Living Pharr: Seattle - Portland Trip

For my birthday (back in July), we took a trip to Seattle and Portland. Neither of us had been to the northwest, and so we each got to add two new states and cities to our lists :) Plus, we had a really great time and LOVED both Seattle and Portland.

Thursday in Seattle

We landed pretty early in Seattle, and hit the ground running. After checking into our hotel, we walked down to the waterfront to enjoy the view and some frosty beverages from local breweries :) After our drink stop, we headed off to the famous Pike Place Market. It is a fantastic market (4 levels!), which includes the original Starbucks.

Incredibly long line for the same stuff you get at every other Starbucks, which is why we did not go in ;)

After the market, we headed to the Space Needle where we enjoyed great views of the city and a yummy lunch.

After the Space Needle, we walked back towards the waterfront to check out the Olympic Sculpture Park then headed back to our hotel to clean up for dinner. Dinner was at Lola, a fabulous Greek/Mediterranean restaurant that was just down the block from our hotel and one of downtown's 'hot spots'. It was amazing! If you are in Seattle, please please eat here. We had dinner, which was great, but they are known for their brunch, too.

Lola's signature dessert, doughnut beignets - AMAAAAZING!

The awesome view from our hotel room.

Friday in Seattle

Friday morning, we walked around Lake Union and explored a little bit before meeting our friends, the Rockenbachs, for lunch. Lucky us they had just moved to Seattle earlier that week! :) We had lunch at Duke's Chowder House, where we sampled their award-winning chowder, and got to catch up with our friends and their cute children.

After lunch, we took a tour of Seattle's waterways. Apparently, Lake Union is named so because it is the 'union' between the salt water and fresh water bodies surrounding Seattle. It was a fun tour and we got to see some very cool engineering at the locks, where they lower/raise the water level to let boats transfer from the fresh water to the salt water. It's pretty cool, even if I don't really understand the physic/engineering ;)

Lowering down at the locks

Passing through the locks

Out on the ocean

Saturday (morning) in Seattle

Saturday morning we took a very adventurous bike ride around the Lake Union area, through the University of Washington campus and back through the Capital Hill area on our way back to the hotel. The ride wasn't supposed to go through the University of Washington area, but we got a little lost (although Matt will not admit that!). Anyways, we made it safely back to our hotel with time to spare before catching our train to Portland (I was a little worried during parts of our ride ;)), and it was a fantastic way to see some of the city that we had not been able to explore yet.

Crossing over Lake Union

U of W campus

Before catching our train to Portland, we stopped by some of the gastric delights we had read/heard about/walked by and had not been able to visit yet. We had a late breakfast at Biscuit Bitch, which was pretty awesome (and gluten-free!). Then we stopped for some adult beverages at a great little restaurant/gastropub, Bell & Whete, that had an extensive beer list, which we always appreciate, and a nice perch in the middle of the city block. A nice end to our Seattle visit :)

Saturday (evening) in Portland

The first stop we made in Portland was to a place that Matt hasn't stopped talking about since we started planning this trip, Powell's City of Books. While I am not the book lover that Matt is, I have to say it is a pretty cool bookstore. I did find a book there that I really enjoyed :)

After Powell's books, we walked around our hotel neighborhood a bit. Then hit a night spot recommended by one of our hotel staff and then on to a whiskey bar that looked nice, where I got to try the 'Twilight beer' (that Charlie Swan drank in the movies), Rainer. Actually, not bad beer :)

Sunday in Portland

Sunday we took a city tour that took us to all different neighborhoods and tourist sites of Portland that we would not have been able to see on our own plus the Columbia Gorge, which was beautiful! There were three main stops on our tour, the first was a real Chinese Garden in Chinatown. I have never been in a Chinese garden, and it was quite lovely. Our second stop was the International Rose Test Garden; Portland is the City of Roses. Their rose garden is one of three international test gardens for rose varieties. Our third and final stop was the Columbia Gorge, which has nine waterfalls and amazing greenery/nature elements with stunning views from every vista.

Chinese Garden

Rose Garden

Columbia Gorge

Sunday night we went to Southpark Seafood, recommended by our tour guide, funny because we saw other people from our tour there, too ;) It was a great recommendation, we enjoyed locally sourced seafood, some local wine and delighted our pallets with crispy pork tail - so good!

Monday in Portland

Our last morning in Portland, we took a morning run around the Willamette River thanks to a handy 5-mile running route mapped out by our hotel and available in hand-held cards for health-conscious guests like us ;) Then of course we rewarded ourselves with one of the things Portland is known best for - beer! We visited the Deschutes Brewery, the Fat Head's Brewery, and the 10 Barrell Brewing Co. Deschutes was by far the best, but 10 Barrell Brewing Co. wasn't bad either (don't recommend Fat Head's).