Surprised it took this long....

I am hung...over.  (Movie quote there but from what film..??)

As I say surprised it took this long for one to happen to be honest!  And there we were patting ourselves on the back for having been so sensible and getting early nights etc...

Neither of us have very clear memories about last night as my last post suggests!  Dan was convinced we went into 2 bars after leaving the place where we had pizza which was a worry to me as I had absolutely NO recollection of another bar!  We think now that he is mixing it up and it was only the one bar on the walk home.

So, we had planned for a lovely leisurely morning with a nice lie in then a wander down for breakfast before driving to Portland. But no, we woke up almost too late for breakfast and feeling like shit.  3am-ish we think it was that we went to bed....

Dan, god bless him, threw some clothes on and dashed down to grab some food to bring back to the room so we could at least eat before attempting to pack up again and move on. 

Eventually we managed to shift out of the room and agreed that we would still do the route we had planned on which was too loop around Mount Hood and go to Portland that way. 

I'm glad we did as it was stunning. It also snowed a little on the way and was fooking freezing in parts!!

Selfie wankers!

Hangover hunger hit again soon enough but we had to be in Portland for 2pm to give the car back so couldn't pull into one of the little towns and have a leisurely lunch sadly.  Dairy Queen 'dirty' chicken it was then :-).  With gravy. Yum.. (Dan had a fish burger).

Back on the way with junk food filled bellies and it was a little bit of a race against time. That said, I had checked when the car rental place closed and it was 3pm as it was Sunday so we had a little bit of room though might get charged extra.

We were leaving all the forests & scenery behind now and it was mainly restaurants and bars lining the roads. Like loads of them, everywhere!  All the fast food joints you can think of and more and all seemed to have people in them?!  There were also a number of places called JiffyLube... yeah.. JiffyLube.  Guess what they were?  

Car service places.   I guess those 2 words together don't have the same connotations over here!

Other things I have learnt so far about Oregon - aside from JiffyLube (which I don't think is actually an Oregon only place).  

- There is a town called Boring.
- Cannabis has been legalised here.
- Waitresses fancy Dan (the woman in Manzanita was practically drooling over him) 

- And Oregon is one of only 2 states in America that doesn't (generally) let you pump your own gas.  We were told this when we picked the car up yet each time we have gone for gas a conversation ensues between us over whether or not I should get out and fill up or is that the man there.. is he coming over .. ooh what is that driver doing. No they are staying in the car.. ahh actually maybe they're getting out.  No here's the man Sarah stay where you are!!  

Anyway, bloody get to the car rental place around 2.30 and its fooking closed. It closed at 2pm!!  Aaarrrrggghhhhh... bastardo!  There was a note & key drop place though but we will be getting charged now until opening time tomorrow. BOLLOCKS!  

Took a picture of the car parked up though to prove I did return it as I got paranoid about dropping the keys off and walking away. Left my sunglasses case in there too. 

Will have to buy some new ones as these are obviously going to get scratched now ;-)...  hahaha..

Hotel in Portland is lovely. Really pleased with it and it appears to be in a very good location.. not that we have stepped out yet as we are knackered!  Dan is currently having a power nap to fight off the last of his hangover and I am eyeing up the Snack Box thing they put in the room for you to purchase whilst updating this and watching Gone Girl!!

We are currently planning a very light drinking evening and may even just go out for dinner then back here to watch Line of Duty on the iPad on BBC iPlayer!  Well it was the last episode tonight and we bloody love that series!!  

Will do us the world of good to have a night off it all and get some proper sleep. Whilst we've had early nights, we've drank a lot and slept badly - suspect it's just been about readjusting to the time difference. And then of course the 3am pissed up night last night!!!  

Walking boot justification...

(Saturday) Today was the day to justify to myself (and Dan) that lugging over the walking boots WAS a good idea!
Up and at it early with a lovely big breakfast in Big Wave Cafe - it was very good but Dan's was better and I had food envy!!

Anyway, off we properly set and partway along I made a snap decision to come off the Sat Nav route and take an alternative route. It was an actual scenic highway and a known route (I'm not that good to come up with new ones of my own!) but we hadn't actually known about it!  So glad we took it as we got to see some beautiful views of the Columbia River Gorge with some really interesting stops along the way.  It started in Troutdale and we also got to see 'Vista House' which gave some history of the place and also provided amazing up high views (733ft above the river in fact!).

