Annual Girls Trip: Oregon & Washington

(This isn't a Jac and Betsy adventure, it's just a Betsy adventure. But, I'm posting it here anyway because I always want to remember this fun, fun trip. And when Jac heads out for an adventure with the guys later this year, I'll post his pictures on here as well, so he can always remember his trip too.)

 

It's summer, and summer means it's time for another Girls Trip. We usually just go to St. George...like 12 years of summer trips to St. George, just us girls.  This year, however, we got fancy.  This year we flew on a plane, stayed in airbnbs, visited people... We did a 'real' trip this year, and it was FUN! As usual, I took a lot of pictures:

Here we are taking off from Salt Lake, headed to Portland. Virginia had already driven there the day before and was meeting us there.

First: Portland to see Kimmie
Kimmie has lived in the Portland area for two years and just moved into an ADORABLE little house just outside of Portland. Her house was our first stop on the trip and our home for the next two nights.

Tired from our early flight and lack of sleep, we spent most of our first day just hanging out at her house, chatting it up in her cool shady yard...

 

...watching a documentary and taking naps (2 for me!). We did leave the house to go out to dinner and then on a short walk in an AMAZING nearby park. (This was the first of many 'parks' we would visit on this trip, and needless to say, we are jealous!)

 

Japanese Garden
The next day we made up for our lazy first day in Portland by having LOTS of new experiences.  First stop was Portland's beautiful Japanese Gardens:

 

Our favorite parts were this stunning tree covered trellis, which we all want to replicate in our own yards:

and seeing the fascinating collection of bonsai trees, some as old as 300 years!

 

 We took lots of pictures, including some with us in it:

And since we are all so super hip, we made sure to take some pictures in all the required social media poses, like (1) holding your hat from behind:

(2) laughing hysterically, like you are having the time of your life and everyone should be jealous:

 

and (3) doing the tongue out, radical hands pose. Can't forget that one.

After the gardens, we drove to Portland's adorable Alphabet District (typical quaint street pictured below) and had a delicious lunch at Papa Haydn's.

 
Cannon Beach
After lunch, we swung by the house to pick up Kimmie, then headed to the coastline to for a quintessential Oregon vacation stop: Cannon Beach!

 

 

 

The weather wasn't awesome (a bit cold and drizzly), but it was still fun to visit the famous Cannon Beach.  (Cindy had some wine in the back of the car on the way there, so she was having an extra good time regardless.):

We stopped at a few spots along the coast, saw some wildlife (this big flock of pelicans, some elk, a little bunny, etc...)

 

 
...and then stopped in the cute little town...

...for a dinner of fish and chips. It was a great ending to a fun day!

 

Oregon Coast Drive
Day three was spent driving from Portland to Eugene, with a big detour along the coast.  On the way to the coast we stopped for tater tots in Corvalis (highly recommended, but actually just meh):

Our first coastal stop was the interesting, rugged but charming little town of Newport. I wasn't expecting to see so much small commercial fishing, and that was fun to see!  There were boats coming and going in the water and fishermen pulling up lines, washing down their ships, and cleaning out the day's fishing haul... I've never seen all that fisheries stuff in person.

While there we loaded up on a huge variety of salt water taffy and jelly belly flavors, which we then made ourselves kinda sick on for the rest of the day.

Further down the coast we stopped to check out the Yachats Tide Pools, with a lucky extra bonus of seeing two old ladies blowing cool giant bubbles.

 

 

 

Then we drove south a little more, and stopped to hike the beautiful shoreline trail to Hecata Head Lighthouse (shown below from a distance).

It was closed so we didn't tour inside, but the hike was worth it nonetheless.

Next: Eugene to see Brooke
After exploring the coast, we headed inland and finally arrived in Eugene, where we'd stay for the next two nights. We were there to see Brooke, who has lived in Eugene for several years now and really loves it there. Shortly after we arrived, Brooke brought over Indian food from a restaurant that she used to work at, and YUM...it was delicious. After dinner we sat on the back deck and heard all about Brooke's work, about Thomas and Dungeons & Dragons and Noom... and overall how great Brooke is doing. Yea Brooke!

 

While in Eugene, we stayed at a charming airbnb in the university district. Here are some pictures of the house:  

We especially loved the shady back deck (friendly cat included), and ended up spending most of our time at the house out there.

Mom couldn't resist deadheading the roses that lined the driveway. They were WAY overdue (and the owners were really thankful when I told them that she did it.) 

On our full day with Brooke, we started off by checking out her apartment, then joining her on her favorite walk along the river.

We also relaxed a bit, drove around checking out the adorably restored and landscapes houses, and even stumbled across the famous Voodoo Donuts.

 

We ordered a few...

and turns out they are kinda 'just' donuts. Not magical. Now we know.

Dinner with Thomas
At night, we met at Agate Alley for dinner with Brooke's boyfriend Thomas. We had a great time, and were so glad to see what a kind, likeable guy Thomas is. (This was everyone's first time meeting him, including Virginia.)  Sweet Brooke deserves a nice guy, and Thomas seems to be just that.  :)

Last stop: Seattle to see Mallory
Two kids down, one to go. From Eugene, we drove five hours north to Seattle, to spend some time with Mallory, who over the next two days would prove to be a real Seattle expert (which I guess makes sense, since they've lived there for 7 or 8 years). Here's a picture of Mal with their partner Sam.

