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Are you human?

To celebrate my 30th birthday and my husband graduating from his Master’s program, we decided it was time to take a big vacation. We chose the Pacific Northwest because neither of us had ever been there before. We also decided up front that we didn’t want to rent a car for this trip. It helped us save money in rental charges, gas and parking and also made vacation more enjoyable for us, personally. We both find driving places we don’t know somewhat stressful and prefer walking or allowing others to take us where we need to go.

Day 1

PDX Airport
Hotel Rose, Downtown Portland

We arrived late on a Wednesday night – 10:30 PM Portland time which felt like 1:30 AM to our bodies on Cleveland time. We took a cab straight to our hotel and crashed. The staff at the hotel were very friendly and efficient. We loved our room and the bed was so comfortable, I kind of want to buy that mattress for our house.

Day 2

Multnomah Falls & Columbia River Gorge bus tour
Pioneer Courthouse Square

We woke up bright and early Thursday morning – not too hard to do since again, time zone changes made 6:00 AM feel like 9:00 AM. We searched out a good breakfast place in walking distance from our hotel on Yelp and found the well-reviewed Good Earth Cafe. Hole in the wall kind of place with generous portions and a great omelette.

I heard from several people before our trip that we had to see Multnomah Falls while we were in the Portland area but since we didn’t want to rent a car to get out there, I did some research and found a bus tour that included Multnomah Falls through Gray Line tours. Stops on the tour included:

Crown Point with Vista House
Latourell Falls, Oneonta Gorge, Horsetail Falls
Multnomah Falls
Bonneville Dam
Dam Fish Hatchery

We would have never visited the dam or fish hatchery on our own (I didn’t know a fish hatchery was a thing) but we were both glad we went. Interesting experiences all around. The waterfalls were beautiful, the tour bus driver shared a lot of information about the area and it was a really great way to spend a morning. It’s not the cheapest activity but considering the money we saved not renting a car/parking, it balanced out.

The bus picked up and let out at Pioneer Courthouse Square. We got the chance to see a group setting up an intricate flower display in the square for the Festival of Flowers starting the next day. The rest of our day was spent just walking around the neighborhood and relaxing at our hotel. Enjoyed the luxury of a mid-day nap – awesome.

Day 3

Stumptown Coffee
Voodoo Doughnut
Powell’s City of Books
Pearl District

On Friday, we walked to Stumptown Coffee and hit the line for Voodoo Doughnut. The line moves quickly and it’s worth the wait. I love that even though they could easily jack up the prices because of how popular they are, it’s not ridiculously priced at all. After doughnuts, we walked to Powell’s City of Books. I could live there. It’s gigantic and if you’re a book lover, plan at least an hour to explore. We also checked out some other shops in the Pearl District – a thrift store and a small boutique. I’ve heard that the food scene in the Pearl District is worth checking out but we were still full from Voodoo and didn’t get a chance to try any restaurants.

We ended up back near our hotel and the Pioneer Courthouse Square area and after walking about we found about a block and a half of awesome food carts. We got a late lunch at a grilled cheese cart and later tried dinner at an Italian restaurant, Mamma Mia Trattoria.

Day 4

International Rose Test Garden
City Fair
Starlight Parade

We stopped at another food cart for breakfast burritos and then took a cab to the International Rose Test Garden. We had the perfect sunny day to visit and I’d recommend this to anyone. It’s free, gorgeous and especially if you’re in town around the same time of year we were, everything is in full bloom. There’s a free shuttle that takes you around the park so you can get from the Rose Garden to the Japanese Garden, the zoo, the arboretum and several other stops. We didn’t end up exploring the other places but rode the shuttle just to check out the options.

That evening, we went to City Fair, which is like a giant carnival – ferris wheel and rides, live music, festival food (deep fried everything, including delicious funnel cakes). Sir Mix-a-Lot was playing at the fair later that evening but we didn’t get tickets to that particular event. Instead, we went to the Starlight Parade. Not as big as the Grand Floral Parade for the Rose Festival but still saw a big crowd, the Starlight Parade is a little more funky. The grand marshal of the parade this year was the airport carpet. No joke. Apparently, the fact that they are tearing up the carpet at the PDX Airport is a big deal to locals and throughout our visit, we saw PDX carpet themed souvenirs (shirts, magnets, even soap in the same colors and pattern) and they stuck a hat and a pair of googly eyes on a roll of carpet and named it Grand Marshal.

If you go during the Rose Festival and want to check out either of the parades, you have to stake out a spot early. People set out chairs and chalk out spaces the night before for prime spaces on the parade route. We were on a side street and our view was often blocked by the city train. We would have had to have gotten there at least an hour or two in advance to get a decent view from the main route.

Day 5

Amtrak: PDX – SEA
Belltown neighborhood

Sunday was our last day in Portland and our first in Seattle. We took an Amtrak train and would recommend that for anyone that doesn’t want to rent a car and do the drive. Tickets were affordable (about $52 for both of us), seats were comfortable and the ride was pretty smooth. It was our first Amtrak experience but we’ll definitely try it again for a distance like that. Plus, it’s a nice scenic trip and we were blessed with relatively quiet fellow passengers.

