Day 16: Mt. Rainer National Park and Women’s Cup Soccer! (SPOILER ALERT!) – June 30

For some nonsensical reason I seem to sleep later when camping than I am usually able, and by that I mean like 7 am.  We had conflicting agendas today, wanting to explore the beautiful Mt. Rainier National Park and wanting to be in Seattle in time for the 4 pm kickoff of the US vs. Germany semi-final match.   We had a little nervous energy all day, allowing ourselves to consider the possibility that if we win this game, we would be seeing the US Women play live on Sunday!!  But first, Mt. Rainier. 

We drove through the old growth forest up to the Visitor’s Center at Paradise.   Along the way the view is mostly of trees, rivers, valleys, and every now and then you turn a corner and the massive Mt. Rainier is suddenly in full view.  It really does take your breath away.  The movie at the Visitor’s Center talked about the planning that went in to making that effect a reality when they were building the road – so it isn’t just me. 



From the Visitor’s Center we hiked a pretty short trail to Myrtle Falls and just beyond the falls into the meadows of wildflowers.  I have been to several National Parks (Joshua Tree, Death Valley) during what was supposed to be prime wildflower season, but I've been disappointed.  Not so today.  The wildflowers at the base of Mt. Rainier are absolutely stunning.  Some might say (and have) that is looks like "Paradise".  We drove a little further up the road to see Reflection Lake and marveled at the view but by that time our attention shifted to getting some cell service and finding a place to watch the game in Seattle.

Our drive to Seattle was a little more than 2 hours.  We stopped for lunch around 1, picked up some road-side Rainier cherries (never made the connection before), arrived at our new airbnb (an artist’s studio in northeast Seattle) around 3:30, and got to a multi-tv restaurant around 4.  We barely touched the food we ordered (combination of nerves and excitement and just being totally full), but the game was so fun to watch in a public setting!  I didn’t even say anything mean to the woman who walked in wearing a German jersey… but I wasn’t sad when she left at half-time.   I can NOT believe this trip worked out to include seeing the US Women play in the World Cup Finals on Sunday.  We are such fans!  I think even Julia is looking forward to it now…she watched the full game with us today and was cheering just as loudly as everyone else.  She has caught the fever!

We came back to our studio to relax, start getting our mind around our next few days in Seattle, work on the blog (thanks for reading!), and watch hours of game recapping to keep reliving the joy.     

Day 15: Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier National Park – June 29

We woke up to a tempting offer to stay an extra night in the yurt, and though I have no doubt another day in Portland and particularly at the Traveler’s House would have wonderful, we needed to continue on our journey.  We said our goodbyes to our fellow travelers and our new friends who run the hostel, feeling confident we will see them again. Despite valiant effort, we hadn’t even made it through half of Rachel’s list.  On our way out of town we hit our 13th (out of 35) for a late Swedish breakfast at Broder Nord.  Our server was adamant that we could not order all that we tried to order – it was way too much food.  The food she did let us order was scrumptious – the perfect finale to our Portland feasting. And in the end, she agreed we could order a little more to go for tomorrow’s campsite breakfast.

I got some feedback from a dedicated reader (thanks Tony!) that I have mentioned the scavenger hunt several times but have not provided appropriate background info.  At first I wasn’t planning on blogging about our finds at all because I didn’t want to tip our hand, but finding these items have been some of our best stories, so must be included.  Our family was invited to be a part of a summer-long scavenger hunt…we have to find 20 items before the start of school at which point the participating families will gather to compare results.  Winners get bragging rights.  We were invited in by people who may not have been totally aware how much we enjoy a challenge like this!  The 20 items we are searching for are: a funny sign, a drive in movie theater, something or someone 100 years old, a log ride, an exotic plant or animal, someplace haunted, a covered bridge, a dog in a stroller or purse, whole family's reflection in something other than a mirror, an old fashioned, stand up arcade game, a bride, a mascot, something that brings good luck, a lifeguard (bonus points if they are manning their post/tower), a self-playing piano (photographed in action), a funnel cake, a turtle, a street performer (bonus points for family members joining in on the performance!), a tractor, and something unusual not on the list. I'm not saying if I've blogged about every find we've made...

Our first stop today was Mt. St. Helen’s.  It was a little hard to motivate ourselves to add the hour + drive each way to our day, but it was definitely worth the effort, especially given the perfect visibility of the mountain today.   I remember the ash coverage in Los Angeles in 1980 so it was quite amazing to see where that all came from and to learn more about the devastation that the eruption caused. 

