This is a long one. Please feel free to skim or just look at pictures :) Friday morning I had a stupid early flight to Seattle. Thank you, Danny, for driving me and dealing with my anxiety when roads were closed and we were re-routed and running late. I hope you enjoy driving my beloved standard transmission Subaru around for a few days. You are the best. Team 015. My flight to Seattle was otherwise uneventful. I was impressed with how Seattle’s airport has a designated “App-Based Driver” pickup area where Uber / Lyft drivers can pull into a spot, load your luggage, and head back out. Nicely done, SeaTac. I barely got to see downtown Seattle as I was whisked away to West Seattle, and we had an interesting time trying to navigate the streets and find my great little AirBnB.
My hosts were a lovely older couple who had a studio apartment in their basement about a 5-10 minute walk to the Vashon Island ferry. It was perfect. They were super accommodating, the space was comfortable and very convenient. It even came with two of these swing chairs!
It was also right across from Lincoln Park, which is this amazing public park right on Puget Sound with trails and paths and this crazy public pool right on the water. I ran or walked in it every day, and the first night I brought a picnic dinner out there. It was really relaxing.
I also walked to West Seattle Junction and checked out Easy Street Records. If you have ever seen Empire Records or if you grew up in Cincinnati with me and went to Buzz Coffee in Clifton, that’s what it was like. It was an awesome, grungy, old-school record store. Definitely check it out if you’re ever over there.
Saturday was Colin’s wedding on Vashon Island. I went for a long run in the morning and cleaned myself up. I walked onto the ferry and took a shuttle (that was actually for another wedding at another location, but there was some mix up) with a bunch of Lynne’s friends whom I had never met before to Froggsong Gardens. The gardens were awesome, but full of bees. LOTS of bees. Eventually most of the guys from 2412 showed up. 2412 was the address of Colin and 6 other dudes that I was close friends with all through college. It was always “2412 + Laine.”
I had not seen most of these guys in a while, so it was really nice to get to catch up and meet or re-meet their wives. We had a good time. The ceremony was cute, the speeches were great, the venue was beautiful, the food was good, the drinks flowed, and Colin and Lynne both looked ridiculously happy.
Colin eventually got around to chat during the wedding, and he casually mentioned that all of the other friends who were going to the San Juan Islands with us bailed, so it was just me, his family and Lynne’s family. Um, Colin, this is good information to tell me in advance. Fortunately I am a big fan of Colin’s family. Nice to meet you, Lynne’s parents! I’m Colin’s best female friend from college coming on your family trip. Not. Awkward. At. All. I’m glad to see nothing has changed.
Also, Colin. Don't think I didn't notice these lovely UVA-themed groomsmen suits!
Every good wedding these days has a ridiculous photo booth.
The next expedition was to get off this island. Adding to the list of things I will not do if I ever get married is I will never get married on an island. It was lovely, but getting a shuttle to a ferry that now didn’t go direct and went to another island first was not what we wanted to do late at night after a wedding. It was uneventful, just long. I think I fell asleep on the hour long ferry a few times. Then I had to walk 10 minutes uphill to my AirBnB. At least I slept well!
Sunday morning I went for another run in Lincoln Park. Then I ventured downtown to Pike’s Place Market (I mean, how do you not?) and bought some of their delicious orange tea.
My friend from Cincinnati, Becca, was in town for her cousin’s wedding so we met for lunch at Serious Pie.
Then we wandered over to Cloudburst Brewery. This place was a weird hole in the wall brewery with a creepy glory hole in the wall. Urban dictionary that shit if you don’t know what it is. I say glory hole because there was a flesh-colored appendage poking through it. No photos of that one, although I think Becca took a photo. It did, however, have some fantastic signs:
Monday I slept in and read for a bit, then Adrienne & Joey made it off Vashon Island and picked me up. Little did we know when we signed up for this that it was a two hour drive to the ferry to the San Juan Islands, then an hour ferry ride over to Friday Harbor! We stopped in a cute little town with some sweet murals to grab some lunch.
Once we got to the ferry, we found out our ferry was delayed. Sigh. So Adrienne and I had beers, which had to be consumed in the “beer cage,” and Joey ate what appeared to be 2 gallons of ice cream. Not quite that much, but the ice cream guy gave him some serious extra ice cream. Mint chocolate chip, of course!
As one does, I took photos of the on-board "fire stations."
We FINALLY arrived. I took more pictures of fire stations. Of course.
Lynne already had made dinner and there were plenty of drinks. Can we again think about how did I end up on a family trip, Colin?! Fortunately, his sister, Adrienne, and I, clearly get along. Unintentional Twinning, anyone?
Later that night we had the best ever round of What Do You Meme? If you have not played that game, you are missing out. Trust me.
