Day One
We started out early in the morning on the 26th. The weather was dreary and would be pretty much through out the trip. It was perfect to drive through Wyoming though. Wyoming gets a bad rap but it really is beautiful country. Plus there are jackalopes! We stopped for the night in Missoula, Montana. I had no idea what to expect of Montana except that I knew Brokeback Mountain was filmed there. Montana is beautiful! I was so surprised at how amazingly beautiful it was. Missoula was a really cool little college town too. They had a really quaint little downtown that was really old. We stumbled upon the Iron Horse Brew Pub and had a great dinner there. They kept trying to get us to have Fort Collins brews though which we though was pretty funny since we can get them whenever we want. We stayed that night at the place with the silliest name, the C'mon Inn. It was a really cool place and we enjoyed the hot tubs immensely!
Alice all ready for her trip
Wyoming
Douglas, Wyoming
The world's largest jackalope
Day 2
The next morning we were off again, next stop Seattle. We had to drive through Idaho which was also amazingly beautiful. Eastern Washington was lots and lots of farm land though so it wasn't the most exciting. We were really excited to get to Seattle though. We had some great accommodations thanks to Alan's co-workers parents. They have to most amazing place on the Puget Sound. Their garage in on the road level but you have to walk down like 9 stories to get to their house. The house itself is 3 stories with the top being the living room and kitchen, the 2nd being the bedrooms, and the bottom being the level on the sound with a huge deck and a hot tub along with the "boat house" they are turning into a kitchen/wet bar. Adam's dad cooked up an amazing dinner of smoked pork chops and baked potatoes. Man it was good and I don't like smoked things. We chatted with them until it was dark and then it was time for bed. But before bed we had to take advantage of that hot tub on the Sound. We sat out in the rain and listened to the waves lap against the shore of the Sound. I've never been in the middle of a large city and been able to forget it so wholly before. You really were able to think that you were out in the middle of the wilderness in their house, truly amazing experience.
Montana mountains
Wallace, Idaho
The center of the universe
Idaho mountains
Puget Sound - the hot tub was amazing at night in the rain!
Day 3, 4, and 5
That morning we were spoiled with a scrumptious breakfast of smoked sausage and potatoes before we headed off on our drive to the ferry over to Lopez Island. But before we headed over to the island, I had one important stop to make, Trophy Cupcakes! They make the most incredible cupcakes and it is a place I must stop any time I'm in the area. So yea, I'm the girl buying cupcakes at 8 am but they were so incredible. The pineapple upside down cupcakes were absolutely incredible!
Lopez Island was the first place I had ever encountered what they call "island fever". Its a rather small island and there are only 1400 people that live there and I felt a bit claustrophobic and stir crazy. It really is a beautiful place though. Its really big on biking which we were so excited about. The weather really didn't quite cooperate though since it rained cats and dogs most of the time we were there. We really had a nice time with Alan's dad's best friend from second grade (crazy huh?) and his wife though. It was fun to hear all Alan's dad's stories from someone else's perspective too. But after one night and half a day, we were back on the ferry and then headed to Portland.
Alice on her first ferry ride
Alan, me, Bruce and Sheila
Pretty purple starfish
Day 6, 7 and 8
We spend more time in Portland than we did anywhere else but it was no where near enough time once again. The first night we were there, we just hung out with Alan's aunt and uncle. Uncle Mike made us the most amazing dinner of lamb, tabouleh, hummus...it was awesome! The next day we saw Alan's tutu and chatted with her for a bit. It was sunny that day so we all decided to go to the amazing place called Freedom Park. Its like 5000 acres of forest in the middle of the city with miles of trails running through the park. I could get lost there for hours! After that, a nap was in order and then we went with Alan's cousin Emily and her husband for sushi in Portland. It was amazing sushi with 2 really amazing people. It was really fun to get to know 2 such creative people that hold family so close to them. The next morning we had breakfast with them (lemon poppyseed pancakes with spicy mango chutney - delicious!) and then we took a drive up the Columbia River Gorge which is one of my favorite places in the world. After that we had another fabulous dinner with Alan's family and then we were off to San Francisco the next morning.
Day 9 and 10
We spent the next 2 days on the road driving from Portland to San Francisco along the coast. It was totally worth the extra time because the coastline is just so amazing. We stopped for the night in Eureka, California and we found Lost Coast Brewing Co. They make some kick ass beer and we had some great food. It was such a great find in a place that I wasn't too excited about staying. We drove through the Avenue of the Giants on the way and there are just no words for that experience. The huge redwood trees are just awesome, literally awesome. We arrived in SF the afternoon of day 9 and that night we had tickets to the SF Giants vs. the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park. That was such a fun experience and we had the most AMAZING seats 5 rows behind the Rockies! We lost but we had such a great time watching the Rockies play somewhere other than Coors Field.
Alice at Tillamook Cheese
Oregon Coastline
Alice driving through a redwood tree
The Avenue of the Giants
Fun randomness
Golden Gate Bridge
California coastline
Day 11 and 12
We spend these 2 days tooling around SF. We did the basic touristy things like going to Fisherman's Wharf and riding the cable cars. We had a really good time walking around and being scared by the "bush men" even though I knew they were there. We found an vintage arcade game museum and that was super cool too because you can play all of them even though they are super old. We met this super awesome 75 year old British lady in line for one of the cable cars. Turns out that she flew from England to NYC alone and then took one of those cross country bus tours alone from NYC to SF. Then once in SF, she walked from Union Square to the Wharf all by herself too. She was such an inspiration to me. I sometimes let my fear of being alone and trying new things hold me back but she wasn't scared at all. It was so cool and she jut loved Alan. Alan has this thing where he can get old ladies to just love him. My own grandmother told me that Alan was her favorite grandchild. Anyways, we saved her a great seat on the cable car and Alan hung off the side taking pictures for her. We had a great time just chatting with her, she was an inspiration to me. Later that night, we had a late snack at this silly, cool and cheesy 50's diner and I got pie and coffee. I love pie and coffee. Then we rode the cable car back and forth on California Ave. until we couldn't stand it anymore and we crashed in our hotel room. The next morning we had reserved for the California Academy of the Sciences. That was one of the most amazing places I've been. Its in Golden Gate Park and it has an planetarium, aquarium, rainforest and one other exhibit that changes frequently. The planetarium show was great and the rainforest was so beautiful. The aquarium was so cool that we just didn't have time to explore if fully. I can't wait to go back there, it was just awesome. After that was a much needed stop at In-N-Out Burger and then we were on the road to Reno.
The roof of the CA Academy of Sciences
Day 13 and 14We stopped in Reno to say hi to Alan's Uncle Vic and Carrie. We enjoyed the time we had with them chatting and watching baseball. We were lucky enough to be taken to a more authentic Hawaiian restaurant in Reno where you can have rice and ketchup with your eggs. I love it! After one night there, we were on our way to Salt Lake City for a night. We made a stop at IKEA and squeezed a chair into the car along with our stuff and then we were on our way home. 30 miles from home, less than 1 mile from the CO-WY border, Alan meets his first cop. I figure after 4000 miles of driving, one little ticket in Wyoming is a small price to pay. It was nice to be home after so many days on the road but we had a really good time. It's fun to realize that you learned something new about someone too. It turns out that Alan will like music from Glee when "the guy has a nice voice" and he discreetly turns the stereo up when I'm not looking. I also learned that he has become quite the cupcake snob also, its funny how our hobbies affect the person you're with. It was so much fun to take a road trip, we haven't done it in years but I really felt like I needed a vacation from our vacation when we got back. A week in Mexico sounds nice...but instead I get to go to China!