From there we headed to Mt. Rainier to camp for the night.  It felt like most of the day was spent driving, this time with Amy Poehler keeping us company. (We prefer Tina's book.)  We stopped for lunch between the two mountains around 4 pm in Toledo, WA  - hometown of Scott Lyons and a place I heard stories about when he was a student at Caltech in the early 90s.  I learned after we left that I should have ordered a fresh strawberry milkshake...good thing we are passing back through on our way back down!



We arrived at our campsite around 7.  It is a large campsite with many campers, but unlike in Crater Laker, you still feel relatively isolated from the other people.  We went on a quick walk to get a view of the mountain before it got dark.  As with much of this trip, we were extremely lucky with the weather. [Even the predicted 100+ degree weekend in Portland didn’t come to pass – it was overcast and in the 80s most of the weekend.]  Apparently, last night there was a huge thunderstorm right over the campsite and the mountain wasn’t visible at all during the day.  Today the sky is crystal clear, and the mountain is breathtaking – literally every time it comes into view, I gasp a little.  And there was a full moon to boot.

Julia and I have mastered the tent and put it up in record time.  Rachel, a fire pro, had a little more trouble this time around largely because collecting wood in the Park is not allowed and we didn’t have any kindling with us.  She did get it going well enough, considering we weren’t even hungry for dinner.  It became clear we had drawn the interest of our camp neighbors, 10-year-old Herminia (Mina) and 8-year-old Penelope (Penny).  Before long the guitar came out, and that coupled with the allure of big girls was too much to resist.  When I asked if they would like to come over to our site, they ran right over…followed by their parents Connie and Nick.  We had a nice, musical evening around our campfire (that Nick supplied kindling, wood, and the effort to maintain), and only ended when quiet hours went into effect at 10 pm.  I told Connie about how part of this trip has been about meeting people and pulling life lessons out of those experiences and she said she thought that this time the learning opportunities were all theirs.  Mina has had a few guitar lessons but it seems meeting Rachel might be a real inspiration for her.  And, if you want to pull out how to be a good big sister lessons, spending time with Julia is a good start.  I learned some great ideas for visiting Seattle – their hometown.

Day 14: Final Day in Portland (and LOTS of donuts) - June 28

Voodoo Donuts is the place most people say you must try when you tell them you are going to Portland.  To me it sounded very similar to Psycho Donuts in San Jose – a fun place to get a strange concoction, but not something I would necessarily seek out. A few days ago I learned, talking to a very in-the-know 18-year-old boy, that at 4 am they take what is currently in the case out and create “buckets of donuts” that they sell for $10.  I let him know that my days of being up at 4 am are long gone and in fact never really existed.  But then, I realized that while the buckets may be intended for people still up, I could take advantage of the deal and still get a full night’s sleep!  I woke around 5:30 as usual and called Voodoo to confirm buckets were available and headed down there.  The buckets are kept in the back, not visible from the counter, and I couldn’t really picture what I’d be getting for $10, so I asked for 2 buckets to share with the hostel.  I was totally surprised when she brought out two 5-gallon paint buckets heavy with donuts! 

Eventually I woke the girls up and we came to the hostel kitchen to put the donuts out for the guests.  We filled plate after plate with donuts.  There were an unbelievable number of donuts!  Far more than even a hostel full of people could make an inroads on but a nice thing to wake up to on a Sunday morning.

From there we drove Nava to her ultimate practice and made our way to the Portland Saturday Market – yes, on Sunday – a great outdoor arts and crafts market.  We enjoyed checking out the local artists selling all sorts of cool stuff, and it was fun to see the waterfront area of Portland at the same time.   Voodoo Donuts is very close to the Saturday Market so we decided to go so the others could just see it – definitely not to order anything – and the line was well down the block!  When I was there at 5:30 am, there was ONE couple in line in front of me.  Heed my advice – do not wait in line for Voodoo Donuts!  Go early..or choice Blue Star Donuts (they are better).

We got FOUR great finds on the scavenger hunt today!  One item on the list is “a street performer.”  Of course we’ve seen many, many street performers during this trip, and my vision has been to get Rachel involved in some musical act but she is not the one among us most likely to embarrass herself in this way.  Today, we saw a woman who could do amazing things with a hula hoop and Julia put a dollar in her bucket and then gamely asked if she could try too.  Then, I got in on the act.  I don’t think we offended her artistic sensibilities at all…she seemed quite interested in getting us to be better hula hoopers.  I imagine the onlookers were happy though when we left her to her work.  She makes it look so easy!

