oregon (and the northwest)

It's been a while! I've been totally slacking on my blog. I was out of town every single weekend in May and now all of a sudden it's June. It's going to be December before I know it. For a good part of May I was exploring the Northwest. I've been wanting to go to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver for a few years now and I finally planned a trip with a friend. We went under the premise to run the Portland half marathon but of course wanted to road trip and explore. 

old dirty bastard.

It was a lot of fun and jam-packed with activities. In Portland, we hung out at Powell's, chatted with Kara Goucher (an Olympian in case you don't run), ran a half marathon, saw Andy Grammar in concert and hung out with my cousins. On our way out of town, we hit up Voodoo Doughnut before we hiked to Mirror Lake and Tamanawas Falls on Mt. Hood. I couldn't quite finish the Old Dirty Bastard doughnut (oreos and peanut butter) that morning but after a couple of hikes, it eventually disappeared. 

mt. hood.

We had such a gorgeous day, and we were able to fully enjoy the scenery. Even driving around the mountain was really nice, admiring the views. After hiking about 7 miles, we had had to get some sustenance and stopped at The Gorge White House for some food, and wine and beer tastings. It was very hard to drag ourselves away, but we had to make our way into Washington to get to Vancouver. 

granville island brewery.

The first day in Vancouver was pretty rainy, so we walked around a bit, but mostly ate and drank. We hit up Granville Island Brewery and Yaletown Brewing Company. Even though it was rainy, we could tell the views were pretty amazing. The next day we worked off the beer by running in Stanley Park and doing the Stawamus Chief hike near Squamish. After a very active day, we  hung out in what turns out to be my favorite neighborhood in Vancouver—Gastown, where we had drinks and dinner, Salt and Rodney's Oyster House. Both very yummy. 

stawamus chief hike.

After a couple of days, we made our way to Seattle—very slowly. We hit up the original Lululemon store, made some stops to check out where Once Upon a Time is filmed (instead saw a Godzilla), and back in America, hit up the Lululemon outlet. We weren't in any rush, but fortunately we took our time since we avoided going into the Skagit River when the I-5 bridge collapsed in Mt. Vernon, WA. We missed it by an hour. Thankfully those who went in survived, but all the locals were on edge and we could only sympathize with them. 

After all that drama, we made our way to Seattle with no issues. I was excited to be in Washington, since that is where my parents got married and had me. I'm the only one in my immediate family not born in NYS, which is kind of cool and different. Except I don't remember a thing about it. I wanted to go see the town I was born in, but we didn't really have the time. On my next trip for sure. 

space needle & chihuly glass.

We spent the next couple of days sightseeing in Seattle—Pike Place, Olympic Sculpture Park, the Space Needle, the Chihuly Exhibit, a Mariners game, and the Comet Tavern. It was a nice mix of seeing the city, sports, music, and wandering around. 

mariners vs rangers.

The trip overall was a lot of fun, but there were still things I wanted to do and see in all the places. But I know I'll go back again. And I got to check off one more state and one more ballpark!