We soon found the waterfalls - not that you can actually miss them!  The first one was Latourell Falls and this was where the boots came good!  We started off on the hike up to it which is actually broken into 2 stops. Dan stayed at the first stop whilst I pushed on to the top (not mentioned this actually but he has a stinking cold that developed when we got here. It's gone to his chest to so he is struggling to breathe at the best of times so hiking up a mile to the top was not going to happen).  It wasn't the hardest walk I've ever done, but it wasn't a summer stroll either!  I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was great to reach the top waterfall. Not only was it stunning but it was nice and cold too!!

Spot the waterfall pixie

I also saw a couple taking their cat for a walk up there. Yes..Their cat!  I shit you not and I have a picture somewhere to prove it!
From Latourell we pushed on and stopped at a little random one that no-one was bothering with - the falls were quite busy as this is a bit of a popular area for both the falls and the many, many hiking trails around them/the forest/the river.  This one was really pretty -  Shepperd's Dell - until Dan suggested I look over the bridge to it and I nearly cried at the height I was at!!

The big ticket item is Multnomah Falls and we were planning on seeing Wahkeena Falls then hiking over to Multnomah but by this time it was getting horribly busy and we couldn't park anywhere so we drove on to Multnomah Falls itself and thought to hike the other way. Holy shit, M. Falls was crazy busy and it was just mental trying to park. I was getting a bit fed up as I thought i was actually going to miss my chance and then someone pulled out and I was in their spot before they even had their seatbelt on!!  It was all worth it as it is breathtaking however the crowds put us off walking over to Wahkeena Falls as well as the fact we were both ravenous as it was now after 3pm and we'd not eaten since breakfast.
So we just headed on... we did stop off though at Bonneville Dam & Fish Hatchery which was interesting..

Set off then for Hood River having agreed we would pull up at the first place we found in town to eat. Then Dan suddenly says ' hmm why don't we just come off at this exit and eat somewhere here'. (They have signs showing you what food places & gas stations are at certain exits. A bit like our service stations really). Normally we would never bother as it's often like our service station food so I was surprised. Then I saw a sign that showed there was Thunder Island Brewing company there!!  Hahaha. Caught you out Dan! Anyway, it was fine by me so we did and it was a good move.

Talking to the guys on the table we shared, this was a bit of a secret spot that even they hadn't known about until recently and they have lived around there for years so they were gobsmacked that 2 people from the UK had rocked up there!  V small beer and a wrap later and we pushed on to our hotel in Hood River.

We were a bit out of town really but walkable at just over a mile, though the receptionists were horrified by that!  Headed to Full Sail Brewing and had 2 fab seats found for us on their heated terrace overlooking the river. Had a few in there (and a bowl of CheesyBeer soup?!) and moved on to Double Mountain Brewery for more beer and a pizza. A pizza with no tomato sauce on... it was weird but nice weird!

Decided to head back around 11/11.30 (we think) given we had to walk back and then I spotted a bar along the way that 'looked nice'!  So we barged in and were the only people in there. Never mind we thought and we got the drinks in. And more drinks and then were given HUGE shots and then a couple arrived and we had another drink and then the last thing I can remember is the guy apologising to me for Trump being president and then walking back in the rain convinced we were lost....

Hello PCH..

Managed to get the car picked up fairly easily bar the two fuckwits we got behind. Jeez they just did not have a clue!  Even the woman working there said it would have just been so much easier if she had served us first given I had all my paperwork etc ready and sorted (no surprise there really).
The drive was just completely hassle free and the car is great to drive (Its an SUV - Kia Sorrento in Black).  Dan did have a minor stress out in the passenger seat with the Sat Nav and then the iPod but he soon settled down surrounded by a multitude of wires! (Phone goes on charge at every opportunity as well).

We passed through some really interesting towns whilst listening to a selection from The Beautiful South, Richard Hawley and then Abba :-). There was a place called Willappa that just looked like one large camping/holiday site with the way the houses are made and laid out. The NW Pacific is so different to the SW Pacific to say the least. It's so green and lush here with pretty little towns and houses all over the show.
Highway 101 doesn't hug the coast quite the same at this end but when we did finally spot some water bloody Dan was practically hanging out the window like some daft dog does when driving along!

