Dream Vacation Hangover- part 1

Ecola State Park

Last week the hubby and I finally got to go on our dream vacation! For many years we have fantasied of moving to Portland, Oregon. The only problem with this fantasy was that neither of us had ever been there. We loved it based on rumors, stories, pictures, blogs, movies, etc. Seems silly to love a place you've never been to. So, a year ago we discussed going for a visit. This year we finally put the discussion into action.

Since I have two AWESOME friends in Seattle, Washington we decided to start our trip there then head to Portland. We flew into Seattle on Saturday around noon and planned to leave for Portland via Amtrak Tuesday morning. So we had a packed two and a half days in Seattle.

Tara and me on the boat tour.

For many years I have  had a make-believe friend, Tara, that I met via the interwebs horse forums. She has always been awesome on the phone and via the interwebs. She was gracious enough to pick us up from the airport to take us to our hotel. Upon meeting her for the first time it felt like we'd be friends in real life for ages. I am beyond thrilled that she lived up to all my expectations that I had created in my imagination. She and her husband were a lot of fun and good sports to visit with us so many times in just a short few days. Tara and my husband got along so well that I'm sure if I let them loose somewhere they'd get in big trouble with their very similar senses of humor.

Kay making a bridge at Discovery Park look good.

On Sunday I met with my old trail running buddy, Kay, from Charlotte. She took me on a hike around her local trail at Discovery Park. Then we went into Ballard to eat lunch. We picked a not so stellar Indian restaurant but stopped to pick up cupcakes on the way back to make up for it. It was great to see her again and made me long to be able to run with her again on our favorite trail in NC.



In the two and a half days in Seattle we:
-ate at Pike Brewery and Pub twice, loved their Kilt Lifter Ale!
-walked around Pike Place Market
-visited the Seattle Aquarium, very nice aquarium with lots of cute sea and river otters and seals.
-ate at Sweet Iron Waffle, twice
-drove to the Quinault Rainforest- it lived up to it's name and we got drenched! Totally worth it since it was beautiful.
-did a 2.5 hr boat tour around Seattle with Tara and her hubs. This is where my hub and Tara really got their goofiness on.
-Sunday morning hike and lunch lasted most of the day due to the traffic from Hemp Fest. But again worth it to hang with my trail buddy again.
- ate at Pintxo with Tara and her hubs.

Huge jellyfish at Discovery Park. Kay's hand demonstrating the size of the unfortunate creature.

World's largest Sitka Spruce tree.

Yummy ale and mac & cheese at Pike's!

Lovin' the train!

After the whirlwind adventure of Seattle we boarded a train to Portland on Tuesday morning. I've never been on a train other than subways, els, and short distance trains between PA, NJ, & NY. The comfort of the long distance train was awesome! There was lots of leg room and leg and foot rests. The train ride wasn't as scenic as we had hoped but it beat driving or flying down to Portland.


Holy crap! I had a whole bunch about Portland but it didn't publish. Guess I'll be making a second vacation hangover post, sigh. More to come...