Day 13 - more photos

Day 13 - portland to coos bay photos

Day 13- Portland to Coos bay

Kirsty here again- V is having problems with her phone and can't access the internet. So no photos today cos I can't do them on my phone. Hopefully V's phone will be working tomorrow.

This morning we got up and headed out towards the coast. The drive out of portland was quite interesting seeing vinyards and hazelnut groves. Once we got back on highway 101 it was lovely. Seriously. Sorry for using a cliche but words can't describe how spectacular the views were. Today was not a good day for the blog not to have photos!

Our first stop was a coffee and chocolate pretzel stick in lincoln city. This is not really a city, it's 5 towns that joined forces in the past so they could get a sewage system! Our next stop was at otter rock, then cape foulweather! The weather was not foul. We went to the gift shop which had panoramic views over a cliffside, and at the viewpoint we saw a whale! My favourite place we stopped was at the devil's punchbowl- a sort of pool carved out by the ocean into the rocks with water swilling in. There we saw another whale, more clearly this time, and victoria helped some other tourists to spot it.

We had lunch at a nice brewery in newport- the rogue brewery. V had pulled pork sliders and I had a blt. We explored the town and also saw the area around the aquarium which was made up to look like little streets with colourful buildings. We didn't have time to go into the aquarium unfortunately.

Back on the road we saw even more dramatic scenery and stopped at some viewpoints.
At Ona beach we went a walk through the wood, over a wee bridge across the creek and onto the sandy beach.

We stopped to look at the heceta lighthouse and were delighted to also see literally hundreds of seals on the rocks below! There is a sea cave where you can get a lift down to the bottom and see the seals but again we didn't have time. The town of florence had lots of dunes and activities to go with this like sand boarding or going on dune buggies.

After driving through some forest and lake areas (and seeing cranberry bogs!) we arrived at North Bend and Coos Bay which is where we are staying tonight in a motel 6. We went to a lovely italian restaurant for dinner and both got the half and half, i.e. spaghetti and another thing. V had lasagne and I had canneloni. It was nice to be able to try 2 different things on the menu and just have half portions. Also, the meals came with complementary soup, salad and garlic bread- as much as you wanted! I think they seemed surprised when we only had one portion of each- other people were having seconds!

Back at the motel now and v is already asleep! More dramatic coastline tomorrow...

Day 12 - portland some more

We started the day with a donut mission. An epic, waiting in the rain for 45 min, donut mission!

We hopped in the car and drove to voodoo donuts, we got a space right outside it - I took this as a good sign - and joined the queue. In the rain. The wait wasn't too bad, we chatted to some Americans and a Scottish guy that has been in America for 50 years.

We got the famous maple bacon car with real bacon on top for us and for Craig and Jana. We also got the eponymous voodoo donut, it is a wee donut man filled with raspberry alone with a pretzel pin stuck in.

After we stood in the queue for all that time the rain decided to stop! We went to local coffee roaster stumptown to chill and get a latte. It turns out it was the best coffee I've ever had.

We came back to the hotel to drop off the donuts and had one each for breakfast. K had a maple bacon and I had the voodoo donut but couldn't finish it. They were both delicious.

We then headed over to the 23rd st shopping area for some browsing. It was really nice, lots of cute shops. We each got a tshirt from Brooklyn industries, v nice!

Then we met Craig and baby arlo for a late lunch/early dinner. We just went to a pub on 23rd, I had soup and cajun tater tots, k had a veg burger and tots and Craig had a bacon cheeseburger... and tots. Arlo had some garlic bread, gherkins and a whole lot of table edge!

After dinner we went a big walk round the pearl district and took in the sights, it was cool, lots of really nice buildings and faded old painted on billboards. I took a fair amount of photos.

We took tle streetcar back down to 23rd and Craig got some icecream, he made the mistake of giving arlo some, it turned him into a gremlin! He was making this weird growling noise til he got more.

We got to the bus stop and after waiting for 20 minutes the bus turned up and said that was its last stop and the next one wasn't for half an hour! Craig had a sleepy baby strapped to his front so this was bad news! We decided to go to our hotel, get the car and give them a lift home.

Once we dropped them off we decided to go cruise east portland since we hadn't had time to visit it properly. We cruised about it and decided we had to bite tle bullet and get petrol. We were nervous about the fact that you aren't allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon but it was ok, it went smoothly.

Now we're back at the hotel planning our route back to the coast tomorrow and watching family guy. Nice.

Day 12 - portland

Day 11- Portland

(Guest blog, written by kirsty)
After our late night out last night we had a long lie this morning. We looked out the window to discover that the rain from last night was still going strong and didn't much feel like leaving the hotel. Eventually we ventured out and it was a good thing we did because we were about to have amazing brunch #2 of the holiday! The venue: sugar mama's. V's order: hash browns with sausage gravy (more white sauce than gravy, with pieces of sausage in). My order: the big easy (ham, fried egg, my absolute favourite breakfast item- grits, and a biscuit- ie a scone basically). It was a lovely tiny wee place and bizarrely had a violinist busking inside!
After brunch we had a wander about downtown but it was still pretty rainy. We went to a great shop called Reading Frenzy and bought some zines. It also had alot of nice stationery and books. Following the theme of this holiday, I could have bought WAY much more! By this time the rain was subsiding so we got to have a wander about the saturday market. My favourite stall was selling metal headband things that make you look like you have things stuck through your head like knives, arrows, scissors etc. I tried on one with a saw and the guy said to me "you look sharp"!
There is an amazing donut place in portland called voodoo donuts. We were going to wait in the queue but it went right round the block so we decided to leave it for another time. So watch this space.
We then got the max light rail across the river to a big mall, as I was on a mission. An old navy shaped mission. Mission accomplished, we had a wander around the mall. We got asked by some people in the mall to review a trailer for the film Haywire, which they paid us 3 dollars for!
There was a cinema in the mall too so we decided to see You Again which was hilarious and a jolly romp. After the film we got the light rail back up to the hotel, popping into hot lips on the way. This is a great pizza place that use only fresh local ingredients that are in season. So sometimes they don't use tomato sauce on the pizzas when tomatoes are not in season! They also sell delicious sodas so v got raspberry flavour and I got pear flavour- nice!
We are both pretty tired now but particularly v hence i'm writing the blog tonight.
The end.

Day 11 - portland photos

I know my breakfast doesn't look appetising but it was delicious!