We stopped in Astoria for lunch which is a very quaint little town and I had grilled oysters from Willapa no less. (They were grilled in the pub though not actually grilled in Willapa ;-) )
The couple next to us started up a conversation once they heard our accents and it turns out they live in Sisters - which isn't too far from one of the places we do want to go to. Apparently it was snowing there on Thursday which was crazy as we were seeing blue skies and sunshine and we're not that far from Sister. Though it is inland.
She gave us some more tips on places to go along our way and also gave me her business card so that we could either stop by if we pass through Sisters or to call her if we hit trouble en route. How nice is that?!

Set back off again with a mini stop in Cannon Beach which was a place I had originally wanted to stay. Glad we didn't as whilst it's really lovely, you can see it is now one for the tourists. We had a breezy walk on the beach to see the Haystacks, had a quick drink and then set off the final few miles to Manzanita.
We're in a proper, drive up to the door Motel here with a VHS player in our room! It's a very laid back place - simple and clean with a very comfy bed.
Had a quick wander and booked in to one of the two restaurants here. It's quite busy - assume cos its the weekend and the weather has turned.  We then wandered to the one and only pub and had a couple of drinks pre dinner. We did a little plan of the route after Portland cos we kept changing our minds but need to fit around the lighthouse. Came up with a good route so at some point we we will look at actual towns & hotels!! Again our accent got picked up on and a lovely chat with our neighbours ensued. Turns out they lived in the UK for a while so the woman was excited to hear our accents. Apparently her husband said that 'well if they are British they won't want us to bother them so leave them alone'!!  Funny.

They were really lovely and now live in Portland so they gave us a couple of places to head that we would not have known about and also, like everyone else said that our plans for Saturday - heading along the Columbia River Gorge and getting on some hikes to the Waterfalls etc - were spot on and shouldn't be missed.
So funny cos the other people at the table were desperate to geg in on the conversation once they realised we were British. We ended up leaving slightly late for our dinner as we were chatting to everyone!  But its wonderful as people are SO genuine and friendly and incredibly proud of living on the NW pacific coast so want to give us as much info as possible. And ask about whether we like Man Utd or Man City. Dan gets slightly irritated to say the least as they always say Utd first!!  Hahahaha.

Dinner in 'The Blackbird' was sensational. We were actually sat on a bench that was overlooking the tiny kitchen - a bit like being at Chef's table to be honest - and it was fascination watching how they managed in such a small space. And every meal was delivered the same.
I had the clams and Dan had some wonderful vegetarian dish. We were blown away by it and it was accompanied by a lovely bottle of Oregon's Pinot Noir.

Once again though, the travel and the busy day crept up on us and by 10ish we were flagging big time so we called it a night and headed back.   Super excited about our planned adventures for Saturday..

Moving on...

It's Friday now and time to shift on to our new destination - Manzanita...

I bobbed downstairs to the lovely cafe attached to our hotel and got us coffee and bagels so now that has been consumed and we've forced our crap back into our cases, we need to go and get the car and hit that open road <gulp>..  I know I have done it before but there's still a touch of nerves about driving on the other side of the road etc.. I'm fine once I get going and out of the centre though and Dan has bought a Sat Nav.

Drive should take us about 4 - 5 hours depending on how often we stop. Most of the drive will be on the PCH so that will be great to do that again.

A Frasier-less Seattle

One of my favourite TV programmes is Frasier and it has been for a long time. So you can imagine that i was disappointed to find out some time back that it was never actually filmed in Seattle meaning I was unlikely to bump into him in Cafe Nervosa ;-).

Putting this disappointment behind me we ventured off bright and early for breakfast. Dan had already looked up some possible places that were on the way to Pike Place and so we barged our way into Ludi's...  Its a great little place - no frills, simple menu and friendly staff.  We were provided with iced waters instantly and orders taken for tea and coffee whilst we made up our minds on the menu. 

Wham was playing in the background (Wake me up before you go go) and I went for the 3 egg omelette with mushroom and swiss. With a side of toast. Yeah cos in America a 3 egg omelette is not going to be enough is it Sarah so you need to order toast!!

HEEUGE! Came with hashed potatoes too!  Anyway, I actually did manage to polish it off and after more coffee we headed off to mooch around. 

We went to Pike Place which was good - I got a fridge magnet and some Bee earrings as you do!  The fish and the fruit and veg stalls were amazing. Absolutely amazing. I don't know how you wouldn't want to eat well with food that fresh and beautiful looking. 

