I woke up Wednesday morning to a very rainy Seattle (big surprise, right?!). Like I've said before, I really don't mind the weather. I enjoy the rain, and I wouldn't expect anything different in Seattle. After showering and getting my things together, I took a walk back up to Pike's Place Market for a cup of coffee at the very first Starbucks, established in 1971 and still true to its old form. The coffee shop was incredibly simple and small, with really no place to sit at all, so I grabbed my coffee to go and headed down a couple of buildings until I found a nice little french bakery called Le Panier. I ordered an apricot croissant and a delicious vanilla creme eclaire with a strawberry frosting. I sat down at the bar next to the window and enjoyed my coffee and pastries as I watched the rain fall in Seattle's Pike Place. It was a great way to spend my morning!
Afterwards, I headed back to my hotel room to map out my drive to Portland and figure out what I wanted to do for lunch (and I'm not gonna lie...it was kinda nice to step outta the rain for a bit). While I was online looking through possible places, Foss sent me a facebook message to try out Red Mill Burgers. I looked at the closest location to where I was at, and decided to go with his recommendation (this also gave me a chance to check out the northwest harbor along Elliott Bay leading into the Interbay area of Seattle). Once I got situated, I started on my walk through the Elliott Bay Park (a beautiful stretch of pedestrian and biker trails along the shore for a good 2 miles or so). I knew that once I got to the end of Elliott Bay, I'd run into 15th Ave, which would take me north to W Dravus St (the cross-streets where Red Mills is located in the Interbay area). I thought I would make it easy on myself and grab a bus that came along as soon as I got onto 15th (but little did I know that this would complicate things like no other....I should have just walked!). The bus went north on 15th Ave for a while, and I was glad to get out of the rain for a little bit. Then we started going over a body of water, which immediately sent a flag up for me, cause nowhere during my mapping process did I figure I'd have to cross a river or a lake!! As soon as we made it to the other side, the bus made its first stop on 17th Ave. and 49th St. I had no idea where I was!! Apparently, the body of water I crossed was the Salmon Bay ship canal connected directly to Lake Union!
Let me set the scene a little more....
I'm basically lost in far northwest Seattle (I think Woodland Park area), I just went over a body of water that I had no idea what it was, and it is still raining ever so steady. The rain wasn't an all out down poor by any means, rather, it was more like a continual mist that kept my shirt damp, my face soaking, and my glasses spotted with water (definately a moment in life that I hate the fact that I have to wear glasses! haha). I quickly walked back over the bridge on 15th Ave. toward Dravus St. as rain continued to mist up my glasses and soak my shirt. I finally stumbled upon W Dravus St., and found the Red Mill Burgers sign just a couple of buildings down the road. It was a pretty small burger place, with no more than 10 - 12 tables, one cashier, and they only took cash or check (you don't see cash only restaurants much anymore!). I ordered what sounded the best to me at the moment, the Red Mill Double Deluxe w/ cheese, no onion, no lettuce, with a side of fries (due to my longer than expected walk, my appetite was certainly in full swing!). My order was up in a matter of minutes, and I sat down and bit into one of the tastiest burgers I have EVER had the privilege of eating (neck and neck with In-N-Out....and most of you know how much I love In-N-Out Burgers!!!). The cheese was melted just right and the burger included a seasoned mayo "mill sauce" that complimented the burger oh-so-well! It wasn't overly fancy by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, its simplicity added to the beauty of the burger! Despite my troubles finding the place, I'm glad I went! Thanks again for the recommendation Foss!
After a full stomach, I made my walk back down 15th Ave. toward Elliott Bay and grabbed my bags waiting for me at the hotel. With bags in hand, I made my walk to Budget car rentals on 4th and Columbia. The car for the journey....a fairly new white Toyota corrola (I must say, the car has some get-up). I made my way out of Budget, turned left back onto 4th, made my first right on Marion St. and quickly merged onto I-5 South (quite easy actually!). I decided for this short trip to Portland, for sake of time and convience, I'd stick to I-5 South all the way into Portland. I left Seattle right around 2:15.
The drive was pretty smooth and fairly pleasant. I passed through Tacoma and Olympia (the state capitol) along my journey south on I-5. Olympia was beautiful, with trees of every color of green you could imagine. As you drive through Olympia the beauty of the area catches your attention, and then out of nowhere, the state capitol building pops up through the trees, providing a pretty stunning scene along the way. An hour or two from Olympia, I noticed a bunch of signs for the Mt. St. Helens state park and visitor center. I was doing pretty well on time, so I decided to pull off of I-5 and take the 5 mile drive east to check it out. I got to the visitor center just as they were closing, but managed to look around.....and I saw a whole bunch of nothing. There's nothing there!!!! It's a marsh land and a small lake...and that's about it. If you ever find yourself in the area, I don't really recommend it, unless your thing is to look at nothing and do boring stuff! (You'll have to excuse my sarcasm, but I was pretty disappointed in the whole thing). I hopped back onto I-5 southbound for Portland. It's kinda funny, one minute you're driving along in Washington state, you come up to a rather large bridge, you cross it (crossing the Columbia river which is freaking HUGE!) while at the same time crossing not only into Oregon, but BOOM.....you're in Portland! It all happened so quickly, haha! Portland looks beautiful and kinda seems like one of those little big cities. It's big...don't get me wrong, but it seems manageable. I didn't stay in the main Portland area for long because my hotel is actually in Beaverton, just southwest of Portland. I arrived at my hotel right at 5:30, checked in, and quickly went back out to grab some dinner. I stopped at a local Italian restaurant called Pastini Pastaria, and had a really good dish of linguini pesto pollo (grilled chicken, artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers in pesto cream sauce). I also stopped by Best Buy which was right next to the restaurant (that's right....ain't no state boundaries on a little Best Buy action!! haha). Actually, I had good reason to stop, I needed to grab some CD-R's so that I could make some CD's for my long drive to San Francisco tomorrow. I also filled up the tank before going back to the hotel.
Really quick, two little fun facts I learned about Oregon tonight..... (1) you cannot physically pump your own gas, apparently. I pulled into a Chevron and I felt half like I was back in the 50's and half retarded. I've never been in that situation before, and I kept wanting to do something to help while this poor boy pumps my gas for me (it was actually very tough to refrain from just wanting to grab the hose from him and fill-up my own tank). (2) Apparently Oregon does not have state tax, which made my purchase at Best Buy and my dinner that much more enjoyable!
Well, the end to another long and adventure-filled day. My hope is to get up early tomorrow, hit up a couple of wineries as I drive through Willamette Valley on my way to the US-101 and my eventual arrival in San Francisco.
Peace, Love, Respect,
Jer
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