DAYS 26 - 28: Eugene, Portland, and Seattle

Thursday, October 18th - Sunday, October 21st, 2012 - Eugene and Portland, OR and Seattle, WA


10/18

We woke up in Crescent City, CA and headed straight out to the woods behind our campsite to explore the redwoods.  They were unbelievable!  We were in awe.

Hugging a SMALL redwood.

The woods at our campground.

Testing out the timer function on our phone camera.  It only took 15 times to get a shot that turned out.

Stump.

Crescent City, CA - KOA campground.

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter, bananas, and 'Queen Sofia's Urban Honey'.

We started our drive into Oregon around 1pm.  He were headed to Eugene, OR which means we had to make our way from the Pacific coast to the inland through the mountains.  The drive was INCREDIBLE.  It was a very narrow and curvy two-lane road that was absolutely beautiful.

We stopped in a small town called Cave Junction, OR to get gas and immediately discovered a food truck!  It was a pizza food truck, so we were very excited because we haven't stopped at a pizza truck yet.  It was called 'Rosie's Inferno Fired Pizza' and it was in the gas station parking lot.

The chef at the 'Rosie's Inferno'.

'Rosie's Inferno' menu.

What we got:

The 'Bianca'

The 'Phoenix'

Total (with tip): $19

Our pizza's in the 1000 degree brick oven - they only took 2 minutes to cook!

The Phoenix (chile oil base, chicken, fresh jalapeños, roasted red peppers, smoked mozzarella, and cilantro) and the Bianca (garlic olive oil base, mushrooms, ricotta, mozzarella, and basil).

The pizza's were absolutely fantastic and the crust was phenomenal!  It is amazing to believe that these were made so quickly out of a food truck!  We were very impressed and they tasted delicious.

Awesome retro sign I saw.

After stuffing ourselves with pizza, we continued our drive towards Eugene, OR.  We arrived in Eugene around 6pm and hoped to find somewhere to eat for dinner, but every food truck we found (there weren't many) was closed.

Instead, we found a cool little health food market to buy some ingredients to make dinner at our campground later that night.  The campground was in Albany, OR, about halfway between Eugene and Portland.  

Sweet potato tacos with sweet potato leaves, spicy mayo, avocado, and tomato relish for dinner.

Mitch's favorite - Adoboloco Hot Sauce from Hawaii.

10/19

Yay! I've been looking forward to this day the entire trip!  Today we stopped in Portland to eat at some trucks and then we were on our way to Seattle to visit our great friends, Krista and Ryan, who live there.

We got to Portland for lunch.  I found a food truck online that sounded pretty good, so decided to seek it out.

'Hog and Hen Acadian Kitchen' google search.

Thanks to the discovery of the 'Hog and Hen' online, it lead us to a huge row of food trucks!  Unfortunately, neither of us ended up eating there, but I want to give them a huge shout-out for leading us to all the food trucks near them!  If all food trucks were as easy to find as this one, our food truck hunting would be a lot easier!

Row of food trucks in Portland.  There was every kind of food truck you could think of!

I found a vegan food truck to order from (first one I've found on this trip!) and Mitch found a modern Asian truck to eat at.

'Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ' menu.

What I got:

Vegan BBQ Tempeh Slider

Vegan Portobello Slider

Vegan Mac n' Cheese with vegan chili 

Total (with tip): $8

Vegan BBQ truck.

Vegan slider and mac n' cheese.

Everything was SO GOOD!  It always amazes me how 'regular' food can be converted into vegan food.  Everything was so yummy and comforting and tasted great!  Plus, I got all this food for only $8! Pretty incredible.

'Phat Cart' food truck.

'Phat Cart' menu.

What Mitch got:

Crispy Chicken Bento Box

Crispy Shrimp and Chicken Dumplings

Coconut Juice

Total (with tip): $13

Shrimp and dumplings.

Crispy chicken bento box.

Mitch said the chicken was super, super crispy and delicious and it was served with sticky rice and veggies.  It had a spicy lime aioli drizzled on top which really added to the flavor.  The chicken dumplings were braised chicken and vegetables in wonton wrappers and deep-fried served with a sweet and sour sauce, as were the shrimp.  Every was very good and made fresh to order. 

Portland was whirlwind because we were literally only there for 20 minutes before we were back on the road again.  We couldn't find parking, so we parked in a loading zone and ordered and ate our food as fast as we could.  After our meal, we started our way to Seattle!

Seattle skyline.

We arrived at Krista and Ryan's house around 5pm.  It was so great to see them and awesome to know that we were going to be staying with them all weekend!  They just bought a new house in Mukilteo, WA (about 15 mins from downtown Seattle) AND just a had a baby in August.  It is such an exciting time in their lives and we are so lucky to be able to spend time with them!

Mitch, Ryan, baby Andie, Krista, and myself.

Andie Rose!

Mitch made dinner for us that night (someone had to break in the new kitchen!) and we hung out at the house for the night.  Everything was homemade with ingredients that Krista had in the pantry and it was all incredible!

What he made:

Pan-seared halibut with lemon garlic butter.

Pacific Northwest crab cakes with Adoboloco jalapeño aioli.

New York strip with roasted garlic and whiskey pesto.

Peach and apple crumble pie with sour honey whipped cream and poppy seeds.

10/21

Today we drove into Seattle to go to Pike Pier and walk around.  We decided that eating at the pier was considered eating at a food market, so we ate there instead of hunting for food trucks.

Space needle.

Pike Pier/Public Market.

Beef tongue.

Produce.

Krista suggested we eat a place called 'Beecher's Homemade Cheese'.  The line was out the door, so we knew it would good!

Lunch at the Public Market.

We met a guy who could solve a Rubix Cube in under 25 seconds!

What we got:

Ham and Cheese sandwich

Mac n' Cheese

Herb Cheese Curds

2 Local Beers

2 Coffees

Total (with tip): $36

Ham and cheese sandwich, curds, and mac.

Everything was so good!  We walked around the market for a while, then made plans to visit our friend, Dave, who lived about 5 minutes from downtown.  Dave is the lead singer of Mitch's favorite band, Aqueduct, who Mitch has become friends with over the past year.  He is one of the nicest and most talented guys you will ever meet! 

Dave and Mitch (and the dogs) at Dave's amazing house overlooking the water.

Check out Dave's band, Aqueduct, at:

www.aqueductisgoodmusic.com

After visiting Dave, we drove out to the Puget Sound to admire the views.  Even though it was raining a little, it was still beautiful.  

Formal family pic.

Drift wood.

Mitch made dinner again that night....

Cucumber and radish lettuce wraps with Cyprus Grove Humboldt Fog cheese and 

candied sesame seeds.

Whiskey chicken marsala and eggplant with roasted white sweet potatoes and local mushrooms.

Thank you so much to Krista and Ryan for letting us stay with them all weekend!  It was great to sleep in a real bed and not in our camper for a few days!

Tomorrow, we are on our way east through Washington and into Idaho and Utah.  After that, we will be driving into Wyoming and then down into Colorado to visit Mitch's brother, Collin, and cousin, Matt, who live in Silverthorne, CO.

Total Food Truck/Market Spending for 3 days: $76 (under budget)

Spending for 3 days in Oregon and Washington:

Gas: $294

Food truck/markets: $76

Coffee: $6

Groceries: $25

Campsite in Albany, OR: $28

TOTAL: $429 (Under budget!)

Leftover from our $6000 budget: $1091 - SIX DAYS LEFT! Do you think we can do it?

New posts to come:

Idaho

Utah

Wyoming

Silverthorne, CO

Denver

XO

Mitch and Laurel