We brought the Eclipse in for a landing in Olympia and ate at Darby's cafe. I tried to munch a midway burger, but the item was a little too big for me to finish. The burger is packed with a chicken fried steak slab and drowned in sausage gravy. I thought the bastard was good, but the scary thing is there is a midway burger deluxe which exceeds the size of the one I ate, oh and topped with a fried egg.
We drank a Dick's beer with our meal and I believe the owner set that whole name thing up because when Tricia ordered them she said, "We'll have two Dick's." I'm not sure, but I think our ultra-hip-fixed-gear-fashion boy of a waiter chuckled a bit.
Although we only experienced a tiny slice of Olympia, the place seemed nice. There were a lot of recycled grunge kids moping about, but they all seemed determined to get somewhere.
We finished our drive into Portland, but before we headed to Jeff and Natalie's house we stopped in Vancouver, Wa. to wee and change drivers. I found out later Portlanders call people from Vancouver "couves."
As soon as the house tour finished, Jeff threw us into his truck and drove us to the nearest grocery store to buy supplies for the evenings "get drunk." The New Seasons market tripped me out. Everyone was pleasant. Everyone said hi. Everyone wanted to talk. Tricia and I looked at each other and thought similarly, if this represents Oregon, then this place is promising.
Later at the house Jeff's friends Stevie and Monica arrived and we all conversed, drank and started lighting fireworks. We also played a bit of night bocce and I believe Jeff won. That evening a thunderstorm hit and I could hear the rain smashing the ground through out the night.
The next morning we left to have coffee at Random Order Coffeehouse and Bakery on Alberta Street. This place is cool. Again, everyone was nice and the coffee was great.
We hit the road heading west on the 30 toward Astoria. We all had a great time exploring the city although I could tell Jeff wasn't too thrilled to seek out different buildings featured in the Goonies. One of the highlights was the nautical museum. Another one was the column.
We were going to travel down the coast but instead we decided to cross the bridge over the Colombia river to find Cape Disappointment on Washington's coast.
We stopped at a yard sale and bought some random items then made our way to a look out where we could see the coast, but we never arrived at the Cape because the drive was longer than we expected. Since we were running out of daylight and had to get back for the arrival of Dean and Melissa, we decided to head back into Portland.
That evening we barbequed hot dogs and veggie burgers, drank vino, played Frisbee and bocce.
The next day was the fourth of July. Natalie and Jeff made eggs, coffee and hashbrowns and Dean and Melissa left to visit with their new puppy Finch. The rest of us drove through downtown Portland. We ate at a Mexican food place and I bought new red Vans. Tricia and I basically loved every part of Portland.
We all met back at the house and played around with the balero, barbecued shishkabobs, lit fireworks, watched Natalie act out different parts of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and played some cut-throat Uno games.
The next day we all went to a dog park to meet Finch and play around with other peoples dogs. Afterward we ate at Cup & Saucer near Jeff's and Natalie's house. Dean and Melissa headed home and the rest of us hit up the market downtown.
Later in the evening Tricia and I were introduced to a McMinnimins. This elementary school turned debauchery house was cool. We ate and drank in the restaurant then walked around and checked out all the other bars and rooms in the place. We were going to see a movie in their movie theater, but decided to walk home instead.
The next morning Tricia and I were off back to Seattle to visit with her aunt and cousins. Billy and Summer took us to a beer fest at the base of the Space Needle, but before that we visited the house of the Pictionary inventor. Summer was house sitting and wanted to grab her camera before the festival.
The house is huge and situated on the coast of Lake Washington. He's always trying to invent new games so if anyone has an idea we may have a hook up. Tricia's aunt Julie and her boyfriend Clark prepared an awesome dinner for us. We all drank and conversed then passed out.
The next morning we came home.
What a trip. Thank you guys so much for having us and we're looking forward to visiting again.
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