Had me hankering for a big old plate of crab and shellfish for dinner that's for sure.

We moved on to just generally wander our way over to the Space Needle and just see what Seattle had to offer - errm which isn't actually that much dare I say!  Don't get me wrong i like it here but it's just not 'all that'. Guess I have got too used to the really big cities.. But there is a good vibe here and the people are really friendly so that's all to the good. 

We stopped for coffee - you are obliged to in Seattle I believe! - and I found us a hotel in Manzanita 

and got us booked in. We then shifted on to a Sports Bar to watch the bloody match <severe rolling of eyes>.  The bar was nice enough and we, of course, got chatting to a couple of guys also watching the match. They had been doing quite a lot of travelling and had been to Philadelphia, Kansas, NYC and were heading to Canada next. One of the guys was going to meet his half sister for the first time and learn more about his mother who had been forced to give him up for adoption when his natural father had done a bunk and denied he was his. Back in the day, as we know, being an unmarried mother was just unheard of so her father forced the adoption. So sad... 

The match finally finished and we headed on to the Space Needle.. I had to go and buy some shit sunglasses cos Dan had told me that the weather was going to be cold and grey and I wouldn't need mine and I, like a bloody fool believed him. Yeah.. it was bright and sunny grrr!! 

I had to turn and face the wall in the lift as it was just far too much for me to look out of the glass frontage and eventually we arrived at the top. I was OK with that as you're not really able to see straight down and the views were fantastic.  I'll post some pics when I can work out why the frig this blog won't let me do it from my phone but will let Dan.. pfft...

We had another beer up there plus a little snackette and then after a while made our way back down and to the Monorail - which only has 2 stops (the start and the finish!) and only goes partway across town. Anyway, we tootled off then and basically just covered a variety of bars!

Yard House, Elysian on 2nd - where bizarrely we bumped into Josh as we walked out. Dan reckons he was hanging out there all day to see if he could just accidentally bump into us hahaha.. 

Then onto Pike Brewery which was a bit of a strange place but had actual hipsters serving - red lumberjack shirts, top knots and beards! It was quite cavernous with odd little sections to it.. felt quite funky/edgy but also like you were in the local market or underground train station too!

I had previously got some recommendations from the guy serving us in the sports bar for where to get some good seafood but by this time, really wasn't feeling like a big plate of it so we shifted on to a place Dan spotted (Von's 1000 spirits)and grabbed a bite in there. D didn't like where they seated us but I was getting tired and hungry by now so could not be arsed fannying about and moving so we stopped where we were! It was a bit dead though and I think it kind of killed us off...  I had this seafood casserole which had lovely fish in it but was overspiced and underseasoned so it wasn't as tasty as it should have been. We were really tired after this so basically just walked back towards our hotel and went for a last one in our bar.. We were falling asleep now (it was only 9.30!) and so decided that enough was enough as we had been out for over 12 hours and we should just retire to bed and so we did.........

Booked (kind of), packed (SO heavy!) and f'd off....

So the big day finally arrived and we were up and at it on time :-). I didn't spend my night worrying about the pets but whether or not I really had checked my ESTA correctly - ie that it wasn't actually still valid - and also, what if they take a dislike to the fact I have a Russian visa and Turkish visa's in my passport!  (Dan has Israel in his too!!).
Anyway, I put those nighttime overthought thoughts to one side and cracked on!

We sailed through bag drop & security and were in the bar in no time... Bloody Mary please.
Plane was slightly delayed in boarding/take off but they managed to reduce the actual time flying so we were due to arrive at the same time as originally planned anyway so that was fine.
I was very happy in Premium Economy I have to say. Seats were very comfy, really roomy and there was lots of Prosecco on boarding.  I watched Allied on the way which was pretty good, ate lots (really nice food) and drank even more!  Hahaha.  I also slept quite a bit.
We had hardly any time in Atlanta airport as Border Control took aaaages - and not because my ESTA wasn't valid nor because they were intrigued by my other holidays but just because.  Realistically we sailed through, we just had to queue first!
Security took time too and then we just had to go straight to gate.
Once again the plane was delayed but they reduced the time flying?! Errm how???
But this premium economy was not very nice. This was with Delta so a partner flight to Virgin and it was very small & cramped with just a bit more leg room.  They were generous in snacks, not bad with drinks and very mean with the air conditioning. Eugghhh it was SO hot on that flight.  Managed to sleep through through 2 films ;-) and eventually we were in Seattle.