The Thai restaurant Pok Pok was on Rachel’s list and has been confirmed as a “must” by many locals, so after a quick stop at Sunnyside Piazza (a community effort to turn "space into place")

we headed to Pok Pok for lunch. The food was like no other Thai I’ve ever had before.  Such an unusual combination of flavors and ingredients (for us – very usual for the millions of people living in Thailand – it is said to be very authentic by people who should know).  We really enjoyed the “red fire water spinach” and the curry noodle soup….and the mango sticky rice dessert.  I thought we’d walk over to Salt & Straw afterwards since our time in Portland is coming to an end and we only had it once.  But, again the line was too long to seem worth it, so we passed.

Jim was interested in seeing the Lewis & Clark campus so we headed that way.  Along the way we passed a store called Classic Piano and that is where we got our second great scavenger hunt find of the day: a player piano.  We asked if they had one and they walked us over to where they are kept, turned it on so we could get some pictures, tried to sell us a piano for the girls, and then when they realized we were traveling they left, leaving us alone in the showroom full of every size of piano.  The girls practiced their duet again, this time on 9-foot concert grand pianos!

We walked the Lewis & Clark campus, which is still beautiful but probably not going to be super high on the list.  Our third and fourth scavenger hunt finds of the day – a reflection of the entire family in something other than a mirror and a mascot – were found on campus.    We headed back to the hostel to hang out (read, blog, puzzle, do laundry, nibble on the remaining donuts) for a bit.  Yesterday at Powell’s we got Rachel the book Solo: A Memoir of Hope; she has already read over 200 pages of it.  We’ve had a lot of interesting conversations about Hope, asking questions like “Would you feel differently if she were male and accused of domestic violence?” and “Can you appreciate the art without liking the artist?”  (For me it is a no for Woody Allen and a yes for Hope – not logical.)  We’ve even heard unflattering things about her from people who have played with her, but in the end, we still really like her.  I figured knowing her story from her point of view would be illuminating if nothing else and her path as a goalkeeper is fascinating to Rachel. I’m glad she is reading it so quickly so I can get my hands on it next!

We finally got motivated to walk out for dinner once Jim and Julia finished the puzzle (missing the final piece!) and we could pry Rachel away from the book.  As is our Sunday night tradition, pizza was on the menu.  Grant recommended a great place on Mississippi called Lovely’s Fifty Fifty for pizza – and for ice cream.  He suggested a second option for ice cream called Ruby Jewel’s a little further down the block, and their homemade ice cream cookie sandwich option made them the choice for the night.  When we got there both girls surprised us by deciding they didn’t need more dessert – too many donuts in a day – but Jim and I rallied for some hand-crafted artisan Portland ice cream.  Someone had to do it!

Day 13: Jim arrives in Portland (and joins us in eating LOTS of food) - June 27

Jim arrived early this morning and I went to pick him up while the girls got packed up their stuff to move out of our private double/twin in the main hostel.  We struggled for days with the decision about whether to move to the Embassy Suites as planned or into the backyard yurt of the neighboring, mid-remodel house next door.  There were advantages to both and given the predicted 100+ degree weekend, the air conditioning in the fancy centrally located downtown hotel that we were getting for free with points held a lot of appeal…and I was certainly leaning that way (even Rachel agreed it made sense) but on Thursday night when we were sitting around eating biscuits late at night the hosteling experience (and the opportunity to stay in a yurt!) won out.  Jim was a little surprised when I picked him up and told him the choice we had made but he was game.  As we started to move our stuff into the yurt, it was crystal clear we had made the right decision.  Grant and the team here had added finishing touches that make it feel super homey, along with several fans to cool things off.  I’m so happy we decided to extend our stay at Traveler’s House!

We had to get moved in over there pretty quickly because we had a lot of eating to get to.  Rachel’s list is long and we only have the weekend to squeeze in as many places as possible.  It was a challenge we decided we were all willing to take on.  We had brunch reservations at Levant, “a French-Arabesque restaurant serving modern representations of Middle Eastern dishes in the heart of Portland.” They are open for dinner during the week and only serve brunch on the weekends.  We explained to our waiter that we’d be ordering light because they weren’t our only stop of the day and he got behind our plan…so much so that he brought us our pita and hummus, the pistachio cinnamon roll, and our egg baked in tomato dish (yum!) but then forgot to bring us the challah French toast.  I’m not sure if he forgot the dish or made an executive decision that we didn’t really need it – regardless we were thankful it never came. 

