Driving through Idaho, we stopped at Shoshone falls, near
Twin Falls. It takes some time to get
to, and in the end you have to pay in order to get the good views of the falls,
but it was worth the trouble.
Thanks to all our friends and family for such a great trip. See you soon!
On day one of our trip home we detoured to Snoqualmie Falls. It’s amazing that hundreds of feet away fromthe falls it’s like it’s constantly raining, making picture taking somewhatdifficult. On the way back to theinterstate, we picked up some Rainier cherries.
Saturday morning we headed out to Woodland Park Zoo with
Lisa. Luckily our hometown zoo
membership has reciprocity with this zoo allowing us 50% off admission. It was chillier than we had anticipated, so
we wrapped tiny guy up warm in a blanket and bought him a hat which though a
little large (adult size), worked out great for him.
Woodland Park was really fun.
Next we all met up with Nick for lunch at Ivar’s. Good fish ‘n chips and chowder. We followed up with gelato and the nearby
shops. We then headed to Pike Place! At Pike Place, we strolled around, had some
mac ‘n cheese at Beecher’s, and took lots of photos.
For dinner, we went to the Luna Park Café, always a
favorite. The milkshakes were good and
as usual Frankie was flirting and made a friend with the table behind us. We then headed back to Alkai Beech as sunset
approached. Again we got to see more
wedding parking comedy.
Friday morning we went out to breakfast at Portage Bay,
which has a really neat “toppings bar” for which certain items on the menu
allow a single visit.
After breakfast, we headed to the Japanese Garden (one of
them anyway). It was a bit smaller than
the one in Portland, but still nice. We
spent a lot of time taking photos and got many nice ones.
Next we met up with Lisa and Nick at the Pacific Science
Center. While waiting for out designated
time, we went to see the butterflies and the rest of the exhibits. The King Tut exhibit was really cool and
really packed. But I have to say there’s
some false advertising going on since they are showing the King Tut Death Mask
on all the advertising materials, and yet it’s not part of the exhibit.
After King Tut, we hung out around the fountain area and
picked up some dessert for later. For
dinner, we met Aroon and Aarthi for pizza at Pizza Pulcinella where the pizza
is good and the dessert pizza is even better. We recommend the Chiaia and the dessert pizza, Il Segreto di Pulcinella. AWESOME!
Continuing on our way to Seattle, we headed out early, making it near Seattle by lunch. We stopped at Aroon and Aarthi’s, dropped off some things, and took Aroon out to dinner at Chutney’s and picked up cupcakes at Trophy Cupcake. 
Afterward, we met Lisa and Nick for ice cream after at Molly Moon.
Wednesday morning we had a quick breakfast and headed out toward the coast, stopping to visit with a few people on the way. By the time we got to Florence, we were ready for an early lunch, so we stopped at Mo’s for some chowder. 
Next, we headed up the coast that we hadn’t seen for two years, enjoying all the familiar sights we’d enjoyed in years past. We stopped at several places along the way. At Cape Perpetua, we stopped to see the blow hole and well (Thor’s well). We had actually never stopped at this spot before, so it was a treat to see for the first time with the tiny guy.
Another place we stopped, we let Frankie play on the beach and get his toes in the ocean.
Tuesday morning we headed to an old favorite of ours (and
many other people we suppose). None other
than Brail’s, well known for its fast and greasy breakfast. Good waffles, bacon, and good sausage. TJ joined us and gave us the lowdown on the
city and county’s budget problems (hello 4-day school weeks and no police).
After Trader Joe’s we headed back to possibly our favorite
restaurant in Eugene, that of La Perla.
The fococia al Beppe and Gianni brought back fond memories of many
dinners here. We have since attempted to
duplicate their roasted garlic offerings, we great success!
Next we headed to Alton Baker park to show Frankie the ducks
and other water animals. Unfortunately,
there’s a new fence nearly all the way around the pond and of course we got
rained on. Good fun either way.
Monday morning, we headed out towards our old hometown of
Eugene. We visited ORI and Alan’s old
office and colleagues, and went to lunch with Kathy at Newman’s fish
market. In the afternoon, we met up with
our friend Chris and went to the international café area at 5th
Street Market. We had the best carrot cake and cocoa from Marché. Eugene lived up to our
memory and managed to rain on us this day (and subsequent days we visited
Eugene). 
We met up with Chris again that evening to go to our
favorite sushi place, Sushi Domo! Good
stuff, including some of our favorites like the crazy roll!
It turns out that Salt Lake isn’t the only place where many
businesses are closed on Sunday.
Corvallis’s “downtown” is nearly dead on Sundays. Not many places open, but we were able to
find lunch at the Old World Café. We had
a nice walk through Corvallis and then got to see one of their nice
co-op’s. We also got to visit one of our
favorite grocery stores, Market of Choice, where we got fish for the evening’s
meal.
After dinner, we wrapped up warm for a walk to the
University Campus where we had dessert at Yogurt Extreme. This was the first self serve frozen yogurt
experience for any of the three of us.
Tasty flavors and tasty toppings.
Saturday morning, we picked Jen up and headed to meet Rita and Josh at Portland’s Saturday Market. It is always entertaining to walk around Portland and see the crafts at the market. After the market, we all loaded up and drove to have lunch at Escape From New York Pizza, some of the best pizza on the planet. Next, we walked around the 23rd area, stopping at Moonstruck to get chocolates. We saw a tree branch fall right behind a skateboarder and everyone around commented at how lucky he was to not be one second behind.
Next, we stopped at the new Saint Cupcake after going to the old one despite our GPS’s instructions. We actually drove past the new one first (as I’d programmed it into the GPS), but thought it was either something else, or just a second location. But alas, the original (or at least previous) location is gone! It’s now replaced witha “coming soon” to be called simply “Fish Sauce”. Appetizing…
Cupcakes loaded, we headed South for Corvallis, home of the Beavers and our friends Kevin and Laurel! We arrived to a warm welcome at their new house and had home made pizza, mmm tasty! Frankie enjoyed their cat (Zorra) and the awesome, non-barking dog (Tess).
Continuing our drive to Portland, we headed out after acontinental breakfast. We stopped atMultonomah Falls and were amazed at how humid and muggy it was, stepping out ofthe car. As we later heard from friendsin Portland, it had been unusually muggy the past couple days, and the waterfrom the falls was only adding to it.
Pressing on, we made it to our hotel at the Residence Inn, unpacked, then headed back out to meet our friend Jen at an old favorite, Beta Lukas (Ethiopian). We all shared the veggie platter and then headed to Pix, a dessert place where we each got a treat. Alan had the “Concord”, a chocolate taste treat. After Pix, we went back to our hotel and witnessed Frankie’s first crawling. As my Grandma Dorothy said, "put him down in a strange place and he will crawl!" He went back and forth on the carpet going after a metal fork.
Later in the evening, we were able to meet up with our good friends Rita and Josh at our favorite food carts at 12th and Hawthorne. We got Perierra Crepe’s and Potato Championfries. Yum!
Let the road trip begin.
Our bags are packed, Frankie’s things are packed (pack and play, check,
diapers, check, toys, check), and we’re ready to go!
