1. Stop for donuts at voodoo Donut.
2. Checked out the cheese assembly line at the Tilamook Cheese Factory.
3. Running down the biggest sand dune I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
4. Climbing the bluffs and sitting at the overlook at Pacific Beach.
5. Dinner and sunset at CannonBeach
Top 5 of the day:
1. Earth breakfast at Molly’s with fresh herbs from her garden.
2. Taking “the Bob” on a drive to the gorge by Mt. Hood and stopping at the super windy lookout.
3. Sitting on a patio for a few minutes in the sun in Hood River before we were told that the sunny spot we were in was off limits to patio sitting.
4. When Alyssa slammed on the brakes in the van catapulting me forward and breaking our van-table.
5. Getting home early and not after 2am so we can finally get a good night’s sleep.
Top 5 of the day:
1. Food truck breakfast. I love food trucks! I want to find a pod of food trucks and bring a futon and a television and move in forever. Or even better, have a food truck in my redwood forest ewok village.
2. Molly’s rainy day car tour of the city.
3. Watching 9,000 naked bicyclists bike past in downtown portland.
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4. Molly’s birthday garhering at Doug Fir. So great to meet Molly’s nearest and dearest! You have
a spectacular array of friends and we were so glad to make party with them all!
5. Late night food truck pod stop for crepes and burritos and wood fired pizza!!
Top 5 of the day:
1. Waking up in a real bed and taking a real shower. Our motel room was actually really clean and nice (and did not smell like vomit)
2. Stopping at Bandon, OR and having lunch at Tony’s Crab Shack on the boardwalk. This place had the best smell ever! Like butter and lobster and fresh rolls! I could smell that smell instead of a meal every day and be completely satisfied.
3. Stopping in Eugine,OR and sampling a flight of microbrews on the patio at Ninkasi Brewery. They also has a stellar VW food truck on site serving paninis.
4. Racing up a giant sand dune on the coast, and then running, hopping, falling and rolling all the way down.
…more to come…
And here it is:
5Thank you Portland for the amazing reception! The first person I saw as I walked in to Lindsay’s house warming party was Heather. That was magical! We met loads of great Portlanders and discussed how Portland wins…. Hey, I can’t disagree. Who doesn’t love food trucks and flannel?!?
Molly came by and offered to bring us to the poutine food truck across town for some rock your socks off poutine. For those of you that know not what this Canadian delicacy is, let me discribe. It starts with french fries topped with cheese curds, add some peppercinis and fried onions and smother it all in gravy and there you have it: poutine….we ordered twice.
Singing Feliz Cumpleanos to Molly on the ride home was great too. Happy Birthday Moll!!!
1. Fern canyon!!! The best hike ever. Alyssa says it is her spirit animal, her soul sister and her happy place all in one. This place was amazing! Go there immediately. It is worth the 8 mile drive in potholed gravel roads and small stream crossings. I am pretty sure that is not allowed in our rental contract.
2. Stout Grove was incredible. DP wants to build an ewok village there and live in it forever.
3. Finding the waterfall we were searching for in
4. Zola’s Pizzeria in Harbor Oregon. yum!! Thanks for the grub!
5. Gold Beach for it’s sunsets, cheap hotels and great locals.
Top 5 for the day:
1. waking up just as the sun was rising over the mountain behind us on our own private beach (well, ok, California’s beach, but we picked up some extra trash from the beach to pay our toll…) making a hot cup of coffee and finding the point on the beach where the very first ray of sun hit. Standing in the sun and watching the morning creep in along the surf and the beach.
2. Driving Ave of the Giants and hiking Founders Grove. The redwoods are so incredible. Alyssa’s first time walking through a tree trunk!
3. Little co op in Arcata was fabulous. Like the wedge with beer!
4. While sitting for a little free WiFi and a quick bite at Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka, CA, Alyssa looked up and saw a cop creeping by the front window in front of us with his gun drawn…soon he was running through the restaurant fast on the heals of some criminal…so yes, police gun drawn makes the top 5…it’s a first!
5. Camping down on the beach at Clam Beach which DP realized he had camped 8 years before!
Top 5 of the day:
1. Picnic lunch break at Stillwater area where we climbed along the Oceanside cliffs, boulder hopping and dodging the spray of the waves hitting the rocks.
2. Walking through the sleepy town of Mendocino, enjoying the views and having a cold drink at the local watering hole.
3. Stopping for pizza in fort Bragg and a meeting Greg and Diane who clued us in on a great spot to park our van for the night.
4. Being waved off the road by a car full of young, metalhead French Canadians because the thought they saw our Bob Marley van in hollywood and they wanted to meet us and say hello (a little later at the beach they also asked us if we had any gonja).
5.finding the most amazing beach to park our van for the night and watch the sun set. Then later sitting on top of the van and watching the moon rise.
Top 5 of the day:
Bottom 1 of the day (hopefully we don’t have too many days with these): Saying goodbye to David…Back to NYC and the real world. It was like losing an arm…see you soon I am sure. 🙂
Bottom 2 of the day: Parking in San Francisco. I hope I never have to do this again. We drove circles around the block for thirty minutes before finding a spot.
Top 5 of the day:
1. Brunch at Mission Beach Cafe- seriously, we have no freakin clue about brunch in Mpls. This was some serious voodoo shit they pulled with breakfast items. The pancake… Oh the pancake!!! They definitely churned that one out. And the benny’s were ootw. Hehe…that means outta this world. I probably did not make that up but it feels like I did.
2. The SF cable cars and buses. Seriously! It feels like we are in the movies!! Stay classy SF. And bars in alleys that look like Italy. 🙂
3. Visiting Lucas and Ryan at their Hipstamatic compound. Great company and great people. Lotta love and brains there. Thanks for the tour and t shirts!!!
4. Oysters at the marketplace. So great!!!! Oh, and the Peruvian food at El Mar. Seriously. Ceviche never tasted so good. Com’on SF, give us a break.
5. Matt Englund. Thanks for being our tour guide and casual entertainer today. Your laugh is a blast from the past and the present all at the same time. Love!!!
