West Coast Roadtrip
I’m back from my two-week roadtrip up the west coast. We began in San Francisco, driving up the Northern California coast and then through south-central and coastal Oregon to Portland for the first leg. The second leg had us driving from Portland to the OR/WA coast, through the inland national parks, and ultimately up to Seattle. It’s going to take me an eternity to go through all of my pictures and properly write blogs about each day, but rest assured I will get it done eventually! Until then, here are a few highlights and afterthoughts: - San Francisco is a fantastic city, perhaps the best one I have ever been to. I can definitely see myself living here someday! It’s got great coffee and food, plenty of water and scenic views, and opportunities for daytrips outside of the city. - I got motion sick on the way out of SF to OR and poor Lauren had to drive the entire day while I was immobile and nonfunctioning. It was horrible! We also overextended ourselves and couldn’t make it to our accommodation in OR that night, so we crashed just south of the border at a motel. - We had absolutely PERFECT weather the entire trip! Not once did weather foil our plans. The ONE gloomy day we had was the day we had planned on spending indoors (we hung out in a trailer all day). Every other day was warm and sunny and just perfect. How did that happen! - I was a bit unsatisfied with our experiences in the national parks, namely because they still had too much snow for us to really get out, explore, and hike in them. I’d love to go back in the summer. - I discovered that I love biking! We rented bikes one day in Portland and rode all over the place. It felt so liberating, not to mention it’s so much more efficient for getting around independently. I’m definitely investing in a bike in NYC. - I tried oysters for the first time and liked them! I also had clam chowder 3-4 times while working up the coast. Seafood is obviously big there, specifically in Washington. Poor Lauren the vegetarian had few options outside of bread and cheese wherever we ate! - OR/WA have espresso huts on the side of the road, pretty much every mile of the way. They’re usually set up in parking lots for you to stop by and drive-thru for your coffee fix. Brilliant! Too bad they were never open past mid-afternoon though. - Our favorite day of the whole trip was the daytrip we took outside of Portland to the Columbia River Gorge, Hood River scenic fruit loop drive, and Mt. Hood. We hiked to a waterfall, had fresh fruit, cheese, and wine at a winery in the valley, and had a sunset dinner at the Timberline Lodge overlooking Mt. Hood. Such a gorgeous day! - I accidentally mooned a hiker while peeing off the trail en route to a waterfall in the gorge… which gave me stage fright! It took me awhile for me to go after that. Oops? - Lauren dragged me out to a bar in Portland one night and I met this guy who had just moved there and was super into Interaction Design! So we geeked out a bit and she got soooooo bored with the conversation, so I felt a little bad. But now I have a career-related contact in PDX, so yay! - The Oregon coastline is stunning! So so pretty. So many gorgeous beaches. Not many people go to swim in them though. God, that drive was incredible (and incredibly distracting!). - The GPS is extremely accurate in estimating time. So many times we’d be like “there’s NO way we’re arriving in 5 minutes”… and then 5 minutes later, viola! - Driving wasn’t as bad as I’d thought! I hadn’t driven in 1.5 years but it came right back to me. It was actually quite enjoyable, probably because of the amazing scenery and weather. We had ipod playlists setup too. - Washington overall was not as enjoyable as Oregon. It just had a different feel to it… like less populous, maybe a bit darker… hard to explain I guess. We passed through more than enough fishing towns and lumberyards. In retrospect, we probably should have limited the trip to CA/OR and spent more time there than in WA, but alas. - Lauren and I had our occasional squabbles, but they were more because of our moods (i.e. when we were too tired/hungry/etc and got grumpy) and always dissolved in no time. We got along quite well, and surprisingly we weren’t totally sick of each other at the end. I pretty much consider her my best friend these days :) - I am now a fan of iced coffee! It helps that it costs the same as regular coffee on the west coast (here in NY it’s usually like 2x the price). - Seattle is no longer grunge. It looks like a typical, generic city now. I did enjoy the waterfront and mountain views though! - We stayed in a yurt and a 1950’s trailer and they were both amazing! Also, we pseudo-hitchhiked while in San Fran. - I ended up with the inexplicable cough of doom once we entered WA, and was up coughing every night for the remainder of the trip. Ugh!
