Trip To Oregon

Sorry I have not posted in a bit- we were in Oregon last week and then I got a nasty cold and then I had to work all weekend and then I wanted to be a lazy bum.... but I am finally back!

I got a job at an Italian restaurant (see menu here) and am required to work all weekend long which allows for us to travel during the week. We decided to take an impromptu trip down the Pacific coast, cut over to central Oregon, and then drive up through Eugene and Portland.

Our first stop was Long Beach, WA. The name of the beach really is telling you the truth, it is the longest beach in the world.

It was so cold and windy, we could only stay out there for a few minutes. We kept on driving south and took a lunch break at Cannon Beach, OR. This may have been my favorite part of the trip. I had the best fish taco I've ever eaten at this little market/restaurant called Ecola Seafood. Fresh caught halibut with spicy cabbage slaw. Delicious! We had to wander a bit to find the entrance to this beach. Here is a photo of us standing in front of the famous Haystack Rock. 

I have never seen a beach like this before. There were lots of rock formations and winding tributaries that interjected between the ocean and the beach kind of like a maze. Definitely a must see if you are ever in this area of the country. 

At this point, we realized we were running a bit short on time and needed to get over to Eugene to check into our house from Airbnb. Eugene is a very quaint and quiet place. We spent the majority of our time exploring the University of Oregon and eating a lot of food. I got a photo of this sign at a pizza restaurant we went to, which I wholeheartedly agree with. We walked across the street to try a Voodoo Doughnut since there was no line. Denver recently got a Voodoo but the line was always wrapped around the block and apparently the locations in Portland are like that too. We split a doughnut covered with peanut butter and oreos. It was a very good doughnut, but not worth the wait if we had been in Denver or Portland. 

We spent the next 2 days and 1 night hanging out in Portland. Before dropping off our stuff or even getting something to eat, we went straight to the International Rose Test Garden. Unfortunately, we were a few weeks early and the roses were not in full bloom yet, but we took a walk through the gardens and it was lovely!

I cannot even begin to imagine what this place looks like at the end of April. Portland is only a few hours away from Seattle and we already decided to take a trip back to see the gardens when it gets a bit warmer out. These gardens back up to acres of forest, windy roads, the Hoyt Arboretum, and the Portland Japanese Garden. Absolutely incredible. If it weren't for the rain, I could have spent hours wandering around. We went for a short hike before the rain came. 

At this point we were starving and drove over to an up and coming neighborhood called Alberta St. We originally wanted to go to Pine State Biscuits but it was closed. Instead, we found the Grilled Cheese Grill. After we got our food, we ate inside of a school bus. I was really happy the biscuit place was closed and we got to do this instead! 

Another cool thing about Portland is how green and sustainable the city is. Next to the GCG we stumbled upon this really cool hotel called The Tiny House Hotel. It is four individual "hotel homes" which are each custom built and come fully equipped with a kitchen, shower, bathroom, and living space. I had never seen anything like this. 

I got to meet the owner and she took me on a little tour. As you can see here, they are all set up in a parking lot. Pretty cool. Our Airbnb home was just a few minutes away from here so we finally dropped off our stuff and napped for a while (and I got to play with the hosts' kitty cats!). I had gotten a few recommendations from different people to go to the Screen Door for dinner. We had just been in Memphis eating plenty of southern food just a week before, so we decided to continue this trend and got more comfort food for dinner. 

My friend from work gave me the name of a coffee and dessert shop so we took a walk after dinner to the Rimsky Korsakoffee House for a sweet treat. This place does not have its own website, so you can learn about it from the wiki page if you click that link. It's in an old house that is rumored to be haunted. 

It was pretty quirky and fun. Terrible service but very good hot chocolate. 

Day 2 was less jammed packed with activities, but still busy nevertheless. We drove 45 minutes outside of Portland to see Multnomah Falls and Wahkeena Falls.

This is us in front of Multnomah Falls. We hiked up to Wahkeena Falls next.

The moss is so thick and lush, it looks almost golden. This is heaven to me. 

We hung out in downtown Portland for the remainder of the afternoon. The rain was intermittent and unpredictable so we played glow in the dark mini golf! 

And we also went to the biggest book store in the world, Powell's Books. It is in what seems to be a warehouse, basically, and is multiple floors. Each room is color coded dependent on what kind of literature is in the room. I believe I spent the majority of my time in the Red room (the fiction room).

