Well, hello there! It’s been a while but the Ramblin’ Bauers have been a bit busy! I know you are all excited to hear about our trip to Hawaii and Alaska, but first we need to tell you about how we got from Ferndale, California, to the Seattle Airport. It involved a drive up the Northern Pacific coast, excursions to two National Parks, and the exploration of two cities. So, “Let’s start at the beginning, a very good place to start.”
When my last day of work was all wrapped up we set out on our own Oregon trail towards Portland. Don’t worry all of you who went to elementary school during the rise of the IBM computer lab—luck was with us and we avoided death by dysentery, allowing us to enjoy the beautiful coastline.
Around 10 pm we squeaked in to Newport, OR, just in time for Bilbo to visit Rogue Brewery. Bilbo thought that they had a nice diversity of beers, all of which are refined. He thought that the brewery and the town were a little underwhelming considering the quality and the distribution of the beer. You can see their wall of awards below.
Next morning we continued up the road. Before reaching good ole Portland, we passed the world’s shortest river!
We started out in the downtown area, where we saw a Rogue pub and picked up our snorkels at REI. Nearby was Chinatown and it’s arch.
However, the real fun was in Old Town where everyone was gathered by the bay for the Saturday Market.
You had your classic cheek-to-cheek crowd, the classic street vendors and goods, and of course…
the classic display of unique talents! A few of our favorites included a man twirling batons to a street musician’s songs, a man painted silver doing tricks with a “magic” ball, and a guy making bike-riding balloon chickens!
Next up, it was time for another classic Portland experience at Voodoo Doughnut. This place is so popular that the line begins 20 yards from the building, meanders through a labyrinth along the side of the building, and finally ends in another labyrinth inside.
Once you’ve reached the counter you can order a coffin full of doughnuts or, like Bilbo, just stick with the more common dozen. So, what makes this place so famous? It offers bizarre specialty doughnuts that have been dipped in cereal, covered in candy, or topped with bacon. Yep, that’s right. I said bacon. Voodoo Doughnut’s most popular variety is the maple bacon doughnut, which Bilbo loved! I personally despise doughnuts, so I was just there to experience the atmosphere.
The doughnuts were just an appetizer to hold us off until dinner at Le Pigeon. This little gourmet bistro is run by the winner of this year’s James Beard Award, which recognizes the top new chef in America. The owner and chef, Gabriel Rucker, focuses on meats, which he turns into extravagant French dishes.
We began our meal with a plate of caviar served in quail eggs with beef and radish. It was our first caviar experience and this dish demolished our opinion that caviar must just be something that people eat to seem cool. It was so creamy and smooth with a subtle but delightful flavor.
The appetizer was a hard act to follow but our entrees stepped right up to the challenge. Bilbo had beef cheek bourguignon and I enjoyed the duck with green curry, long beans, peanuts, and cherry tomatoes. I cannot put in to words how good both were. All I can say is we were very pleased.
For dessert, hazelnut semifreddo with chocolate caramel sauce, candied hazelnut and orange tickled our fancy. This was by far the best meal that Bilbo and I have ever eaten and the experience was made even better by the atmosphere. Patrons sit beer garden style at long tables with mismatched antique place settings while the owner/chef runs the open kitchen in the back corner.
After spending a day in Portland I’d say that this picture pretty much sums the place up:
Time was short, so we kept on towards Seattle with two National Park detours along the way. First up was Mt. Rainier National Park. Things were still quite snowy and cold, so we kept away from the trails and spent our time driving the park road. Nonetheless, we found a great view of the mountain and could even see a glacier to the right of its summit.
When we reached the goal of Washington, we visited another winter wonderland at Olympic National Park’s Hurricane Ridge.
Here we could overlook the snowy slopes around Mount Olympus. Isn’t it gorgeous?
In order to make to Seattle for the night we had to hurry on our way, but we did stop to snap a shot of Canada on the horizon.
From Olympic National Park we drove straight back into civilization to catch the ferry. I didn’t count how many cars loaded on, but there had to be over 100 and we were packed in tight. It was like a floating parking garage. Gladly we were able to get out of the car and explore the lounge and deck. There were even video games and a restaurant onboard.
Just like that we were off the ferry and on our way into the city; however, it was late and we saved our exploration for the next morning.
Beginning, of course, with the Space Needle. It wasn’t as tall as we expected, so we skipped the ride to the top to spend more time at our next stop.
Where might that be, you’re wondering. It’s the Pike Place Public Market, home produce and seafood stands, art exhibits, and the first Starbuck’s Coffee.
There I am, in the building where it all began, getting ready to buy a caramel latte.
Fully caffeinated, we continued into the produce and fish market area, where Bilbo enjoyed a spicy chicken stick.
Our visit to the Pike Place Public Market was rounded off at the famous Pike Place Fish Market, where the workers throw fish to one another. I’m not sure if there is any reason that they do this except for fun. If there is, I couldn’t discern their purpose. They tossed a few while we were there, but we never caught a picture of it. I’ll tell this, you really hope they’ll catch them because the alternative could be pretty gross.
The last stop on our Seattle check list was the first REI. We’d already picked up all of our gear for Hawaii and Alaska, so we just did a bit of window shopping. It was an impressive store complete with waterfall, rock wall, and fireplace.
That did it for our day in Seattle, which ranks among our top 5 favorite large cities. All that remained was to catch our plane, and that went off without a hitch. Next time we will begin to tell you about our time in Hawaii, so grab a lei and a mai tai and we’ll meet you back here.
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