West Coast 2012: Seattle

Decided!!  C and I chose different food trucks to eat from on the way out of town and they were both located at the 10^th Ave & Alder Street “pod” – or group of food trucks. 

The corrugated metal one is The Whole Bowl    

I chose The Whole Bowl which was literally one of the best meals I have had all week, and it took the awesome lady in the truck less than 1 minute to put together.  They only serve one thing and it’s a great mixture of ingredients in a bowl – from their website (www.thewholebowl.com)… a “medley of brown rice, red and black beans, fresh avocado, salsa, black olives, sour cream, Tillamook cheddar, cilantro, Tali Sauce.”  I skipped the olives and got extra sour cream based on personal preference and it was amazing.  Best part – only $5.  If you’re in the area – there are three locations – do not walk, RUN to this food truck.

C chose The Island Grill (Hawaiian BBQ) and got the Teriyaki Beef – mmmmm.  The seasonings were very yummy and it came with potato salad? (not sure where that came from) and two healthy portions of rice.  No need for so much rice but altogether a very good Teriyaki.  This combo was only $6.50 – not bad…

Next stop was Mt. Rainier National Park – yup that’s right, 3 National Parks, 1 week.  Unfortunately, it was RAINING!  Oh no!  We didn’t really bring “rain hiking gear” so we had to do most of our sight seeing from the car.  Hopefully one day we’ll get the opportunity to see these beautiful sights on a clear Seattle day… oxymoron??

Looks really stormy and it wasn't so bad, but thought this was a cool shot.

We got to the city and checked into the Marriott downtown about 6pm.  The hotel was in a great location!  We walked everywhere!  First night we went to a great pizza place up the hill (oh yes, you didn’t know Seattle was built on a HUGE hill… neither did we until we walked it 100 times) in more of a residential area.  It was called Primo and served great relatively thin crust pizza.

We headed to Pioneer Square for a couple of drinks, and then hit the sack ready for a day of exploring!  Breakfast on Friday was delicious!  We tried to find something different than the “normal breakfast” and boy did we find a gem!  We went to Sweet Iron Waffles on 3^rd Avenue downtown and had the greatest Belgian style waffles.  C had bacon with maple syrup while I went a little more outside the box and had their herbed goat cheese, hazelnut and honey.  Mmmmm – forgot to snap a before shot so excuse the half a waffle below…

We highly recommend skipping the space needle and going up to the 73^rd floor of the Columbia Center to their observatory.  There is almost a 360 degree view of the city and it was gorgeous… also cheaper than the space needle.

CenturyLink & SafeCo side by side

Next stop, the public market – thank goodness we went here because it is AS GOOD as everyone says it is.  We saw the fish market (with their yelling), beautiful flowers, and the original Starbucks location (cool since it’s SO big now!).  We tasted yummy fresh jerky and cheese, as well as slipped in a quick tasting at Wilridge Winery’s stand.  One of the coolest things was watching the cheese process and then trying the delicious cheese being made at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese!  The mac & cheese was to-die for!

Look at those lobster tails!

After that experience we decided to get out of the crowds and kick back a little for a microbrew.  We settled in at The Pike Pub & Brewery and tried two of their delicious beers – Scotch Ale and Organic Ale – yummm.

We then went on an underground tour of Seattle since the city burned down in 1889 and was re-built higher due to “drainage issues” – yes sewage – ew.  The tour was ok, we learned a lot of Seattle history and went to some of the underground sidewalks and rooms but I don’t think it was done quite as well as it could have been.  Some things looked “placed” but who knows... Only speculation, but there was this one cool bar in a large room that they said they discovered when the underground was opened back up after being closed from 1907-1960.  They think that the bar was down there from prohibition… if so, then that would be super cool. 

Finally it was time for our main attraction… Safeco Stadium!  C and I have an item on our bucket list to see all of the MLB baseball stadiums before we kick-it.  SO, we try to base our “yearly” trips around a new stadium so that we can keep the count going.  This year - Safeco Stadium and the Seattle Mariners vs the LA Dodgers.  A no hitter – yes, friends – the Dodgers did not have a single hit against all SIX Mariners pitchers and so we saw our second no hitter on our stadium “tour.”  First one was Mark Buehrle’s perfect game on July 23, 2009 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago – so much fun to watch!