Our hotel is really nice. Nothing fancy but we knew that already but lovely staff and a nice size room and very clean.  What more can we want. -  OH and a great coffee maker ;-)
We didn't venture far as we were tired etc so we went into our hotel bar. Mainly because we were determined to get onto the new time zone and go to bed accordingly.

The bar is great and Dan loves the beer selection. Really nice food too. It was really full for a Wednesday night and not really with residents.
We got chatting to the guy next to us - Josh - who was another beer lover and was here for a conference. He lived in Portland for 3 years but is actually from Wyoming. Anyway, he started giving us some great tips for places to stay/visit based on what we are looking for over the next couple of day :-)
I was SO happy as he mentioned 2 places I had ummed and ahhhed about and so now we're going there and have, once again, changed around the path that we're taking over the next couple of days.  This was exactly what we had hoped for - ie local knowledge to help us decide where next!
Josh is a lovely guy and gave us his card in case we fancy catching up again tonight as he is here on his own and has no plans other than the conference :-). Think it was ideal for him as this means he has someone to chat with but its all totally 'none threatening' so to speak.
So now, next stop after Seattle is Manzanita - which is on the coast - for one night and then over to 'River Hood' which is a tiny town apparently but perfectly located for getting out on the Columbia River Gorge (which is where we wanted to go) and also to get to Mount Hood which will be quite interesting.
This then will neatly take us to Portland where we are booked in for anyway from Sunday....
Still not decided where after Portland - aside from the Lighthouse that I have booked - which is really quite exciting.
Anyway to matters at hand.  I am just arisen from bed (hahaha) and we are now, post lovely coffee's ,about to get ready and venture out into actual Seattle.
First stop breakfast yum yum........

The night before (again!)

I say again because I did a post with the same title on my last blog (see DaynesRoadTrip.blogspot.com).

So yeah, its the night before our 2nd crack at a road trip on the West Coast of America!

This time it's Seattle to San Francisco with very little planning done.. which kind of sits outside of my comfort zone even though i have been a driving force behind not having it overly planned.

I mean, I am Ok with 'no plans' when you are in one destination and then just seeing how you feel each day as to where you want to go/what you want to do.  But having less than 50% of your holiday in definite accommodation or known locations is a bit weird for me!

But I know it will be so worth it and lets face it, we're hardly going to a place that struggles for motels/hotels are we?!!

Its going to be great fun and I am in particular looking forward to our stay in a lighthouse which is about halfway through the trip (see I do have some plans ;-) ).

Anyway, today's prep hasn't gone quite as it should but it's still all OK.  BeeBee (our lovely puppy) went off to her holiday home without fuss and Jesse P has been running all around the house loving the fact there is no pain in the arse puppy around!  My last minute clothing delivery went awry as the courier reckons I wasn't in - when I was - so that is a few items of holiday clothing missing now. That said, I know I need and want to pack lighter than last time as it was a proper ballache dragging that big case in and out of places and we didn't have quite as many different hotels that time. Also this means I might just have to buy stuff when I am there ;-). Hahaha

Checking in online resulted in us having seats one row and about 5 seats apart on the Atlanta to Seattle leg of the journey. As I said to my friend earlier though, maybe after approx 13hours straight with Dan I will be ready for a little separation!! And he from me too obvs ;-)

We're both all packed now. Dan did a power pack as he called it. IE he just grabbed clothes, bent them up (to him it is folding!) and shoved them in his case. All done in less than 15mins!!

I have made up some food for Aaron and squeezed in a much needed hair colouring and then looked to sort this old blog out so yeah, all looking good right now.

Just had a mini cheese and biscuits session with some red wine and then I think it's starting to look like bedtime as we need to be on our way by 7.30am..... 

I KNOW I am going to lay awake fretting about whether Bee has settled into her holiday place OK and is sleeping happily and if Jesse will be OK without anyone here for the next 48hours!  What the hell has happened to me!!   And as for Aaron and his upcoming exams and being left with the house and pets to sort out, well.......

I've told Dan he needs to get me good and drunk on the way to Seattle just so I don't worry about everyone..   Ha.. well its a decent excuse/justification  if nothing else. Not that I really need one but anyway........