For our time in Seattle, we stayed at an AMAZING airbnb in the suburb of Burien.  The airbnb is called "The Treed Inn", and that's no exaggeration...the house is almost completely tree'd in!  Look at this shot from the deck--standing there you are entirely surrounded by a verdant, lush, diverse forest.

We all wanted to move in right away! :)  But...since we can't, here are a bunch of pictures to help me remember the place.

And here we are enjoying it. This was on our first night there, when we sat on the deck and played Bananagrams:

But...we weren't just in Seattle to spend time at an airbnb.  The next morning, we headed out bright and early to pick up Mallory and get an absolutely delicious breakfast at Morsel.  They specialize in biscuit sandwiches and this was my favorite meal of the whole trip. YUM!!!  (Needless to say, this is where I'd like my cremated ashes to be spread after I die. Biscuits are my heaven!)

 

 

Next, we went for a walk in the 'fairy' park (so named by Virginia) and we were again astonished that something so amazing could be right in the middle of a big city.  I'm used to boring, grass-covered, nearly treeless areas being called parks, but in the PNW, "parks" are lush forests full of such a fascinatingly diverse variety of plants.  I want those kinds of parks where we live.  So jealous!

Next, Mallory directed us to an area they used to live in to see some houseboats. That was for me. I really wanted to see houseboats for some reason. Maybe Sleepless in Seattle is to blame. We saw these, from a distance, and all it did was peak my curiosity more. Maybe Jac and I need to go stay in an airbnb houseboat some weekend. How fun!

Next, we did the most touristy thing there probably is to do in Seattle...we went to Pikes Place Market.

First Mal took us down an unassuming alleyway the see "The Gum Wall."  I hadn't even heard of this before, so when we rounded the corner, I was so excited.  How crazy!  I read that it was first started in the 90s, and it's so fun to think this wall has grown piece by piece to cover an enormous expanse of brick and continues to expand down Post Alley. I wish I'd had some gum to add.  We did see that someone added a small Articles of Faith pamphlet.  It's always a good time for missionary work, lol.

 
Next we went into the main market...

 

 

...to see the famous fish stall where employees used to throw fish around, probably just for entertainment's sake, but alas, that's no more.  Apparently it's not sanitary. Bummer.

We did see some interesting stalls full of all types of foods. And we stopped in a french bakery so everyone could get a little treat (except me. I was feeling cheap at the moment, then regretted it later.)

 

From there, we took our treats to Lake Washington to have a little bit of relaxing time by the shore. Traveling is tiring and we're old ladies. :) We watched some SUP yoga, saw an eagle, ate our treats, and learned a new game from Mallory.  It was a much needed break.

And our last activity for the day was to meet Mallory's partner Sam. We picked them up at their house and headed for Virginia's favorite Seattle restaurant for fish tacos and a view. It was yummy...and great to get to meet Sam. We really liked Sam, and are all so glad to see Mal with such a great partner.

 

 

 

And that was it for the day. We headed home, pretty dang tired from the day but with enough energy left to watch a great movie called I Care A Lot.
 

Vivachi
On day 2, we slept in a bit, then headed to the coffee shop Vivace, where Sam works and Mallory was waiting for us. Sam gave us four complementary Nicos....

...complete with little creme hearts...

...and we enjoyed them in style, then headed out for our first activity.

Chihuly Garden

I talked everyone into doing this pricey little excursion so I was a little nervous about whether it would be worth it. In hindsight, I think it was. Dale Chihuly is a famous glass artist, best known for turning his blown glass creations into large scale sculptures.  And that's certainly what we saw at Chihuly Garden and Glass. Check out these amazing, otherworldly, colorful creations.  (Sorry so many, can't edit down).

 

 

 

After the Chihuly Gardens, we stopped at a nearby vendor to grab a Seattle Dog for lunch. What makes a Seattle Dog unique is the addition of cream cheese and grilled onions and peppers.  And it turns out that those were exactly the parts I didn't like.  The dog was good, the mustard was good, the bun was good...but the Seattle part just kinda overwhelmed rather than complimented it all.  Not something I'd get again, but fun to try nonetheless. 

Chihuly Gardens was right next to a bunch of touristy things, like this Guggenheim-style building (Museum of Pop Art) and the famous Seattle Space Needle. It was fun to see them up close, even though we didn't actually go in either one (due to time and $$).

Next we spent some time exploring the city, including the oldest part of Seattle -- the Pioneer Square area.

And then before heading back to our home in the forest we stopped for drinks at Mallory's favorite bar "Bait Shop" (or something like that).  Cindy, Mal and Virginia ordered drinks and played cards while Mom and I watched them like party poopers. :)  But hey, I was the designated driver, and yes....I drove in Seattle. Both nights in fact.  Who's a big girl now, lol.

The next day--our last day of the trip--we had some time to kill so we drove down to the beach right by our airbnb. We wandered around for a bit, not super into sightseeing at that point, and then finally headed for the airport for our flight home to HOT, NOT-GREEN-AT-ALL Utah.

 

 

Wow, what a fun trip.  I love my girls!!!  And I can't wait for what next year will bring. We are thinking a girls trip to Upstate New York to visit Kassie sounds perfect.  We shall see. :)