Well, I’ve been putting off writing this entry for entirely too long now. I’ve actually started it once or twice, but it’s been surprisingly like one of those daunting end-of-term research papers, where there’s so much to say, and you know what you want to say, but you’re not entirely sure how to go about organizing it all into a cohesive presentation. But, I’ll give it a go.

So last week, on Wednesday, August 13th, I flew out of Raleigh headed west for a week in the Pacific Northwest. There were a number of reasons for the trip:

• I was in need of a real vacation. Most of my vacation time for the past few years has involved flying or driving home to Alabama. And while I dearly love my family and enjoy seeing them, Huntsville is not precisely what one thinks of when they consider ideal vacation spots.
• I’ve always been fascinated about the Pacific Northwest — Seattle, Portland, etc. It always seemed so beautiful, and I’d wanted to visit for quite a long time.
• Many, many friends live in that general area of the country, so it would be an ideal opportunity to visit with them. Among them are my pen-pal of 12 years, Christy; my good friend from high school, Naydanka; another good friend from high school, Ian, and his wife, Hope (who I’d never met); and a friend from college, Missy.

So, here’s the trip in a nutshell. Just the highlights, I promise, or else this would read more like a novel than a blog entry.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

I arrived in Portland a little before 1:00 pm, and headed out to pick up my rental car. I’d opted for their “wild card” plan, which was $10/day cheaper than chosing an economy car, but they get to pick what they give you. I didn’t really care, so long as they gave me something reliable that I could use to drive around for the week. What I got was a “mini” SUV – a Jeep Liberty.

My car rental for the week, a Jeep Liberty

It felt huge compared to my little Honda Civic or a my Mazda 3, and it did weird, unexpected things, such as turning on the headlights whenever you unlocked the car via remote entry. Still, it was relatively cheap, and it enabled me to drive around on my own for the week. All I could ask for.

I had also purchased a little GPS unit a few days before the trip, since I knew I’d get lost if I relied soley on physical maps. I could have rented one with the car, but it would have been nearly another $100 to do so, and if I bought one for a little more, I’d get to have it for the trip, and — bonus! — I’d get to keep it after the trip, too! Let me tell you – best $170 I’ve ever spent. It even has a function where you can import addresses directly from Google Maps. Very, very handy.

My new Garmin nüvi GPS unit, directing the way

That afternoon, I met up with Missy down in the Pearl District of Portland, where we had lunch and went yarn shopping (of course). We stopped in at Knit Purl, where I bought some beautiful HandMaiden Casbah and about a 1/2 lb. of Chamelion Colorworks Optim spinning fiber. (Pictures to follow, I promise – there’ll be enough trip photos in here to clog up your internet connection for now.)

That evening, I drove across the river to Vancouver, WA, where I met up with Christy (my pen-pal of 12 years) and her husband, Colin. I have to admit to having a certain amount of anxiety, meeting and staying with a person I hadn’t seen in 12 years and another person I’d never met before. But the meet-up with Christy was as unawkward as a reunion can be. It was like no time had passed at all — we were 15 again, and the only real difference seemed to be that we had cars, homes of our own, credit cards, and no parental supervision. As evidence of that, we went to DQ that evening and splurged on Peanut Buster Parfaits.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Christy and Colin both headed to work fairly early, so I took off to explore Portland. I ended up first at the Pittock Mansion, an historic site that sits high up on a hill and overlooks the city of Portland.

Click image to view a slideshow of photos from the Pittock Mansion

It was a hot, hot day in Portland. They saw record-breaking highs that week, some reaching up into the low 100s. This is a part of the country where even in the summer, AC is usually unnecessary, and those homes and shops that do have AC frequently only have small window units. On the plus side, it wasn’t just hot – it was sunny and clear, too. And that made the scenery outside the Pittock Mansion that much more beautiful, as I was able to actually look out and see not only all of Portland below me, but also Mt. Hood off in the distance.

Portland and Mt. Hood, as seen from the Pittock Mansion gardens

Later that afternoon, after I’d had my fill of climbing around the mountainside gardens, I decided to try some place a little cooler (read: a place that might possibly have AC). I headed back to downtown Portland to pay a visit to the famous Powell’s Books — a bookstore featuring both new and used books that spans an entire city block. If it doesn’t sound awesome and impressive, let me assure you – it was. Of course, it was very difficult not buying up everything in sight, but my suitcase was already dangerously close to the 50-lb weight limit, and even a few books would have pushed it over that. So, I contented myself with browsing, only purchasing a couple of books for my gracious hosts and a copy of the newest Interweave Knits for myself.