Before the game we got another microbrew at Pyramid Alehouse in their beer garden and tried a Rainier beer at Hooverville on the far side of the stadium.  Apparently this second one was a true “local” spot and we really enjoyed talking to a few of them.  Then we headed into the game for a chilly night of baseball.  We tried the nachos (really disappointing) and the garlic fries (better at AT&T Park – SF Giants).

Retractable roof... not needed tonight

Look at that scoreboard!

Alright so the only time we DIDN’T walk was after the game when I was freezing and absolutely loved the bicyclist that took us back to the hotel in the little carriage seat on the back.  Thank you!  It was a great end to a great trip.

Saturday morning brought packing and airport insanity.  Somebody needs to improve check-in logistics at Southwest during cruise Saturdays.  I’ve never seen a more hectic group of people trying to check luggage – all passengers on the Alaskan cruise ending Saturday were dropped off at the airport at the same time – 2 hours before our flight... we stood in line to check camping gear and wine for 1 and a half hours and got to the gate 15 minutes before our flight, only after skipping through the security line – yes, sorry for those waiting behind us at SEA security.

Where to next?  We’re home bound for now… Until there's something worth posting...

West Coast 2012: Portland

After leaving California, our first stop in Oregon was Crater Lake National Park.  The 6 mile long lake was surrounded by about 4 feet of snow on all sides.  It was 37 degrees at the top, but C and I trekked through the snow anyway to get the good views.  We were very surprised to learn that Crater Lake was created when a mountain imploded on itself and subsequently the gap filled with water.  Today, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and has only frozen over two times since 1900 – apparently deeper waters are harder to freeze.  It also has an exceptional blue color… take a look.

Traveling even farther into Oregon produced a lot of cattle ranches, some flower farms and one cracked windshield… really???  To us?  Now?  Oh well.  It’s a big ‘ole crack – there are tons of truckers on I-5.  Oh, and it's even bigger now... I think rain makes it worse??

This was our “big driving” day and so we FINALLY arrived in Portland at around 5:45pm.  Our hotel room at the Mark Spencer Hotel in the Pearl District is nice enough – it prides itself on being “old world hospitality” and don’t worry they made sure to leave us the 1972 avocado green refrigerator.  Thank you!  But in all seriousness comfy bed, good staff, very accommodating...

C and I enjoyed a great Thai dinner at Sweet Basil Thai and of course over ate.  We decided to stop at anything that looked interesting along a random course home.  First stop, The Parish, which is a brand new restaurant that opened two weeks ago and although I only had a beer and an Irish coffee, I highly recommend it.  If you’re in the area this place seems like an awesome place to get oysters and has a cool atmosphere.  For those at home… reminds us of a “city” version of Woodberry Kitchen.  Next, we stopped at Deschutes Brewery where we both tried beers that were made right there at the Portland Pub location (copper vats and all).  I tried the Hefeweizen and C tried the Couch St. Kolsch.  They were both delicious and we recognized the “classic” brews as bottles we had seen at home.  Pretty cool.

Thursday morning we headed to the International Rose Test Garden.  Who knew that all types of roses were tested before being released to the public??  Well I guess it makes sense.  I have never seen so many roses in my entire life – how beautiful.  It was a rainy day in Portland but thanks to the Mark Spencer Hotel we had big umbrellas – so we saw roses in the rain… kind of romantic?  My new favorite rose – Eden.  I’ll have to find those climbers for my garden next year…

Eden Roses

All American Magic Grandiflora

Undecided, but we may stop at a food truck or two on the way out of town since Portland is known for its funky food trucks all over town AND our hotel seems to have a gathering of around 30 right around the corner…

Where to next?  Seattle, WA... 3 National Parks, one road trip?... Until there's something worth posting...

West Coast 2012: Northern California

So…. Mt. Shasta, huh?  Nope – not quite.  Somewhere about an hour into our trip North, C and I realized that we weren’t stopping at the town of Mt. Shasta right off I-5 to camp for the night like we had originally thought… instead we had reserved a campsite two hours (round trip) out of our way – awesome.  Well at this point, what can we do??  We decided to make the best of it!

Rice is grown in Cali.... news to me! 

After driving through some of the smaller towns of Northern California, we ended up at a Vista in the Mt. Shasta National Forest – this would have been just a stretch point if it weren’t for the Burney locals (logging town down below) that let us borrow their tool (no idea what’s the small black thing is called) in order to see the transit of Venus!!  This is when Venus crosses the sun, and no one will see it again in the world for another 105 years!!  Amazing sight.

