I write this as I lay in bed and marvel at the stunning view outside our hotel window. From the 36th floor, we can see the blue expanse of the Puget Sound with its ships and sailboats, the shipping container island and lush west Seattle. We walked into the room, threw open the curtains and gasped at the sight. That would essentially characterize my experience so far in the Pacific Northwest. There is so much gorgeous natural beauty around every corner.
When I had my brief stint at the wheel (Aaron easily drove 20 hours straight), I got to cross from California into Oregon. We came around a curve, passed the 'Welcome to Oregon' sign and suddenly I was looking down onto a grove of bright green pines with a thick cloud slowly moving across the top. It was simply majestic and I couldn't control my reaction of wonder. Wow...nothing more to say. So many trees...must have a lot of great oxygen in Oregon.
We loved Portland. It feels like a small city with a lot of outdoor spaces, cool markets and beauty that creeps up on you like snow capped mountains and rivers. Powells book store is just awesome. We enjoyed the Judaic section and its collection of new and used books. The place is a book lovers dream; we barely got out alive. The key is not to try to see too much. We discovered Voodoo donuts which not only were creative and a little racy, but actually really good. When we walked by on Saturday, there was a line down the street for these fried pieces of heaven.
When we arrived, we were so tired, all we could do was buy food for Shabbat, shower and pass out around 9:30 p.m. Our hotel, The Nines, is new and swanky downtown near Pioneer Square yet it is pet-friendly and Aaron was allergic. Aaron also believes that the hotels give us the Hotwire rooms: mostly good but a little off as well. Our tv was pretty fuzzy and we had no DVD player, just the remote. Still, we liked it there; just not totally bowled over. We spent Shabbat picnicing near the water and wandering through the markets and stores where we knew we couldn't buy anything. We saved a lot of money that way. Aaron and I share a love of 'fairs': outdoor craft markets. So we would have gone nuts at Portland's Saturday market. Going on Shabbat works well except for when we start craving beer and ice cream....It was a great and relaxing day...
After Shabbat, we stumbled upon Tugboat Brewry, a small brewpub dimly lit and decorated with books and games. We enjoyed live jazz while sampling the beer...Aaron's beer was so potent, dark, rich and alcoholic that they only serve them in small glasses. It was the perfect end to a great day.
Sunday was a day in Washington Park where we took in the awesome gardens. But first, we needed to drive out to the east side to Pine State Biscuits, featured on the Food Network, to experience the delicious layers on their famous biscuits. We then wandered through the Rose Test Gardens where we were overwhelmed by rows and rows of different breeds and colors of roses. It was gorgeous but almost a little too much. How can you take in all of that color?? We then headed up to the Japanese Gardens which according to the Guide Book is the most authentic outside of Japan. There was so much greenery and it provides so much peaceful shade on a warm Portland day. I loved walking around the gardens but I don't think they are Aaron's thing. He amused himself by taking artistic photos of nature and people which we may or may not keep.
We then decided it was time to move on to our next destination, Seattle, WA. However, 100 miles out, we encountered crazy traffic. Turns out, the Jonas Brothers were at the Tacoma Dome. We also highly suspect they were staying at our Portland Hotel as well based on the tour buses outside, the fawning fans and the number of cars and shirts decorated by fans dedicated to the Jonases. I had to look up the Jonas Brothers tour dates to make sure they weren't going to ruin the rest of our trip.
More about Seattle coming up....
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