By the time I was ready to leave the book store, I was beginning to realize that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and my blood sugar level was dangerously low. So I stopped at a little deli on the way back to my car. This deli turned out to have the best pastrami on rye I’ve had in years. To make it even better, the side dish that came with it was a near-perfect recreation of my mother’s German potato salad (a personal favorite). They also had egg creams on the menu, which, of course, I splurged on, it being a vacation and all.

Pastrami on rye, German potato salad, and Interweave Knits

Friday, August 15, 2008

Friday was another work day for Christy and Colin, my gracious hosts, so I set off bright and early once again for another day to prowl around Portland. As it was yet another hot, sunny day, I decided to hit the Japanese Gardens at Washington Park in the morning, before it got too hot. Had I checked the website first, I would have found that the garden didn’t open until 10:00 am. But, as it were, I didn’t check the website, so I ended up in the parking lot around 9:00. Luckily, I had the yarn I’d bought at Knit Purl and my dpn needle case with me, so I sat on a bench outside the entryway and cast on a sock while I waited.

The sock I started (from HandMaiden Casbah) at the Portland Japanese Garden

By the time 10:00 arrived, I had a good few inches on the sock, and I was ready to view the gardens. Sadly, so were about 50 senior citizens and a rather large group of very loud southerners (or so I assumed from their accents). The setting reminded me very much of a combination of Meiji-jingu — the imperial gardens at the center of Tokyo — and Ginkaku-ji — The Temple of the Silver Pavilion in Kyoto (though these gardens were quite a bit smaller, of course). However, it was not nearly as peaceful as my visit to either of the previously-mentioned locations, owing to the large, boisterous crowds. I did, however, run into a few fellow knitters who oggled the sock I was constantly working away at as I walked around the gardens.

Click image to view a slideshow of photos from the Portland Japanese Garden

That afternoon, I headed out to Multnomah Village, a small “village” within Portland. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but on the plus side, I did find a yarn shop! And of course I had to make a purchase. She had a lovely display of spinning fiber, and I walked away with about 6 oz. of the softest merino I’ve ever had the pleasure of touching, all for a mere $15. (Plus, no sales tax in Oregon! Score!) (Again, pictures to follow later, I promise.)

I had lunch that afternoon in Multnomah with my friend Ian and his wife, Hope, who recently moved to the Portland area. It’s always good to meet up with old friends, but sadly, our reunion was cut short, as both Ian and Hope had to go to work that afternoon.

That evening, Christy and Colin and I drove back into Portland after dinner, and along with Christy’s cousin went to go see Bottle Shock. I was rather excited to see it, as it was a movie high on my “summer movies to see” list, but Christy and her cousin were even more excited to see it, because Seth, Christy’s other cousin, was an extra in the film. He doesn’t actually show up (we later found out), but if you watch carefully during the scene where Alan Rickman is in the French restaurant sampling wine and keeps getting knocked by a door, you can see Seth’s hand as he slams the door open. (You can see the scene at the very end of the trailer, which you can view on YouTube.)

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Saturday began our road-trip part of the vacation. Early Saturday morning, Christy and Colin and I set out for Seattle. On the way, we picked up my high school friend, Naydanka, who’s up in Seattle working for Boeing.

My high school friend, Naydanka

Traffic was appalling, due to the fact that there was a Sea Hawks game that afternoon, but we did eventually make it in to the city and found parking near Seattle Center. We saw the Space Needle (but opted not to go up, as it was something like $16/person, and that was really just too expensive to justify), and we wandered around a bit, but it was hot, and there wasn’t much else we wanted to do there.

The Seattle Space Needle

So we took the monorail down toward Pike Place Market and wandered around there for a while. We saw the original Starbucks, but also saw the ginormous line for drinks, and opted instead to get cold sodas from the grocer next door. By then, we were all icky and hot and sweaty, so we sat down in the shade and chatted while we cooled off with our drinks.

Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA

Naydanka, Christy, and Colin at Pike Place Market

It eventually got too hot for us to consider staying outside much longer, so we headed to the Chocolate Box down the street from Pike Place, ordered gelato to help us cool down, and played cards in the lovely, air-conditioned shop.