Then we were off to the Portland Farmer’s Market held Saturdays on Portland State University’s campus.  As you might imagine, the stalls were full of beautiful and delicious local bounty.  In addition there were chef demonstrations, prepared hot food, and several street performers.  It was very lively and we did a lot of tasting as we walked the whole market.   My favorite feature was “Durable Dining” – all of the food vendors selling prepared food have to sell it on real plates with real silverware and then there are Dirty Dish Return stations with buckets for each vendor so you can return your plate and fork for washing and reusing.

From the market we walked over to the Portland Art Museum – mostly for Julia but Rachel likes to be credited with also liking museums.  We always make fun of her “museum legs” and she was already feeling sluggish.  We just gave Julia a meet-up time and let her wander on her own – her favorite way to see a museum.  Rachel and I headed off to the impressionists – always my first stop – when out the window Rachel saw an exhibit in the museum courtyard of ten grand pianos with "Please Play Me" written on all of them. Suddenly her museum legs and general lethargy magically disappeared and she couldn’t move quickly enough to figure out how to get outside.  She spent the rest of the time moving from guitar to piano to piano to piano, attracting the attention of a little budding musician.  Julia joined her at the end and the girls played duets together on different pianos.

That was long enough without eating anything so we stopped off at Maurice - A Pastry Luncheonette rated one of the top 10 new restaurants in the world by Bon Apetit in 2014 - and ordered two little desserts, the black pepper cheesecake and lemon souffle pudding cake to share.  We walked to the corner and stopped in at Sizzle Pie to split one slice of cheese pizza.  Then we took Jim to Powell’s Books so he too could have that experience. 

From there we drove over to the Tea Bar and ordered a variety of cold drinks served in mason jars.  Then, traveled the few blocks back to Alberta to revisit Bollywood Theater.  Ryan works there when not working at the hostel and he let us know that though we had had great food during our first visit, there was one dish we really should have tried...the Kati Roll.  He wasn’t wrong!  We got one cut into four pieces for us – it was amazing!  While we were waiting there, Jim wandered next store to get his first Salt & Straw ice cream.  He came back quickly saying the line was “too long” – but when he said it was still inside the shop, not out the door and down the street, we let him know that wasn’t even really a line by Salt & Straw standards and made him go back….he wisely chose a salted caramel cone, which we all helped him finish off.

We went back to the hostel to hang out (read, work on puzzle) until it was time to leave for our dinner reservations at Caffe Mingo…we had to go try the pasta we had made!  It was so fun to see the restaurant in full action.  Our table wasn’t quite ready so we went next door to Bar Mingo to wait for our table.  Mike was dining there with his lovely wife Tenley and we had a nice chat, primarily comparing travel notes about Italy – sort of comparing, mostly learning. They know the country much, much better than we do.  After talking to them, I feel the need to get back there soon!

Our dinner was incredible!  One of the best we’ve had in Portland.  The food, as they claim, is simple Italian cooking, and it is executed perfectly – we recommend it highly!  It is also nice having friends in the kitchen.  We ordered many of the things we had seen in preparation the day before – the whole artichoke, the caprese salad with slow-roasted tomatoes, a risotto, two orders of our gnocchi (which the Chef agreed to make a special vegetarian sauce for, though he had already said no to a different table), sides of broccoli and asparagus, and a berry crisp for dessert (even though we had seen just how much butter is used to make the crisp topping).   Wes thought we should definitely also try the pasta we made so a delectable basil pesto fettucine appeared at our table, as did a tiramisu we hadn’t ordered.    I typically don’t even like tiramisu but this one was wonderful. 

After a long, leisurely dinner, a walk sounded nice to me, so we meandered up and down 23^rd (“trendy-third”) Street.  The line at the Salt & Straw there was not just out the door, it was around the block– so glad we had checked that off the list earlier today!

Day 12: Pasta Making at Caffe Mingo - June 26

Rachel has been eyeing the cookbook Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast for at least a year.  Our library doesn’t carry it so every time we are in a bookstore it is one of the ones she pulls out and pours over.   It wasn’t until we were in Powell’s bookstore yesterday though that I realized that Ken’s Artisan Bakery (a restaurant on the list) was THE Ken Forkish of the book – I had no idea he was in Portland.  So that became today’s breakfast destination.  We ordered four pastries and a bowl of house made granola (please, remember we are just three people), and didn’t end up needing the bag I had asked for to pack up any leftovers we had.

