Postcard from the Pacific Northwest

I’m baaaa-acck! After a week out of town and a brief blog absence, I am finally FINALLY home again. For about 40 hours at least. That’s right, I am heading back out for the final business trip of the seven week up-in-the-air extravaganza tomorrow (yes, Sunday). But the final countdown has definitely begun.  I couldn’t be happier.

So last week I was in the lovely Pacific Northwest, my very first trip out that way. And I have to say, I loved it. Not the crazy work part, but that general part of the country. It’s beautiful. Lots of green, lots of trees, and amazing majestic, snow-covered mountains practically everywhere you look.

My first stop was Portland, Oregon. I think this may have eclipsed Austin as the number one city on our list of places we’d move to if we ever left the DC area. It was a beautiful city and I would love to go back (especially since I did not get to see as much of it as I would have liked) and show Jason since I know he would really like it too.  I was lucky enough to be able to stay at the Hotel Monaco in Downtown.  Hotel Monaco is part of the Kimpton hotel chain and if you ever have an opportunity to stay at one of these hotels you should. They are really cool, quirky hotels, definitely not your run-of-the mill establishments.

View from my hotel room

Downtown Portland (courtesy of portlandground.com)

My first night there, my colleague and I walked through the city, passed the famous Powell Books, to the Pearl District which is home to lots of cool shops and restaurants. We ate tapas and drank tasty sangria at Andina. So so good.  One of our dishes was the conchas a la parilla-  grilled diver scallops with a garlic lime butter sauce and crispy onions. I like scallops but these might have been one of the best things I have ever eaten.  I am salivating just thinking about them!

The next day we traveled to Salem for meetings but on our way back to the city we decided to take a detour through Rickreall and McMinnville to see if we could make it to at least one of the famous Willamette Valley wineries before closing time. We made it to Firesteed Winery with about 10 minutes to spare!  Willamette Valley started out as the premier destination for pioneers who made their way west via the Oregon Trail (loved that computer game!) back in the day. Today, it is still home to 70% of Oregon’s population as well as more than 200 wineries known worldwide for their Pinot Noir grapes.  I knew I couldn’t come home to Jason without a bottle of genuine Willamette Valley Pinot Noir to share!

On day 3 we left Oregon to drive up to Olympia, Washington for additional meetings. On our way there we decided to stop at the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Visitors Center (mostly because I needed a bathroom break but also because my co-worker who is from Washington State insisted that it was a must-see for any first time visitor). I had always heard about Mt. St. Helens but watching the little orientation video and seeing the before/after pictures was pretty amazing. It’s crazy to think that a lot of the Cascade Mountains (which run all along Oregon and Washington) are volcanoes that could blow at any time! But I guess the Pacific Northwest is part of the so-called Ring of Fire.

Mt. St. Helens before/after its eruption in May 1980

 

 View of Mt. St. Helens from Visitor Center (it was cloudy!)

The Cascades were probably one of my favorite parts of the area. They just seem to pop out of nowhere (largely because of all the clouds). You are driving along and look up and OH MY GOSH! there is huge Mt. Rainer right there in front of you.

Since I clearly couldn't take a picture of Mt. Rainer while simultaneously driving (dangerous!), this comes from Google Images. But this was seriously what it looked like. Only cloudier.

As someone who has lived on the East Coast most of their life, I am just so not used to these kinds of mountains. They are a whole different animal than the Blue Ridge Mountains I am used to!

My final day was spent solo in Seattle, doing some sight-seeing. But that is a blog post for another day :)