The Chocolate Box in Seattle, where we ate gelato and played cards

We were later joined by Christy and Colin’s friend Ruth, who generously agreed to let us crash on her floor that night in Seattle. We headed back to Naydanka’s place, stopping for dinner at Duke’s Chowder House (home of apparently award-winning clam chowder) for dinner before we dropped her off.

Duke’s Chowder House in Kent, WA

That evening, back at Ruth’s place, Christy called it a night early and fell asleep shortly after arriving. Meanwhile, Ruth entertained Colin and I by reading through the voter guide booklet she had just received in the mail. All I have to say is, people in Seattle are fuckin’ nuts. The first page of the booklet was devoted to Goodspaceguy Nelson (he’s also got another blog here), who’s running for the House, and who’s entire platform seems to be based on colonizing space. In fact, his latest blog post is entitled Beam Goodspaceguy Up to Spaceship Congress. I rest my case. He was one of the funnier candidates, but they were all cookoo. I swear. There were a lot of good laughs that night.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

On Sunday, the four of us got up early once again in preparation for a full day in the car. The plan was to drive the long way home, up and around the Olympic Peninsula.

Our route from Seattle, through the Olympic Peninsula, back down to Vancouver, WA

We started the day by a quick jaunt over to the Starbucks near Ruth’s apartment. We were a bunch of giddy post-slumber-party pajama-wearing kids, and we had way more fun than anyone has any right to have on an early Sunday morning at Starbucks.

Christy enjoying her Frappuccino at Starbucks

Christy, Colin, and Ruth at Starbucks

We finally finished our breakfast, got everything packed up, and headed out the door on our way to the wilds of the Olympic Peninsula. We first drove up to Edmonds in order to hitch a ferry ride over to Kingston. I got out and took some photos (of course) while our car sat in the queue waiting for the ferry to arrive.

Brackett’s Landing at Edmonds, WA

Cars lined up in the queue at the Edmonds ferry docks

We finally got our car in the ferry and headed up to the front of the boat to enjoy the cool salty spray of the water. Of course, there are more obligatory photos (seriously – all apologies for clogging your internet connection with this photo-heavy post).

Christy and Colin on the Edmonds-Kingston ferry

Me and Christy acting goofy on the ferry

The view from the boat was absolutely incredible. So incredible, in fact, that I’m not entirely sure if the tears in my eyes were from the salty wind that was blowing across my face or the view itself.

View of the approaching Kingston docks

After we docked, we headed out to the mainland and picked up Hwy 101, which we took into Port Angeles, where we stopped for lunch. (Not wanting anything fancy, we opted to grab a quick sandwich at the local Safeway.) I can honestly say that I fell in love with Port Angeles. It was quaint and beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I didn’t even remember to stop and take photos. I can very easily see myself living there one day. (In fact, I even looked at some real estate sites for the area later that night, just for kicks… No plans to move there now, of course, but maybe one day… God, it was beautiful.)

We followed Hwy 101 around through the peninsula, stopping only here and there to stretch and take in the view. At one point, we stopped at Lake Crescent, where Christy told the story of how two of her friends got married there last summer. We stopped and put our feet in the lake (it was still warm and sunny at that point). And of course, I took more photos.

Lake Crescent, off Hwy 101

Christy and Colin wading in Lake Crescent

About an hour or so after we left Port Angeles, we arrived in Forks, the small town where the Twilight series is set. It wasn’t the reason I had wanted to do this drive, but it certainly was an added perk, getting to actually see the spots described in the story. As described, Forks really is a tiny little town. There were lots of people there that day, though, and I later found out that there was a big race event that took place there that afternoon. As we drove through, we saw this sign, which amused me to no end. (What can I say? I’m easily amused.)

A sign in Forks, welcoming race fans, bikers, and vampires. Photo borrowed from the Forks Forum.

The day turned cool and overcast after that, and we ended up driving through an onslaught of rain and mist for the remainder of the trip, down through Hoquiam and Montesano (which almost made me miss Huntsville and its Monte Sano State Park… almost), back down all the way into Vancouver. We arrived home fairly late, had a small bite to eat, and hit the sack very shortly thereafter.

Ok, well… as much as I’d like to finish this post tonight, it’s very, very late, and I need to get some beauty rest. So, I’ll continue with the rest of my trip story-telling tomorrow.