Finally, we arrived at our campsite at McArthur-Burney Memorial State Park that sits between the Mt. Shasta National Forest and the Lassen National Forest.  We pitched our tent about 5pm, and headed out for a short hike - we weren’t prepared to see one of the most gorgeous waterfalls we’ve ever seen!  AMAZING!  The water seeps into the ground and comes out all along the face of the waterfall – this makes for a very wide waterfall with a lot of flow points.

Water seeping from the face of the cliff - beautiful!

The fire we built fed us turkey burgers again – yum – and we finished up some delicious Napa Valley wines and had some good ‘ole beers by the fire.  We knew it was going to get cold during the night, but boy was it COLD.  At about 38 degrees I was huddled in the middle of my sleeping bag with C’s socks on my hands and my towel wrapped around me for an added layer.  You would think we would pack more appropriately for cold weather camping after our Grand Canyon experience… (35 degrees in a thunderstorm with sheeting rain and wind) but no.  Oh well.

Wine and camping??  Why not?

We survived and woke up to a beautifully crisp morning.  Moving on… Mt. Shasta, yes we actually saw Mt. Shasta today.  The beautiful snow-capped dormant volcano rising 14,162 feet high was a gorgeous staple along our morning drive.  It was absolutely breathtaking to have a view of this volcano throughout the entire 55 miles to Mt. Shasta – thank goodness it’s dormant!  Did you realize we had 71 volcanoes on the mainland U.S.?  I certainly didn’t – fun fact!

Where to next?  Portland, OR... I hear the roses are in bloom... Until there's something worth posting...

West Coast 2012: Napa Valley

Our Napa Valley experience began on Sunday afternoon when C and I split tastings of one flight of whites and one flight of current releases at Clos Du Val Winery.  The white flight was extraordinary, which included the Pinot Noir Rose that I definitely want to use to make their Rose Sangria, as well as the Chardonnay.  The Chardonnay was like no Chardonnay I have ever had before because it has no oak (i.e. not creamy and buttery – not a big fan of that type of Chardonnay) due to the process being stopped before the malolactic fermentation.  Next, we decided to enjoy a bottle of the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc outside under an umbrella next to the vineyard.  Gorgeous scenery…

After such a great start, we headed north and checked into the Vintage Inn in Yountville, CA.  Wow.  This boutique hotel is ideal for setting the mood for a great experience of wine tasting and relaxing.  We had champagne breakfast each morning and afternoon tea including tea, coffee and delicious sandwiches.

Sunday evening we ate a great french meal at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville.  We enjoyed a pitcher of french table wine which was enough for a small army.  Definitely recommend this quaint french bistro to anyone visiting the area!

After an amazing champagne breakfast on Monday morning we headed out on our very own “winery tour.”  Basically we decided that we would stop by a couple of wineries that people had suggested and then some additional ones based on deals found on the “Winery Finder” app – great app that finds 2 for 1 tasting deals and free tastings!

We began at Peju (which we later found a 2 for 1 coupon for – ergh) and loved architecture inside and out - some great stained glass.  Don, who led the tasting for us and another couple, was very knowledgeable and even let us try the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc that has not been released yet.  This was amazing because you could truly tell the difference between the 2010 and 2011.  The 2010 was lighter on your tongue and 3 out of 4 of us liked that one better.  Crazy!  Well we ended up with a bottle of the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, as well as the 2007 Merlot.  Their Merlot does not have the tannins of most Merlot wines so there is not that typical dryness.  We learned that 2007 was a perfect growing season here in Napa and therefore all the grapes were just that much better.  Delicious!

Next stop on our tour was Grgich Hills Estate – amazing!  This winery is family owned and the founder is still alive and around the estate at 89 years old!  With our tasting we got a full tour of the facility looking at the grapes, and learned about the establishment of Napa Valley.  In 1976, the Judgment of Paris – blind taste test in Paris – was where Mike Grgich won the prize for best overall Chardonnay in a blind taste test including French wines.  The French were very upset – maybe that’s where the hostility comes from???  Anyway, the Chardonnay was awesome – again did not go through the MLF process.  The wine was a bit more expensive so we just enjoyed the tour here.  Yum...

We quickly stopped at Alpha Omega for a tasting and would have stayed and relaxed in the beautiful lounge area if it had been a little bit nicer outside.  Anyway, we moved on…

Next was the Honig Winery, which is very eco-friendly, and has a great ambiance to their tasting rooms.  We stopped by for a free tasting (after “checking-in” on FB) and bought a bottle of the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc – only $17!! – seeing a theme here?

