I just got back from my long weekend trip to the Pacific Northwest and it was a blast! It was really great to see old friends and we laughed and laughed! I went to see my friend Cindy, who moved from DC about five years ago. It had been forever since I had hung out with her and I just love those types of friends where you can pick up exactly where you left off. Cindy is getting married in December so really Darla and I went to make sure we gave Kevin our seal of approval and we approve! Anyway, Cindy lives in Portland. That's Oregon, not Maine. I had never been to the Pacific NW so I was able to check a couple of states off my list! And in the meantime, I successfully dealt with commercial air travel. That's the impressive part!
On Friday, we drove up to Cannon Beach, OR to the beach. When I think of going to the beach in July, I immediately think of sweating profusely at Myrtle Beach and getting rather sunburned. But not in Oregon. It was 50 degrees! And there were still people in the water! I did the obligatory put my feet in the water but that was enough for me! It was absolutely beautiful there and Darla, Cindy, Caleb (Cindy's stepson come December), and I had a very nice stroll on the beach to Haystack Rock. I figured out pretty quickly that it got its name because it looks like a haystack. I'm pretty smart like that! Cannon Beach was a really cute town and we walked around and shopped after our stroll. The drive out to the beach was beautiful as well and we stopped and had lunch at a cool restaurant, Camp 18. It was a really neat place with a logging theme and the food was good too! Oh, I forgot to mention that on the way out of town, Darla insisted on us stopping at the Roloff's farm. You might know how I feel about the idea of the Roloffs (no offense to them personally) so I wasn't nearly as excited as Darla. "Little People Big World" is her most favorite show in the entire world and she was like a giddy schoolgirl hanging out at the sign of their driveway!
Saturday, we drove up to Seattle and got to see Eric and Melissa! They moved about five years ago too and I haven't seen them in a couple of years. They are the same type friends where you can just pick up exactly where you left off even though we don't stay in that great of communication. We all went to the Mariners v. Indians game at Safeco park. It was even 80s day and apparently the Mariners played like they did in the 80s and lost miserably. But it was fun nonetheless and once the sun hit our seats, it was a very pleasant day. After that, we went to the Space Needle. I felt like we had to see it. It would have been like going to Egypt and not seeing the Pyramids or France and not seeing the Eiffel Tower or Roanoke and not seeing the Mill Mountain Star. But it was an absolutely beautiful view and I saw the Puget Sound and the majestic mountains. Real mountains!! (Sorry my fellow Roanokers, these were REAL mountains!)
On Sunday, we woke up in Puyallup, WA and hung out at the hotel (the nicest Best Western I have ever visited by leaps and bounds) and then drove back to Portland with a stop in Olympia, the state capital. Even though I have nearly no clue about anything in Portland politics, for some reason our short time at the capitol sort of interested me. I still don't understand why they had to name everything after George Washington, since he was clearly a Virginian and not a Washingtonian.
Monday, we did our own little walking tour of downtown Portland. They advertised a group tour that you could see where all the Portland scandals and various crimes took place. In DC, people take that tour but they do it by accident and they definitely don't pay the $20! Anyway, downtown was quite nice and we had lunch in the Pearl District in a new restaurant called Deschutes Brewery. Very up and coming. Then we went to Powell's Bookstore which is the largest bookstore in the world. Yep, I'm a nerd but I thought it was a very cool place.
We took the red eye home and got home today and I was grateful for such a fun time with great friends. I definitely want to go back to the area some day and visit again! There are so many cool things that I didn't have time to see! So much wonderful scenery that just screams of God's creativity! Check out the picture album to the left for the pictures!
Now I'm off again for a few days of relaxation with the fam in Roanoke followed by a wedding in Christiansburg! I could really get used to this not-working thing!! I love vacation!!
On Friday, we drove up to Cannon Beach, OR to the beach. When I think of going to the beach in July, I immediately think of sweating profusely at Myrtle Beach and getting rather sunburned. But not in Oregon. It was 50 degrees! And there were still people in the water! I did the obligatory put my feet in the water but that was enough for me! It was absolutely beautiful there and Darla, Cindy, Caleb (Cindy's stepson come December), and I had a very nice stroll on the beach to Haystack Rock. I figured out pretty quickly that it got its name because it looks like a haystack. I'm pretty smart like that! Cannon Beach was a really cute town and we walked around and shopped after our stroll. The drive out to the beach was beautiful as well and we stopped and had lunch at a cool restaurant, Camp 18. It was a really neat place with a logging theme and the food was good too! Oh, I forgot to mention that on the way out of town, Darla insisted on us stopping at the Roloff's farm. You might know how I feel about the idea of the Roloffs (no offense to them personally) so I wasn't nearly as excited as Darla. "Little People Big World" is her most favorite show in the entire world and she was like a giddy schoolgirl hanging out at the sign of their driveway!
Saturday, we drove up to Seattle and got to see Eric and Melissa! They moved about five years ago too and I haven't seen them in a couple of years. They are the same type friends where you can just pick up exactly where you left off even though we don't stay in that great of communication. We all went to the Mariners v. Indians game at Safeco park. It was even 80s day and apparently the Mariners played like they did in the 80s and lost miserably. But it was fun nonetheless and once the sun hit our seats, it was a very pleasant day. After that, we went to the Space Needle. I felt like we had to see it. It would have been like going to Egypt and not seeing the Pyramids or France and not seeing the Eiffel Tower or Roanoke and not seeing the Mill Mountain Star. But it was an absolutely beautiful view and I saw the Puget Sound and the majestic mountains. Real mountains!! (Sorry my fellow Roanokers, these were REAL mountains!)
On Sunday, we woke up in Puyallup, WA and hung out at the hotel (the nicest Best Western I have ever visited by leaps and bounds) and then drove back to Portland with a stop in Olympia, the state capital. Even though I have nearly no clue about anything in Portland politics, for some reason our short time at the capitol sort of interested me. I still don't understand why they had to name everything after George Washington, since he was clearly a Virginian and not a Washingtonian.
Monday, we did our own little walking tour of downtown Portland. They advertised a group tour that you could see where all the Portland scandals and various crimes took place. In DC, people take that tour but they do it by accident and they definitely don't pay the $20! Anyway, downtown was quite nice and we had lunch in the Pearl District in a new restaurant called Deschutes Brewery. Very up and coming. Then we went to Powell's Bookstore which is the largest bookstore in the world. Yep, I'm a nerd but I thought it was a very cool place.
We took the red eye home and got home today and I was grateful for such a fun time with great friends. I definitely want to go back to the area some day and visit again! There are so many cool things that I didn't have time to see! So much wonderful scenery that just screams of God's creativity! Check out the picture album to the left for the pictures!
Now I'm off again for a few days of relaxation with the fam in Roanoke followed by a wedding in Christiansburg! I could really get used to this not-working thing!! I love vacation!!
4 comments:
Phew! I cannot keep up with all of your adventures!
I love those pictures you took of the Seattle skyline! You might be seeing those in my photo album :)
And, so the world knows, Becky let out the world's loudest sigh of relief when the Roloff assistant told us that the Roloff's were in a big meeting so they couldn't meet us. A picture with Beck and the Roloff's would have been priceless!
Okay, what's with the Roloff deal, Becky? ;-)
You didn't mention it, but Mark wants to know if you climbed any trees while in the pacific northwest...Kay
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