After a month in the Seattle area it was time to say goodbye. We finally got the call from the RV shop that the repair work on Bubbles had been completed and we could come get her. We were pretty excited. We made plans to hit the road 2 days later giving us time to prepare. Those two days flew by and before we knew it we were packing up our final pieces of gear, saying goodbye to my Dad and heading south on I-5.
As we had not explored much of southern Washington our first stop on our journey was the capitol city of Washington, Olympia. As it was a Saturday afternoon it wasn’t too busy and we were able to park within the capitol grounds. After a short lunch in the RV we were off walking towards the capitol building. This was a beautiful building. It was a bit different than the other capitol buildings that we had been in as when you walked in it did not have floors in a traditional sense. Regardless of which side you entered the rectangular building in order to go up (without using an elevator) you had to walk up to a middle platform that was between the 1st and 2nd floor. We were told this was public space that anyone from the state of Washington could use. It was pretty neat. After touring the grounds for a while we hopped back into Bubbles, continued south and finally crossed the Oregon border and into the city of Portland.
After a great first sleep in Bubbles we woke up ready to hit the town. As it was Sunday we wanted to go watch our hometown Buffalo Bills play. We had such a good time at the Seattle Bills Backers bar we figured that we should go watch the game at the Portland Bills bar too. We hopped into an Uber and within 20 minutes we were there. The bar turned out to be across the street from the Portland Timbers MLS stadium. It was packed when we got there. We estimated over 150 Bills fans, which isn’t bad considering Buffalo is 2000 miles+ from Portland. We had wings, drinks and a good time. Even better the Bills won.
From the Bills bar we went on a bit of a self guided walking tour around Portland. First stop was Powell’s bookstore. You might be thinking why did we go to some random bookstore but Powell’s is no random bookstore. The store is an entire downtown block and has been there for decades. We wandered around inside for a while going floor to floor. They must have had 1 Million+ books in there. It’s pretty nuts. After buying a few cards for friends we wandered out and continued on. Next up we found a used DVD store with quite a lot of people in it considering it was a used DVD store. (We still watch DVD’s in our van as the internet is poor at best in most area’s so for the most part Netflix is out of the question.) We were successful in picking up the last few seasons of Seinfeld and the first few of Mad Men. We had watched the first few Seinfeld seasons and were happy to continue on with the show.
Last up for the day we headed over to the Pine Street Market. This isn’t actually a market as a farmers market but more of a food court building with great small restaurants and a general seating area. We had gone there to meet and catch up with Jeanine, James and their daughter Claire from Julie’s hometown of Avon, NY. (Hi Guys!) Julie and I had not seen Jeanine and Claire in over a year so it was great to be able to catch up. I had also never met James before so it was great to be able to meet him and put a face with the name. We had some great food at the Pine Street Market, Julie and I had burgers from Bless Your Heart burgers and they were excellent. After dinner we parted ways and made our way back to Bubbles. It was a great day 1 of this portion of the trip.
The next day we woke up excited for our 2nd day in Portland. First up for the day was a stop in the cities most famous park, Washington Park to see Portland’s Rose Garden. The park and gardens were created in 1917 and the rose garden is the oldest in the country. The rose garden is also the only site in North America that can issue recognized awards for new hybrid roses. The gardens were beautiful. They were set on terraces with each row and area clearly marked so you knew what you were looking at. It was all pretty neat. From the rose garden we walked further into downtown Portland having lunch in their main square before heading to a Bike Brewery tour that we had booked a few days earlier.
We had been on a few bike and walking tours in other cities but found that we always had the most fun and made the most friends on the bike brewery tours. We arrived at the bike shop and was greeted by our tour guide and introduced to the others on the tour. Jah was from San Francisco in town on vacation and Diego & Carey were on a business trip but wanted to do something fun before heading home. After getting fitted for a bike and a helmet we were off. The tour started off with a few stops to learn about Portland’s history and its geography before hitting the breweries. We stopped at 3 all together before heading back to the bike shop. Diego & Carey had to get going to make their flights but Jah stayed and had a beer at the bike shop with us. We had a great time talking with her and promised that we would give her a call when we made it to San Francisco. From the bike shop we walked to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant for dinner before calling it a night.
The next morning we woke up and prepared the van for a day of driving. The destination for the day was the town of Astoria on the northern Oregon coast. The first stop for the day however would be back just over the border in La Center, WA. My grandfather was originally from La Center and as it was on the way to Astoria we should stop. (Yes, the fastest way to get to Western Oregon was through Washington) After a short 30 min drive we arrived in La Center. I had been to La Center once before about 15 years prior so my memory was a bit hazy on the place. It’s more or less a very small farming community. We parked and found city hall so I could ask for some records on my grandfather but it wasn’t meant to be as they were closed for the day. We weren’t sure why the town hall was closed as it was a Tuesday but it was a small town. We stopped into a small coffee shop and we were told by the barista to check out the town’s museum that might have some information but after trying to check that out we found that it was closed as well. As there wasn’t much else we could do we said goodbye to Grandpa’s hometown and headed for the Oregon coast.
Next up….We travel US Route 101 on Oregon’s Pacific Coast
