Oregon Coast & Seattle

Note: This is a continuation of the previous post.

It rained all night and each time that I would wake up, the rain sounded more intense and the creek (that we were camped beside) started to sound more powerful. It stayed in the back of my mind that we were going to wake up surrounded by water. By the next morning the rain was gone, our tent was still on solid ground, but the dark clouds lingered. We packed up camp quickly in case of more rain moved in, and stopped at a little coffee shop on our way to Coos Bay (the hometown of Steve Prefontaine). Prefontaine was a running legend, the first to get Nike on the feet of athletes, and (along with almost every other runner) someone we admire. Before going on this trip we had seen documentaries and read books about Pre, but something was special about driving the streets that he ran and getting to see the area he grew up in. After spending our morning/early afternoon there, we were back on our way. We passed a sign saying "Welcome to Dune City"....by this point, nothing seemed odd anymore...and thought, "you can't drive through 'dune city' without conquering one". We stopped at Jessie Honeyman Memorial State Park where we found a fairly large dune to run up. Getting up was a struggle with our shoes filling up with sand, but the uninterrupted views from the top were worth it. As we continued, we drove up on a building on the side of a cliff called Sea Lion Cave. I was very excited when I learned that it was literally a cave that houses tons of sea lions during certain seasons, but that excitement turned to disappointment when we learned the cave was empty because it was feeding season. We stopped to explore overlooks and state beaches until we reached "D" River Beach Wayside which is where we changed directions, leaving the coast and starting the more inland portion of our trip. By the time we reached Portland and found a hotel, it was late and we were exhausted.

#meadadventures tip: After traveling both North and South on the Pacific Coast Highway, we both agree that going South is the best way to drive the PCH. When the coast is on your side of the road it makes it easier to stop at overlooks and the views are easier to take in. When we do this again, we will start in Seattle and drive down.

Our first stop that morning was Voodoo Doughnut. Thankfully, it wasn't crowded because there were way too many options and I needed time to think. From there, we walked to Stumptown because (a) we need coffee to function, (b) a good doughnut deserves a perfect cup, and (c) it was really good coffee. The weather that day was the same cloudy skies that we'd become accustomed to while being on the northern coast, but the rain was holding off. We left the car where it was and continued our self-guided walking tour hitting all the major sites: Portland Theater, Powell's Bookstore, Pioneer Courthouse Square, White Stag Building, Waterfront Park...it was a full morning of walking and seeing. The rain started to fall around lunch forcing us to forgo our original food truck plan for a more dry establishment. After lunch, we visited Washington Park to see the Experimental Rose Garden before heading to our afternoon destination...Seattle, Washington.

Seattle was a little less than three hours away so we saw no problem fitting both cities in one day...it was ambitious to say the least, but we managed. We arrived around four and started trying to see as much as we could with the time that we had. We walked around the Public Market admiring fresh produce, flowers, and the Pike Place Fish Market (no thrown fish that day). We then walked across the street to the original Starbucks (nothing like what it has become today) and then, by pure accident, stumbled upon the disgustingly interesting (translation: amazingly beautiful) gum wall. (It is an alley where the walls don chewed gum from visitors long gone...of course, we contributed.) One more stroll through the Market on the way to the Space Needle. We've learned that the best way to see a city is by foot, and with only mere hours in Seattle, we decided walking to the Space Needle would be the appropriate method of transportation. We tried to enjoy all the sights and smells that Seattle had to offer, and as quickly as we had come, we were back on the road to start our return journey. We stopped for dinner in Tacoma, and made it back to Portland late like we had the night before.

#meadadventures tip: We have learned that it is best to find a few places to explore fully rather than our old method of sampling places with hopes to return to it later. It was fun to see three states in one trip, but in the grand scheme of things we probably should have made the trip longer or sacrificed a state.

On the way to breakfast we were very slow moving from the day before, but we were far from Oakland (Tommy's uncles had moved from their rented space in the city and purchased their own home in Oakland). After we ate, we showered, packed the car, and buckled up for a very long day of driving. On our way, we went through Eugene to stop by Pre's Rock to pay our respects then ate lunch on the University of Oregon's campus. We still had eight hours worth of driving left, but (just as our previous trip) the interstate views were pretty to look at as well. By the time we reached Oakland, it was late and we were exhausted.

We woke up on our last day fully rested and ready to explore. We caught a ride in to the city with Matt and his dad, and started our day on Lombard Street (one of the curviest streets in San Francisco). We walked down it, took pictures at the bottom, and then ate lunch at a cafe nearby. We caught the BART to downtown and after walking around, caught another bus to Ocean Beach. It was an unseasonably hot day so the cool sand, breeze, and Pacific Ocean felt nice. We walked the beach until we made our way to the Cliff House, but due to the government shut down, it was closed (along with all other National Park affiliates). A BART ride from the beach took us to Alamo Square Park to see the infamous "Painted Ladies"...If you're a 90's kid, the only thing we were missing were the Tanners picnic to make it a perfect day. Having fulfilled a piece of my childhood, we gravitated towards Haight-Ashbury and then to the Castro District to end our day. We rode the BART back to Oakland but accidentally got off a few stops too early. It was a lot more walking, but turned out to be a happy accident because we were able to walk around Lake Merritt and enjoy the evening. We arrived back at Warren and Matt's just in time for dinner (they always cook an amazing meal), and spent the rest of the night enjoying their company. Its safe to say that ending every trip is hard, but ending with family always makes it harder.