thosecoolkims – Page 5

KimTrippin’: Pacific NorthWest — Day 5 (Portland)

There can only be one word to describe today’s adventures: EPIC.

To kick off the day, there were two things to check off our mandatory Portland list — coffee and doughnuts. Ruby got to try her first Voodoo Doughnut and Ed + I got properly caffeinated thanks to Stumptown Roasters. (Ruby enjoyed a cup of milk ;))

Ed did some research before we got to Portland and found out we could rent bikes — and an awesome bike trailer seat for Ruby! — from Waterfront Bicycles. He made us a reservation so we could get our sedentary butts moving and take advantage of one of the country’s best bike cities. Admittedly, I was intimidated at first, but it ended up being the best day ever! Ruby loved being on a bike ride and said several times during the trip, “I’m so happy doing this!” We thought it was a great way to see Portland, and definitely made for an authentic experience.

This was a general overview of our route:

Biking over Hawthorne Bridge

Carrie’s lovely Linus bike (want!!!)

The bike shop even had some pretty sweet helmets for us to borrow.

It was 90+ degrees in Portland today and we thought all of our biking across town justified a stop at one of Carries favorite ice cream shops on earth — Salt & Straw. Salt & Straw opened a location in L.A. this year and we’ve been several times, but we’ve never visited where it all began in Portland. As usual, they had some very interesting flavors — including a street food flavor called “Kimchi & Rice“! (Seriously, click that link for the ice cream description — INCREDIBLY creative!!!). Salt & Straw is generous with the samples before buying and we usually aren’t afraid to taste anything concocted by their geniusness, but I guess we just weren’t as adventurous today. Doesn’t mean we don’t still have a ton of love + respect!

We rode those bikes from 10:00 am when the shop opened until about 4:30pm when Ruby completely crashed out. We got our money’s worth.

After heading back to the hotel for a little downtime and a quick dip in the pool (it’s HOT), we topped the evening off with our favorite meal of the trip so far at an Indian Street food joint called Bollywood Theater. The food was so good, we didn’t even get any pictures of it.

Tomorrow we’ll get out of the city for a bit and explore Multanomah Falls and the Gorge. Looking forward to some hiking!

KimTrippin: PacificNorthWest — Day 4 (Salem, OR)

Leaving Bend for Salem was another 130+ miles, and it was definitely time to hook Ruby up with some quality “kid time.” The plan was to go to Enchanted Forest, a whimsical little amusement park with a Fairy Tale theme. The road to Salem was very pretty … we saw the scenery we were expecting to see driving through Oregon: Tall green trees and streams and lakes. We passed through the cute town of Sisters (which we know we’ll have to stop in next time) and we drove by Klamath Lake.

Enchanted Forest ended up being a real find. It’s very quaint and almost feels like you’ve gone back in time! The path you take leading into the park is storybook themed and you see everyone from Little Red Riding Hood to Hansel & Gretel to The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. Ruby was very tentative at first, but by the time she got to the shoe with the slide, she was into it!

They also had a bunch of kiddie rides that Ruby got to go on by herself. She rode the train, the kiddie ferris wheel, the bumper boats and even “The Frog Hopper.”

After the kiddie rides, she got really brave and decided she wanted to go on her first roller coaster! She and Daddy rode in the very back car …

Being used to Disneyland, we found Enchanted Forest to be incredibly low key! The park is literally cloaked in trees and the forest shade keeps you so nice and cool (it was in the high 80s today). We also couldn’t believe how cheap everything was – we actually bought her a souvenir that only cost $1.95! Short lines were nice too. It was cute, kitschy and even a little bit weird. But it was exactly what we needed after a few long days in the car.

We got through everything in a little under three hours and went to grab some dinner. Then, we met up with friends in Oregon for dessert at the Willamette Valley Pie Co.. It was such a cool place – more pies than you could imagine and even a playground out front as well! Our friends’ daughter Annie was born just three days after Ruby. They were instant buddies. :)

We said our goodbyes and then it was a about a 50-mile jaunt to Portland. We’ll be in Portland for the next three days and are looking forward to exploring this awesome city!

KimTrippin: Pacific NorthWest — Day 3 (Bend, OR)

Today brought us to Bend, which appears to be mecca for the outdoorsy, adventurous types. Our thoughts were, “When in Rome …”, so we got outdoorsy too and rented a canoe.

About 30 minutes in, Ruby said she was “bored,” so we went back to get her a kid-sized paddle!

After getting some sufficient exercise with 2 hrs. of canoeing, Ed had another brewery on his list. We headed straight to Deschutes Brewery. Because he couldn’t decide, Ed ordered another sampler!

We walked through Downtown Bend (which is super adorable, by the way) and found a cool shop with Ruby’s favorite character, Totoro inside. The shop owner loved her so much she gave her a tiny Mei figurine! (Ruby dressed as Mei for Halloween this year).

We also stumbled upon a gorgeous park after dinner with a fantastic view. I think it’s safe to say we like Bend!

Tomorrow ends our nomadic streak – we’re headed to Portland, where we’ll be staying for three days. Can’t wait!

KimTrippin: Pacific NorthWest — Day 2 (Ashland, OR)

Peek-a-boo, we see you, Mt. Shasta.

Today was another long day as we tried to get out of California and finally get into Oregon. Our destination was the beautiful border town of Ashland. We saw lots of changing landscapes on the way there, but probably the two most notable pieces of scenery were Lake Shasta and Mt. Shasta.

We were reminded of just how real the California drought is when we drove past Lake Shasta. It was shocking to see the water level so low and all of the massive land that used to be hidden underwater. :(

It was difficult to capture the majesticness of Mt. Shasta, but we tried. It was the only snow capped mountain in a sea of hills and trees.

Once we got into Ashland, we stopped for a bite to eat, and Ruby mastered the art of chopsticks!

After dinner, we headed off to Lithia Park to stretch our legs. It was truly gorgeous and Ruby even made a few friends!

We even saw these two different trees growing into one. It was amazing!

And to our surprise, on our walk through the neighborhood, we ran into a deer just hanging out in someone’s front yard! We didn’t want to startle it, but it just looked at us for a long time and went back to eating the landscaping!

Ashland is really something! We hope to take in a few more sights before heading off to Bend. Getting closer and closer to Portland!

KimTrippin’: Pacific NorthWest — Day 1 (Santa Rosa and Russian River Brewery)

After talking about it for months and months, our three-week road trip through the Pacific Northwest began today. Our goal was to make a beeline out of California as quickly as we could, so we’d have enough time to get as far north as we wanted (Vancouver, Canada) without feeling rushed. However, because Day 1 of the trip also coincided with Father’s Day, we figured we’d make an exception and stop in Santa Rosa to hit up Russian River Brewing Company — home of Pliny the Elder (AKA Ed’s favorite beer on the planet).

Our path up the 5 was pretty uneventful — we were basically just trying to get to Santa Rosa before the dinner crowd arrived at Russian River. We stopped for lunch and to stretch our legs in Stockton, and we pulled in to Santa Rosa around 3:30.

Russian River was epic. Ed was planning on ordering a flight — until he found out that it was a 19 item sampler! I said I’d drive and told him to go for it — it was Father’s Day! Each sample was 2 oz., making it 38 oz. total. Combined with his newly acquired Pliny t-shirt, we had one happy daddy on our hands.

Russian River makes some great pizza. We each ordered individual pies and they even had a vegan cheeseless pizza for me! Red bell pepper, spinach, artichoke hearts and olives … it was perfect!

We’ll be headed to Ashland in the morning and Ed + I are really looking forward to spending some time in Oregon. Can’t wait to see some green and the great outdoors!