Tuesday started late. I was still wide awake before dawn on east coast time. We started off the afternoon going whale watching (we did not see any whales), and then went to eat oysters. I had never eat BBQ oysters before, but apparently this is a thing. I prefer raw, but am glad I tried it. We drove over to Roche Harbor and walked around this cute, exorbitant yachting town and looked at the fancy boats and houses. That night we had tacos, had a fire pit, and played more What Do You Meme? And Bananagrams! I love Bananagrams, and it is not often that I lose, but Lynne won almost every round. Granted, I was tired and had a few drinks, but still. I concede defeat. Well played, Lynne. Well played. I demand a rematch! Sober, this time! Wednesday was a whirlwind! I woke up in the San Juan Islands and fell asleep in Portland. Colin’s dad graciously hustled Adrienne, Joey and I to the ferry which we almost missed (whoops!). The ferry was foggy, like our moods, but got us across to mainland Washington. Joey slept in the back seat while Adrienne and I chatted on the 1.5 hour drive back to Seattle. My train station was conveniently on a direct route to the airport, so Adrienne and Joey dropped me off. Thanks, you two! I very much enjoyed hanging out with them and hope they come visit me in San Diego. Here’s your blog shout out. Love you guys! Also, a BIG thank you to Adrienne for reminding me the night before to book a train ticket. The 2:20 and 6:10 were both sold out, and I had bought a business class ticket on the 2:20. The 11:30 was running late, so I was able to switch my ticket to the 11:30 business class car and got $20 back - woo! The train ride from Seattle to Portland was beautiful, and I always prefer to take the train. It’s so much more comfortable. I listened to my book and looked at the gorgeous coast line and eventually ended up in downtown Portland. I grabbed an Uber and took a short ride to my AirBnB which was... not my favorite AirBnB. I was greeted with rolling papers and ear plugs (yay?) and three rooms that shared one bathroom. It looked like the shitty GE “frat house” we had at Ohio State for a quarter of grad school. While writing this I have yet to see the other occupant(s), but someone did knock vigorously on the bathroom door while I was showering this morning. I hustled to get out of the shower thinking that someone had to go to the bathroom badly (and if you know me, hustling to get soap out of this lion’s mane of hair that I have is no easy feat!) only to find that said mystery person hopped into the shower. Fuck you, dude(ette). Fortunately, my door has an individual lock. So there’s that. I set off on foot, which is my favorite way to explore a city, and wandered up to Powell’s City of Books. This place is totally unassuming from the outside and you think, a book store? Really? Powell’s is so amazing and you can definitely get lost in there. Not only is it HUGE but it’s so interesting. New books, used books, random books, books of all kinds, all punctuated with little displays of random, quirky things you might find in a bookstore or card store. I loved it, and can easily see why it’s always on the “must do in Portland” lists. I bought a hilarious birthday card and gift for my work-husband (his real-life wife, who is also amazing, dubbed him my work husband and me his work wife) and headed to Deschutes Brewery to get dinner and sample some beers. I ordered a 6 beer sampler and loved all of them, which is amazing since everything is so IPA heavy these days. The Liquid Pie Sour was arguably the best sour beer I have ever had, and the Humm Zinger Kombucha Radler was a pleasant surprise. The waiter highly recommended the Mac and cheese with bacon, which actually was a bit of a let down. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for gluttonous mac and cheese, but I think it was just really salty. It looks good, though! I started Thursday morning off at Heart Coffee, which I read about in some “must do in Portland” article. It’s coffee. It’s overpriced. It’s fine. For a town that is allegedly famous for its coffee, I’m a tad underwhelmed. The blueberry scone, however, was delicious. I need to go on a diet after this trip. I am walking an average of 10 miles a day, so hopefully that will help counter my poor food choices a bit. I walked a few miles to Washington Park to check out the assortment of fun things there, starting with the Portland Japanese Garden and the International Rose Test Garden. They were both beautiful and worth a wander. I am a bit spoiled, since I saw some really amazing rose gardens in Queenstown, New Zealand that I thought were nicer. Woe is me, spoiled traveler. On my way out I wandered through the Holocaust Memorial, which is always sobering. I like simple, stark memorials like this one that make you reflect and think. It still terrifies me that in the grand scheme of time, that happened not that long ago. In stark contrast to the forecast that I packed for, Portland has been really chilly. Like low 60s F. I happened to walk past an REI, and who can resist? A pair of pants later and I was significantly less cold. They were on sale, so it was okay, right? I stopped into the highly rated 10 Barrel Brewing Co. for lunch. Don’t bother. The beer and the food were underwhelming. However, across the street is the Aveda Institute with their inviting, “walk ins welcome” sign, so I had an impromptu facial and felt much better. If you have not checked out the guest services of the beauty schools, you should. They sometimes take a while, but they are always good quality, clean and inexpensive. Plus, the students are very appreciative of tips. I walked across the river to East Portland, which was kind of industrial. Just over the bridge I stopped at Hair of the Dog brewery (seriously, there is a brewery like every block here) and eventually chatted with these nice but strange guys who own a “weed farm.” Portland in a nutshell - tattoos, dreadlocks, beer, weed, coffee, cigarettes. Yay? I completed my walk through the industrial