The past two days have been a good blur. Full of friends, super great food, and scenic drives to the coast. Vacation is being very good to us and now we are half way through our trip. As I write this, we are sitting in our hotel room in Seaside, OR. The ocean is right outside our balcony. This is the life. This will probably be a long winded post, so prepare yourselves.
Day 3 was our full day in the wonderful city of Portland. Aside from the weather being pretty hot, we have enjoyed ourselves. After our pretty decent breakfast at our hotel, we hopped in our car and drove downtown again. The one place we will always stop at while in Portland is Powell's Bookstore. It's a must. It's like a rite of passage when you come to the City of Roses. You have no excuse not to go to this book haven. We bought far too many books and wandered through the isles for a good chunk of time.
Next, we perused Buffalo Exchange and didn't find a single, awesome piece of clothing. That's a first. For pretty much every thrift store we've gone to on this trip, we have left empty handed. Our wallets are ok with that I guess.
After the thrift shop, we found the Food Truck Mecca of Portland. After debating about which two trucks to choose from, we decided on some excellent eats and were not disappointed. The first place we went was the Grilled Cheese Grill where we split The Cheesus (two grilled cheese sandwiches as buns with a hamburger and fixin's inside.) Oh my. Our second choice was The Bento Box where we had grilled chicken, brown rice, veggies, and lots of delicious sauces all tossed into a glorious box. We were told that we could go sit and eat at a park a few blocks away. It was wonderful. I'm going to have to detox my diet when I get home. So much goodness.
We visited a dear friend at work only a block away and got coffee in Pioneer Square. I walked down memory lane so much on Day Three.
Later that evening, we met many of our wonderful friends at no other place than The Montage. Any place that has amazing mac n' cheese is a place we will go. If you have leftovers, which you usually try to have leftovers, they mold your leftovers into foil sculptures of awesomeness. I loved sharing a meal with people I love and miss so dearly. The night ended with drinks at a pretty awesome dive bar. Good drinks and good conversation. I love this city. I love the people that I call my friends even after all of these years of not living in the northwest.
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Day Four started with checking out of our Portland hotel and heading to the coast, Seaside, OR. The drive included everything I love about the northwest: cooler weather, lots of trees, and lots of green. We ate delicious sandwiches once we made it to Seaside. Since we weren't able to check into our hotel room until 4pm, we decided to head to Astoria, OR.
In Astoria, we split a beer flight at Rogue on the Pier. We went to a few more thrift stores and found nothing. We walked around. We drove back to Seaside, OR and walked on the beach, getting our toes sandy and the bottom of our pants soggy. Later we had delicious gelato before finally checking in. (Do you notice a pattern...we eat. We eat a lot of great things.)
Our room is amazing. We are right on the beach. We have a balcony and a jacuzzi tub. We are planing on ordering in this evening and relaxing since the last few days have been such a whirlwind of craziness and wonderful friends. I can't wait to take a relaxing bath later and look at the ocean.
We are half way through our trip and I feel the insatiable need to soak it all in. We will be back to reality before we know it. I can't wait to see Marin. I can't wait to take her on a trip like this some day.
Day 3 & 4.