Turnbull also offered a free tasting (yay!) so we stopped there next and enjoyed the small winery atmosphere.  The Viognier was delicious and so was the Cabernet Sauvignon.  At this point we had discovered that C and I LOVED the Cab Sauv from Napa and it was also VERY pricey.  We probably would have bought more of that but the Sauvignon Blanc was not such a big hit to our budget.  So we bought a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc and I must say I just love the label with this great Bull that looks almost like a Native American sketch.

Finally…. I know – it’s been a long day right?? – it was!  We ended our tour at V. Sattui where we decided we could use a break for food, relaxation, etc.  We completed a 2 for 1 tasting where we got to share 12 wines (wow!) and then had a snack including a baguette, artichoke cream cheese, tomato & mozz salad, as well as a Panini.  Everything was delicious.  This Winery was more of a “market place” I would say.  There were about 20 different counters to taste at and then a huge deli to get food, etc.

Right before the "nap" 

Then I decided a “nap” would be nice… right… two and half hours later we switched things up and went to the Red Hen Cantina in Napa, just about 10 minutes south of Yountville.  Yummy Mexican food. 

What we learned:  I like Chardonnay as long as it has “no oak” or is stopped before the MLF.   2007 was a perfect growing season in Napa.  White wines should be drunken within 3-4 years, while the tannins (dry strong tastes) in red wine become milder when aged.


Where to next?  Mt. Shasta, Northern California... Camping... Until there's something worth posting...

West Coast 2012: Yosemite

Saturday, June 2nd started off our 7 day trip from San Francisco, CA to Seattle, WA.  The first year we were together we drove from San Diego, CA to San Francisco, CA in about the same amount of time.  Needless to stay we were excited to get started on the rest of the west coast.

So our trip started with a 4am departure from my mom's house in SF.  I would say we hit our goal when we drove out of the driveway at 4:10am.  3 hours and 20 minutes later we found ourselves entering the oldest national park in the country - Yosemite National Park.  

GORGEOUS and big!  20 minutes later we pulled into Camp 4 - a first come, first serve camp site for tents only that is known for being the jumping off spot for many rock climbers.  NO, we do not rock climb but it's the only campsite in Yosemite Valley that you don't need a reservation for and we decided that's where we wanted to stay.  C and I stood in line for 45 minutes and as the 38th & 39th people we got a spot at campsite 31!  We were very excited.

After setting up camp and putting our food and "perfume items" in our locker (to keep safe from bears - ah!)(some guys car got ransacked by a bear the night before for his sunflower seed shells... Ew clean your car!) C and I headed out for a 3.5 hour 3 mile 1,500-foot gain hike to see Yosemite Fall a little better.  It was steep!  In the guide book it said "strenuous" and all I could wonder is "what is very strenuous" which is the next level of hiking.  It was WELL worth it at the top when we got to see the upper and lower parts of the Yosemite Fall which is a staple waterfall throughout the park because it can be seen from so many places.  C and I have learned that we were definitely not what you would call "prepared hikers".  People have some intense gear!

We've also learned that once we're on the way back down from these hikes we are in a great mood because "we've done it!".  Next we decided to jump on the free shuttle around the park, rent rafts and float down the Merced River for an hour and a half or so.  The weather was beautiful but that river water from melted glaciers and snow was FREEZING!

We made a charcoal fire in our fire pit and ate yummy turkey burgers - thanks for the help prepping mom!

Since our day started early, it ended early too.

At 7:30am on Sunday, June 3rd we began what we thought was a "nice flat 3 mile" hike to see Vernal Fall which is at the end of the Mist Trail.  Nope, not at all, we completed a 2.5 hour, 3 mile 1,000 foot-gain hike up to the very tiptop of Vernal Fall and back.  Amazing all around including several rainbows through the mist!  C compared the said "mist" to a light rain so we definitely got a little wet but we didn't mind!  We had to get through over 600 granite steps and at the very top was a thin rocky path that had been built on the face of a rock, and I DID NOT like it - almost had an anxiety attack on my way back down it.  But I made it, and then had to face the steepest set of stairs I've ever seen. Oh and they possibly might be wet or soaked so be careful!

The steps...

Again, we descended the trail two very happy people, broke down our camp site, went to the shower site, grabbed a hot bite to eat and were on our way!  Where to next?  Napa.... Wine country..... Until there's something worth posting...