east side (don’t do that alone at night, by the way) and ended up at McMenamins Bagdad Theater to see the newly released Mission Impossible 6. I don’t know what all the hype was about this theater. It was a dingy movie theater where you could buy pizza and beer and take it into the theater with you. It looks like a run down version of the Manchurian Chinese Theater in LA and did not have nearly as much character as the Arlington Cinema Draft House or the little funky theater I went to in Wanaka, New Zealand. Again, spoiled traveler alert here. Mission Impossible 6 is exactly what I expected, except Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames are really starting to show their age. It does happen in Hollywood, apparently! My Uber Pool ride back to the AirBnB was interesting. The other ride was a dude named Zander dressed in several enormous pearl necklaces, no shirt, a flowing / sheer / flowered skirt and red patent leather stiletto heeled boots with glitter eye makeup. And glitter in his mustache. He was very nice and had many suggestions on where I could eat junk food and drink beer (seriously, what else do people do here?). I hope he had a lovely evening. After he left, my Uber driver started hitting on me, told me about his ex wife and kids, and asked me if I wanted to hang out while I was in town. Thanks, but no, thanks! Random note: there is weed everywhere. EVERYwhere! Friday morning I got up a little before 0700 to get in the shower, but someone else was in the shower. For over an hour. And the other house occupant was also waiting. WTF? Once I finally got into the bathroom I noticed that it was almost out of toilet paper. And there was no. More. Toilet paper. It’s almost comical at this point. After I FINALLY got a shower and got dressed to head out into the gloomy, chilly day, I wandered toward the waterfront go 40 Lbs. Coffee Co., where I finally got a really good cup of coffee and one of the best chocolate banana muffins I have ever had. This place is very industrial chic which this nerdy engineer appreciates. Thank you, travel Gods. I needed this one. Several people have told me I should take a walk along the riverfront. If you ever go to Portland, don’t. I have never seen so many aggressive homeless people in my life. It wasn’t that pretty and I didn’t feel very safe. Then I decided to go get lunch and my GPS vectored me through this sketchy shanty town. Headphones out, head on a swivel, walk with purpose. Eventually I made it to Paragon for lunch, which was delicious. I was going to go do a Portland walking tour but halfway there I decided I really didn’t want to do it, so I went to Powell’s again. I ended up buying a couple of hilarious cards and found some more parts of the store I had missed the first time. I tried to go to Stumptown Coffee but there was a line out the door and nowhere to sit. Forget that! Later I met my friend Susan, whom I know from surf camp!, at this place called Irving Street for happy hour. It was great to catch up! She lives in Portland but I may have convinced her to move to San Diego :) Saturday. Toilet paper update - dangerously low. No more to be found in the house. I again had to wait an hour for a shower. What the heck? I finally got out to find that... nothing is open on a Saturday morning. Portland is asleep. Or hungover. Or stoned. Or all of the above. Even all of the Starbucks are closed. Fortunately, 40 Lb. Coffee Co. was open. I got an olive croissant (questionable description) that was delicious. Other than the barista I have only seen police officers this morning. Who knows what they were thinking since I am awake and strolling around. So yesterday Susan told me I had gone to all of the good restaurants and breweries that she would recommend, and the barista this morning told me to go to Powell’s Book and the rose garden. Ugh. I guess I have seen the limited crap that Portland has to offer? I just checked into my flight home that leaves early-ish tomorrow morning. With gusto. I think I’ll get to the airport really early... one plus is that I have four lounge access options with my Priority Club card. Disappointment ensues. I walked 2 miles to go to the Freakybuttrue Peculiarium, which was on a bunch of “must-do” in Portland lists. I got there, walked in, and walked out. It looked stupid and kitschy and I was not going to pay $5 to look at busted old Halloween costume masks. Internet fail. I had passed a nice looking brewery on the walk so I stopped into Breakside Brewery and had lunch and tasted their okay beers. Seriously, for a town that has breweries as a main attraction, I am not very impressed. I walked back to the city and tried to find some place to read outside where I wouldn’t be harassed by homeless people asking for money, but there were none to be found. I went back to Powell’s Books, pretty much the only place I have really enjoyed on this portion of the trip, and sat in their coffee shop and read until I finished yet another book. I tried to walk into a cute looking restaurant and it wasn’t open for another hour. Instead, more coffee. I went to Break Rock Coffee and had a chai latte because even I couldn’t have more caffeine today (does chai have more than coffee? Meh... whatever). This place has good music and is comfortable, so a large portion of this blog post was written while seated on a comfy leather chair that one of the barista’s friends loudly discussed wanting to steal for her apartment. Then some hipster kid panicked because he lost his enormously fat wallet - it fell out of his too way tight pants back pocket. Fortunately, it was found in the corner of the coffee shop. Portland... I stopped at this cute little tavern called the Raven & Rose to have dinner. It looked great. It was fine. It was a tad expensive. Seriously, Portland? Sunday morning I just got up early and went to the airport. Early. Goodbye, Portland! I hope I never see you again. :) I say that in the nicest way possible, you boring, dirty, smelly town, you.
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