasting and to venture into San Francisco!
3.24.16
Two words to summarize today: A. Mazing. Tonight’s hello is from a relatively nice (compared to what we’ve been staying in) hotel in Oakland, California! To maximize the day (and also dodge breakfast with the “community”), we hit the road bright and early for Napa Valley.
One of the craziest things happened to us on our drive. Pulling up our map for the day on our phone and realized that the winery that we wanted to stop at somehow got deleted from the map. We tried and tried, but there was no way to recover it. This really bummed us out, as we did lots of research into several wineries and really felt like this one was calling to us. We decided our “Plan B” would be to just cruise around through the valley and find one that felt right.
Not even exaggerating- 30 seconds after we agreed on this plan we saw a sign for the Nicholson Ranch. This was the exact winery we wanted to stop at! It was complete fate. We screamed out loud and couldn’t believe our luck! The property absolutely beautiful, and the sommeliers were very patient with us during our first official wine tasting. We felt very adult.
Later, we cruised down through the valley, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and into the city of San Francisco! Our first stop, of course, was to stop and take pictures and let out our inner tourist. We joked that we had been suppressing our inner tourist this entire trip and we needed to let it out. To do so, we hit all the iconic sites- Pier 39, the Painted Ladies, Lombard Street, and the Twin Peaks. Success.
As it started to get late, we decided to make our way over to Oakland to check into our hotel and get our very first taste of In-N-Out. Of course on our way there, we got stuck in the most insane traffic jam we have ever experienced. We were in downtown San Francisco trying to get onto the Bay Bridge when all of a sudden, traffic just stopped. Bumper-to-bumper traffic lined the city streets and no one moved for over 2 hours! We had a lot of fun making friends with our neighboring cars though. We offered them juice boxes or pretzel sticks through the windows. Dance parties with songs on the radio also helped to pass the time. Anything to get our mind off of how badly we just wanted to get to In-N-Out!
We eventually made it out and got our burgers (which were just as good as we imagined) and are now in a food coma ready to pass out. Another day in San Francisco tomorrow and then it’s down to Santa Cruz to meet Mel’s family and celebrate her Aunt’s birthday.
3.27.16
Hello from the San Francisco airport! It was difficult to write the past couple of days, as we were busy hanging out with Mel’s family. We also had to share a room with her 90 year old aunt, which made writing at night impossible.
We had another great day in San Francisco. Once again, we were total tourists and had absolutely no shame about it. Later in the day, we drove down to Santa Cruz to meet the family and settle in with a nice home cooked meal (which we haven’t had in a long time). Our day in Santa Cruz was pretty relaxed, but we welcomed a slower pace with open arms. We walked down to the beach where we watched the sunset and flew our mini kites. Up until now, every stop had been too cold for me to dip my feet into the water. Fortunately, it warmed up tonight and I was able to put my toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time! Two oceans down, two to go.
Yesterday however, was quite possibly my favorite day of the trip. We got up before the sun and started driving down Highway 1into Big Sur. I truly have no words to describe the views that Big Sur had to offer. You think that they cannot get any more spectacular, and then you drive a little bit further and they do. We drove all the way down to Ragged Point and back up again. By then, the roads were packed with cars, so we were really happy we got such an early start. Somehow we missed Sand Dollar Beach both times, but I’ll just have to make that a reason to come back. Honestly, I couldn’t hand pick a more perfect day.
Now, I’m waiting for my plane to take me back to reality. Incredibly sad to leave, but am unbelievably grateful that we got to experience everything we did on this trip.
Northwest truly is best.
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