I've finally gotten in front of my computer to write a little about our trip to Oregon and Washington! Yesss!
After the last time we tried to fly somewhere, this trip was EASY! Direct flight with a far superior airline. We rode Frontier both ways and they even served us warm chocolate chip cookies! Then as we were landing back in Denver a flight attendant announced that "please remember that Southwest does NOT serve you warm chocolate chip cookies!" Noted.
Day 1 began at 4am. Yuck. It is VERY dark still at 4am. Anthony and I threw ourselves together and were out the door, walking with luggage and all to the Boulder bus station to catch a bus to the Denver airport. The scene of us walking down a dark street in what felt like the middle of the night with suitcases struck me as funny, like maybe we were two kids trying to run away from home. Not a single problem to the airport, nor on the flight in to Portland, OR. We arrived and Anthony's dad picked us up, drove us the 1.5 or so hours to the coast and I was immediately aware of not being in Colorado anymore, a feeling a absolutely love! (I love Colorado, but knowing that you're far from home on an adventure is a great feeling, so seeing different trees, landscape, and even the air felt different!) The pine trees were HUGE! Leave it to the northwest to have enormous trees. Another place on my list of where to go will be the redwood forests in California. I hear those trees are pretty big :-) Made it to the coast and it was locked in with fog but I could smell and hear that the ocean was nearby, even if I couldn't see it! First order of business at the beach cabin was bathroom, food, nap, then hit the beach for a long walk and exploring and taking tons of photos.
Day 2 involved sleeping in, heading into town to explore, bought a kite, walked along the beach more, flying the kite and sunbathing, going to the local grocery store to buy food for making dinner, as it was Anthony and my night to make dinner for the family. After much debating what to have and discovering that the local store has a distinct lack of meat other than beef and fish, we found some chicken for the grill as well as burgers. One of the most beautiful sunsets EVER!
Day 3 involved wet suits, surf boards, boogie boards, and a hike through the wilderness to find our car. SO fun and exhausting. The water is freezing cold, just like the water in Maine, and a lot of California. I haven't really experienced any particularly warm beaches. Guess I should head farther south for that. That night we also had a beach campfire which combined the deliciously familiar smell of campfire with the beautifully foreign scene of a beach and ocean...can't get any better! And of course, we made s'mores.
Day 4 was packing up the cabin, going out for an awesome (if delayed) breakfast in downtown Cannon Beach, then embarking on a 4 hour drive to Seattle in which I was bestowed the honor of being horribly carsick the entire time. Lame. Once we got to Seattle, though, we had a great dinner in downtown Kirkland with Anthony's parents and they showed me the waterfront and we walked around down by the boats all docked, some with crazy partiers which seemed odd since it was a Sunday evening, but maybe when you have a boat and it's a beautiful night it doesn't matter if you have to work the next day. Seize the day!
Day 5 our first day in Seattle, borrowing Anthony's parents' Mini Cooper (I had no idea what a fun little sporty car those things are!) We first went to Capitol Hill, then downtown, to the Market, drank some coffee, visited a couple friends of Anthony in their downtown office where we discovered a few of Anthony's paintings were hanging, tried to find Dave Matthews' house...You know you've got an awesome boyfriend, by the way, if he spends half an hour driving around and around while you try to spot Dave Matthews' house...thanks babe! Then we drank more coffee. Had a really delicious dinner, check out some night views of Seattle, then ate at Iver's fish and chips place down by the water.
Day 6 we went out for breakfast in Kirkland, then drove to downtown Seattle, did a little shopping and wandering, drank lots of coffee, visited the U district (University of Washington campus and surrounding shops, restaurants, housing, etc) a crazy mountain bike course underneath a highway, went to Gasworks park, drove around some more, picked up my little buddy Andy who just arrived in Seattle to start college at Seattle University and went out for some of the most delicious sushi any of us had ever had, walked for a while, went up to Capitol Hill and hung out there for the evening.
Day 7 We set out for Bellingham, WA the home of Anthony's sister and her family, and Anthony's college, Western Washington U. Also visited a small rural town just outside Bellingham where some friends of Anthony lived. They were what I would call trendy hippie artists with two pet ducks. In Bellingham we went for a walk along the waterfront with Anthony's sister and her freakin' adorable baby and of course drank more coffee, went up to WWU campus, then had dinner at a local brewery, then hit up a wine bar downtown, then back to the brewery for a fun reggae night/hula hoop extravaganza.
Day 8 headed back to Seattle, went to the airport, boarded the airplane, ate some chocolate chip cookies on the plane, flew home, collapsed into bed in complete satisfied exhaustion!
During our trip to the northwest, we decided two more adventures to go on the list are to start in southern California and drive north all the way up the coast, stopping in wine country, doing some camping, and seeing all kinds of other beautiful places we find along the way. The other trip is to take the ferry from Bellingham to Alaska. Oh yeah, and to visit Vancouver also. So that's 3 adventures, or maybe one really big epic adventure! We'll see :-) One adventure always leads to another doesn't it?
