And now for the big finale!!! In Portland we stayed with our new friend Linny! Isn't she cute? We had never met her, BUT she was a good friend of Shasta's friend Derrek. And she was sweet enough to let us sleep in her apartment for like 4 nights I think! We had so much fun with her when she didn't have to work. Our first stop the night we got into Portland was the Horse Brass Pub. Our Portland stop was partially an homage to our author hero, Donald Miller. I've mentioned him in past posts because I love his books, and they have especially had a profound effect on me on each of my major moves. I read Blue Like Jazz when I moved from Abilene to Dallas...and Through Painted Deserts as I acclimated to Australia. We went to his favorite pub, coffee shop, and bookstore...but never saw him. :(
Another random connection, was that of Ben! He was great! He hung out with us every night and showed us the whole city top to bottom. We were so appreciative of he and Linny.
We ate breakfast one day at this place called "Byways". Let me tell you something. DO NOT GET the biscuits and gravy there. Those people brought me a biscuit the size of a loaf of bread and northern people don't know how to make gravy. I'm preeetty sure that place ruined that particular meal for me forever. I MIGHT still be able to eat my mom's version. But we'll see...hold on I'm gonna puke...
Moving on. We climbed to the top of Multnomah Falls and played around. We went to the Ski Bowl just outside of Mt.Hood where I got to ride my first Alpine slide and jump on my first trampoline with a HARNESS. The harness is key folks. Takes away all the worry, and should they ever allow harnesses to accompany the Olympic trampoline...you can be sure I will do our country proud.
We ate at Voodoo donuts. Its a famous donut place because they have all these CRAZY flavors, like adding cereal on the tops, or egg and bacon. They were really good but what was interesting is that this place is the size of a closet. Seriously. And its in the ghetto where all the homeless people come to sit through Swahili lessons given by one of the workers in order to get a free donut. Crazy.
SEATTLE. We stayed with Hollee's uncle and his family was sooo wonderful. Especially his wife TeShawna. I want her to be my new best friend. They had 3 cute little girls all under the age of 7...which was perfect since there was 3 of us, we were totally entertained. Uncle Daron had just gotten back from Alaska with 60lbs. of Salmon he had caught. They grilled some of that for us on our first night and I almost licked my plate. So good.
We saw all the sights on our few days there: Space Needle, Original Starbucks, Pikes Place, Seattle Library. That is one cool city. Bigger, and more industrial than Portland. Portland was my favorite. I'd move there just second to Hermosa Beach if I was going to live outside of Texas. Sorry this post is so late and given under retrospect...I've been uber busy with my new Teaching job. Which I LOVE, but I'm exhausted. You can expect more traveling to come on my school holidays!!!!!! Stay tuned!
