Weekend Recap: Oregon

Howdy folks! Hope y'all had a great 4th of July! Our plans changed a little bit at the last minute, but we had a wonderful holiday weekend! We didn't end up going down to Manzanita, but Chris got together a fun little road trip for us that ended up being awesome. We headed down to the Oregon Coast on Saturday morning and decided to camp out for the day at Cannon Beach. I have been wanting to go here so badly since I saw my parents pictures from last year AND because it is where parts of the Goonies was filmed...one of my all-time favorite movies! I know I say this in almost every blog entry, but I really do think this is a must see if you're making a trip to this part of the country. It was so beautiful and we had the perfect day laying out, throwing the football and riding bikes. The little town is cute as well...it kind of reminded me of a Pacific Northwest version of Seaside, Fl!

After our stop in Cannon Beach we headed over to Portland, OR. Chris and I have been wanting to go to Portland for awhile because we have heard it's the "Austin" of this part of the country. Since it was so last minute we could not find one open camping spot in all of Oregon so we booked a room on Airbnb which ended up being great! I was a little skeptical at first, but after reading great reviews from people we tried it and booked someone's basement apartment in a great part of the city for a really great price. I would definitely recommend it! We spent all of Sunday on our bikes exploring the city...and we absolutely fell in love with it. Here's a list of my top 10 favorites from the day:

1. My breakfast of basil pesto scramble (and some of Chris' chocolate raspberry pancakes) at the Cup & Saucer

2. Eating the best strawberries I've ever tasted at King Farmer's Market (the meyer lemon chocolates and chocolate hazelnut butter weren't bad either!)

3. Marveling at the art and pottery at the Portland Farmer's Marker

4. Listening to the live music at the Waterfront Jazz Festival

5. Riding through Washington Park (definitely didn't spend enough time here! If you go I would suggest checking out the Hoyt Arboretum, the Zoo and the Japanese Garden)

6. Spinach, mushroom, sausage pizza from Pyro Pizza food cart

7. Pulled pork BBQ fries from Potato Champion food cart (OMG. TO. DIE. FOR.)

8. Discovering my love for food carts. Seriously. I am in love.

9. Waiting in line for almost an hour for a dozen donuts from the famous VooDoo Donuts (Oh wait...no...this was TERRIBLE! Steer clear Portland travelers! They're not worth it!)

10. Talking to the nice man that pumped my gas...yes, in Oregon people are employed at every gas station to pump your gas...how cool is that!

Sunday we left Portland and took the long way home so we could drive along the Columbia River Gorge...and the extra 2.5 hours was definitely worth it! It's just crazy how the scenery goes from evergreen trees and mountains to rocky cliffs to sand dunes to vineyards and back in the short span of a few hours. We stopped along the way to get some amazing Rainier cherries at a farmstand on the side of the road...hand picked that day...mmm! We enjoyed the rest of our 4th celebrating with family and friends at the Beach Club for a cookout and boat ride and then we capped off our night with the Lake Union fireworks show viewed from Miss Megan Vickery's awesome new apartment! I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pics from the weekend. Have a great rest of the week!

PS- Seattle hit 80 degrees today...and it actually felt really hot :-/ What is happening to me?! Spoken like a true Seattlite...and I haven't even been here a year yet. Eek.