From there we walked down the street a few blocks to Caffe Mingo to meet up with co-owner Mike Cronan.  Backstory: Sarah (Jim’s mom) studied in Rome 50 years ago – they are having a reunion in Rome this fall - and the connections she has from that one year of her life continue to enhance all of our lives.  Our realtor in Mountain View was the daughter of a fellow student, two of my dear neighbors and friends in Mountain View are the sister and niece of a fellow student, and now one of the most special experiences of this trip was provided by a fellow student – and one, by the way, that she didn’t really even know 50 years ago.  In her way, Sarah reached out to Mike to let him know we were coming to town and liked food and asked if he would be willing to show us around his restaurant, which by the way is rated one of the best Italian restaurants in Portland.  He said yes; I sent him an email letting him know we were here; he called and asked what I was looking for; I said anything; and he said maybe we’d make some pasta, come by the restaurant around 9 on Friday. 

So, we walked into Caffe Mingo having no idea at all what to expect.  Mike was perfectly welcoming – we sat at the bar while he told us stories of his restaurant (which is 24 years old – a long time for a restaurant), weaving in the history of Portland and the restaurant scene here in general.   After about 30 minutes he walked behind the bar and placed a tray of croissants on the counter along with three plates and three glasses and said– these are from Ken’s down the street.  Please remember we just stuffed ourselves unashamedly at Ken’s 30 minutes before.  But, what’s one to do.  You can’t be rude.  So the girls and I somehow seemed to have no problem doing the kind thing and eating the food he got for us.  Thankfully we hadn’t already told him we’d just been to Ken’s.  

Then, out of the kitchen comes chef Wes to tell us he is ready for us to join him!  He was making gnocchi for tonight’s dinner but the potato delivery was a little light so not only would be making gnocchi, we needed to make some fresh fettucine too as a backup.  Rather than feeling like we were just in his way (the kitchen is super small) he was clearly happy to have such an interested audience in us and loved sharing his passion for cooking with us.  At first we watched while he worked and explained to us what he was doing, like what he wanted his dough to look and feel like – and while he made adjustments along the way to get the feel he was ultimately looking for.  But, soon it was all hands on deck.

We peeled and riced the potatoes for the gnocchi, and rolled the pasta using a machine and cut it by hand.  He showed us how to turn the potatoes we riced and the ricotta he had made earlier and some flour into gnocchi.  We tried our hands at rolling and forming gnocchi (which takes some practice).  Even though there were three extra people “helping” him, we put him a little behind schedule in the end.  I don’t think it was that we worked slowly – he just loved to talk and explain and of course we loved to hear what he had to say and had tons of questions.  Wes whipped us up a quick, beautiful, delicious tomato sauce and finished some gnocchi in it for our lunch, which we enjoyed with Mike while Wes quickly finished making the rest of the gnocchi for the next two nights in the restaurant.  When we walked in at 9 am I thought we might be there an hour or so, but we didn’t walk out until 1:30 pm!  It was a truly unusual and very special experience and I can’t thank them both enough!

We walked right by Ken’s on the way back to the car and decided Rachel had been looking at that cookbook long enough – and where better to buy it than at his shop.  And while we were there, we really needed to be sure to try the bread too, right?

Portland is in the middle of the heat wave and the temperature is growing steadily each day.  Today it was already 95 degrees and it is only supposed to get worse (into the triple digits) through the weekend.  But, we needed to see the International Test Rose Garden.  There was an info desk with a laminated walking tour we could follow through the garden and it was quite interesting.  It was a little odd to have such a close connection to the other “city of roses” but I’m ok with Portland sharing the title with Pasadena.  It being a test garden the history was interesting, especially of the Peace rose from the ‘40s taken out of France on the last plane out before the German invasion.   We also wanted to see the Japanese Garden but with only about 10 minutes for viewing before needing to head out for the US kickoff vs. China we decided not to pay the entrance fee – maybe we’ll get there in the next couple of days.

I knew enough now to call ahead to local bars and restaurants showing the game to make sure the girls would be allowed to watch and on our third call I found a place relatively close to our hostel.  We went back to the hostel and left Julia there while Rachel and I went to claim table space near the TV.  Julia jogged down to meet us for the second half.  This time the restaurant was full of people interested in the game and it was fun to celebrate the US win with a bunch of strangers all clapping and cheering along.

Rachel was inspired watching and wanted to go play soccer.  She’s really missing it this summer, but even though it was almost 7 pm it was still over 90 degrees out.  We went back to the hostel and got a little lazy feeling in the heat…but around 8:30 we rallied and went out to a local field to kick the ball around (mostly because I hadn't gotten my 10,000 steps yet).   Just as we decided to head back at 9:15, Nava came out to the field with her Frisbee (she plays and loves ultimate) and so we ended up playing with her until I just couldn’t see the disk any longer.  With Jim arriving tomorrow, we are hopeful to get a pickup ultimate game going!