Now we are back in Seattle and took the week to hang out and bum around. We are awaiting the arrival of two of my BFFS from Memphis, Elise and Kelly, to get in town tonight! More blog posts to come soon!

Enjoy! 

Happy Anniversary

Last week we celebrated our one year anniversary of knowing each other. We ate Trinidadian food at this place called Pam's Kitchen (check out the menu!), saw the new Wes Anderson movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and then got a drink at the Octopus Bar.

This has been a lovely and exciting year. Cheers!

Back To Seattle

After a lovely trip to Memphis, we made our way back to Seattle and things have definitely not quieted down. We've been utilizing my job hunt as time to further explore the city by foot. I submitted my resume to a bunch of places and start my new job this evening at a neighborhood Italian restaurant! I can't wait to get that food in my belly.

Anyways, we spent one afternoon walking from Fremont to Ballard and went to the Ballard Locks and the gardens. Look how nice the weather is! We rested in the gardens and enjoyed the sunshine. Here are a few photos of the locks.

We haven't really had the opportunity to explore Seattle nightlife yet, partially because we've been out of town and partially because I am a baby and get tired early. Louis, the night owl and music enthusiast, got us tickets to see a hip hop show at this bar down the street from our apartment so we got to check out a new venue. It was super cool. I may or may not have dozed off during one of the opening performances but let's keep that between you and me.

The weather has been really nice which allows us to go on evening walks. This is my favorite part of each day. We walked over to Wallingford to Archie McPhee. This place has any kind of weird object you can ever imagine. Gag gifts, games, creepy finger puppets etc. 

Enjoy!

Trip To The South

I apologize for not posting recently, but we were in Memphis last week. It was Louis's first trip to Memphis and he got to meet my entire family. He made it out alive and I am thankful for that.

We went to all of my favorite spots where I like to take visitors. The first day was spent at Stax Records and Sun Studios. I had actually never been to Sun Studios before so I enjoyed being a tourist in my own town. For those of you who are not familiar with Stax and Sun, they are recording studios. The most notable person who recorded at Stax is Otis Redding (in my opinion, my dad might disagree) and at Sun is Elvis. I love Memphis music. There ain't anything else like it.  No matter how many times I visit this place, it is guaranteed I will leave with tears in my eyes.

We went to lunch at the Four Way Grill for some real southern comfort food. This place is off the grid and many people do not know about it. It is in one of the worst neighborhoods in Memphis. There is a direct correlation with bad neighborhoods and good food- the worse the neighborhood, the better the food. That is just a fact. Here is a photo of me eating a piece chicken. My meal was accompanied with okra, smothered cabbage, and cornbread. 

South Memphis was originally a Jewish neighborhood. My grandfather grew up just a few blocks away from Stax Records and his family owned a corner drugstore. It is unbelievable how the neighborhood transformed over the years and that now it is unsafe to walk around alone or at night. We found the house where Pop grew up in the 1930s and early 40s. 

That evening we had a celebration for my dear friend Elise's birthday. I am so lucky to still be close to my wonderful high school friends. I love these people. 

Louis is trying to go to all 50 states and he is getting pretty close. We drove by the water and then on the "M" bridge over the Mississippi River into Arkansas to help Louis get a little bit closer to reaching his goal. You can see part of the bridge in the background.There is pretty much nothing to do in West Memphis, Arkansas, so we defaulted to spending part of the day at the dog track and casino. We played slot machines and I won $5, I am so rich! We drove by Graceland on the way home. We tried to get a photo on the fence, but got in trouble by the security guard. 

We wrapped up the trip by going to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks.

Got BBQ at the Rendezvous

Went to a Grizzlies game and got drinks on Beale Street

Undocumented events also include but are not limited to: wandering around Midtown, eating at Gus's fried chicken, celebrating Gam's birthday at River Oaks, shopping with Grandma, going to the Arcade and the Civil Rights Museum, and being bums at my house. 

I am so fortunate and proud to call this place my home. The rich culture, food, music, and history impress me more and more every day. I love this place and am glad I was able to share my love and my home with Louis and my family on this trip. 

Downtown

Today we got ORCA cards (Seattle public transit) and made the 20 minute trip downtown on the bus. Public transportation here is pretty decent and we have a bus stop just two blocks from our apartment. We got dropped off just one block away from Pike's Market.

Pike's Market rests right along the water and you can find all of the overpriced food and crafts your heart desires. It is definitely a spot that everyone who comes to Seattle must see, but will not be a place we will frequent often. Although it is crowded and touristy, my FAVORITE thing about it is the one dollar tulips which come from here and I am already counting down the days until this festival begins!
We stopped by the popular bakery Piroshky Piroshky which has a wide selection of dough stuffed with either sweet or savory fillings, simply put (you can view the menu here) and although I have such a sweet tooth, we settled on the smoked salmon pate piroshky. It was delicious!

Here is a photo of inside the market. It was not too crowded today but in the summer it must be packed with people.

We continued walking south and stumbled upon a distillery Excited to taste some whiskey, we found our way inside to the tasting room. Unfortunately, Copperworks had only been open a few months and the whiskey was still in barrels doing its distilling thang, which, by the way, seems to be a very complicated process, but they did have samples of vodka and gin for us to taste.

After this, we found our way down to the water and discovered the Seattle Aquarium. We needed to devote an entire afternoon to exploring this place, so we continued walking along the water then over to the next neighborhood which is Pioneer Square. Pioneer Square used to be the center of the Seattle and now it's a historic neighborhood filled with antique shops, old buildings, and underground tours of the city. You can learn more about it here.

The final part of the day was spent wandering around the International District/Chinatown. Seattle is a pretty diverse place and I feel like I am wandering around Asia a lot of the time, but this neighborhood took it a step further. I literally felt like I was transported over to China and got the full experience. Thanks, Seattle Chinatown, you saved me a $2000 plane trip over to the motherland.

 Enjoy!

The Hood

The first week in Seattle has been devoted to exploring our neighborhood. Well, that's a lie. We went to almost every thrift shop in the area to the point of exhaustion to find the final items to complete the apartment. In between doing this and making multiple stops at Walmarts (gag!), we explored. Yesterday we drove along the edge of the city to see the Puget Sound. 

Here you can see the beach and the docks. We had a brief moment of "nice" weather when the rain took a break. This area is about a 10 minute drive from our apartment near a neighborhood called Ballard. 

We also went for a walk to Gasworks Park, a lovely park near our apartment. 

There are gravel pathways that lead you up to the top of a hill. You can see the entire city from here. The view is beautiful! This photo does not even do it justice but I had to include it because I was able to convince Louis to take a photo with me. 

This is a photo of the Aurora Bridge which connects downtown Seattle to the northern areas of the city. We live right off the bridge and the Fremont Troll lives under the bridge. 

Another exciting thing I did today was get my Seattle library card. There is a branch one block away from the apartment! I better get some pleasure reading done before graduate school starts.

Enjoy!

From Washington To Washington

Hello All-

Welcome to my blog. I am here to document my travels, thoughts, and adventures beginning now.

After working in hospital administration for a little over 3 years and being absolutely miserable for about 2.5 of those years, I decided it was time to do something new. I had gotten into two graduate programs in San Diego and Monterey and after accepting a spot in the Monterey program, I decided that when my lease ended in Denver, I would go on an adventure. Fortunately, my boyfriend Louis left his job in December and had the flexibility to move too. After much discussion about what we wanted to do, whether it be to move into a cabin in Montana, back to Tennessee, or to Florida if he got a job there with his old company, we settled on Seattle. Both of us were completely unfamiliar with the Pacific Northwest and thought it would be a great place to live for 6 months before I move to Monterey in August. So we packed up a uhaul, filled our cars to the brim and moved from Washington Street in Denver to Washington state. 

I did quite a bit of research over the past few months to figure out the best place to live in Seattle that was also affordable. We flew to Seattle to find an apartment at the beginning of February and saw close to 10 different homes in various neighborhoods. We ended up choosing a place in the Fremont neighborhood. Fremont is close to downtown but far enough away to feel like an actual neighborhood and have its own unique character and flair. Think artsy and independent stores, restaurants, a weekly antique market, a 5 minute walk to the water, and crazy odd things like the Fremont Solstice Festival.

 Here is a photo of us by the Fremont Troll which  is only 2 blocks from our apartment. 

I will try to update the blog every couple of days and document our travels and general experiences in the city and surrounding areas. We already have plans to visit the San Juan Islands, Portland, Victoria and Vancouver, San Diego, San Francisco, and will eventually drive down the coast on Highway 1 before I move to Monterey.  

Enjoy!