When we got to Seattle, our train arrived the same time a Seattle Sounders game was letting out at the stadium next door. This meant that the road to the Amtrak station was partially blocked to traffic and that the cabs that would normally be waiting there were being snagged by soccer fans. After about 10-15 minutes of waiting and realizing that no cabs were in sight, we walked a few blocks up and flagged one down where there was a little less congestion.

We stayed at an Airbnb in Seattle (another first for our travel adventures). You can narrow down your search on Airbnb based on location and we decided in advance that Belltown would be the best neighborhood since it looked like it was right in the middle of the main touristy attractions we wanted to see – Pike Place Market and the Space Needle. My recommendation for Airbnb is to read the reviews and do your research. We found the best reviewed place in the neighborhood we wanted and we’re so happy we stayed there. It saved us some money (hotels in the area were at least $100 more/night than our Airbnb) and it felt very welcoming and homey. The ‘host’ met us and showed us around the building, gave us the keys we needed and was super nice. The studio apartment we stayed at had free wifi, was stocked with nice clean sheets and multiple towels, area maps, minimal utensils and a working kitchen so we could store leftovers (and heat them up the next day) and there was a great view of the space needle right from the apartment balcony. Hands down, great experience for us. We ate dinner that night at a place called Rocco’s and ordered gigantic pizzas that we took back with us and ended up eating nearly everyday afterwards.

Day 6

Savor Seattle Pike Place Market food tour

Multiple people had encouraged us to try a food tour while we were in Portland or Seattle and we looked into options in both places. A friend from work recommended the tour of Pike Place Market and I felt like that killed two birds with one stone. I wasn’t sure about the whole tour thing at first because they have you wear an earpiece to hear the tour guide and you’re with a group of about 20 and it felt a little corny… BUT the minute we got to our first stop and sampled donuts and then fresh fish and chowder and crab cakes and the best mac and cheese I’ve ever eaten in my entire life – I got over the corny factor and just enjoyed it. The food is amazing. I mean, worth every penny and bad joke from the tour guide. Just phenomenal. We got to try food from places where we would have stood in very long lines but we got them with no wait. We also went to a lot of places that I think we would have walked right past on our own. We spent a few hours with the tour and another couple of hours just exploring on our own. So much to see! That night, we looked on Yelp for a place to grab some drinks and found Some Random Bar. That is actually the name of the place. 🙂 Very cool vibe, delicious Moscow Mules.

Day 7

Space Needle
Chihuly Garden & Glass
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Monorail
SoDo neighborhood

We were told that our time in Seattle was “textbook Seattle weather” – off and on rain, somewhat chilly but the sun was still shining most days. I’m glad I brought a lightweight raincoat and a few long sleeve shirts on this trip! We went to the Space Needle in the morning after stopping for breakfast at a diner on the way. I have to be honest that the tickets for the Space Needle were crazy overpriced. We probably could have gotten a better deal if we had bought advanced tickets but walk up tickets were very expensive. We decided that we would combine the Space Needle and the next door Chihuly Garden & Glass tickets because we wanted to see both so that added to the expense but the Chihuly museum was worth it. The Space Needle… ehhh. We can say that we did it. Mostly it felt like we paid for an elevator ride though. I’ve read that there are several other places that offer a free or at least cheaper way to get a great view of the city so I’d probably recommend that to friends instead.

The Chihuly Garden & Glass building was just awesome. Beautiful glass art. I’ve been a fan of Chihuly for a few years after seeing an exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art and it was very cool to see so much of his work in one place. Pictures can’t even do justice to seeing some of those sculptures in person – the intricate way everything intertwines, the bright colors, the lighting in the space. So great.

We considered going to the EMP Museum, which is right next to the Space Needle and the Chihuly Garden but it was another expensive ticket and none of the current exhibits looked particularly interesting. (I think I may also be spoiled living in Cleveland and having gone to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame so often, I feel like I’ve done the music museum thing and didn’t have a burning desire to go.)

Instead, we walked to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation building a block or two away. The building has a lot of interesting interactive videos and displays that talk about the work the foundation does around the world to provide vaccinations, increase education efforts, improve the quality of drinking water, raise awareness about birth control in developing nations and much more.

We took the monorail from the area around the Space Needle to a nearby mall. We didn’t have any need to hit up the mall but I thought the monorail sounded like fun. 🙂 That afternoon, we took a cab down to the “SoDo” neighborhood, which is SOuth of DOwntown (hence the name). We hit up a few stores, including a cool indie music store on 1st Street, and ended up taking a long walk back until we ended up near the stadium where the Mariners play. It started to rain so we hopped in a cab and took the short ride back to our place. We ate at a local place (Belltown Pub) that night, which was a solid choice and they had Trivial Pursuit cards at every table so we were quizzing each other back and forth as we waited for our food.

Day 8

Another trip to Pike Place Market
Pacific Place

Our last full day in Seattle was spent taking it easy. Sleeping in, doing some laundry (the Airbnb had a washer and dryer – sweet perk), and eating leftover pizza for breakfast. We decided to head back to Pike Place Market for lunch because I was craving more of the Beecher’s mac & cheese that we sampled during our food tour and it was AMAZING. Andy got a grilled cheese sandwich with their signature Flagship cheese and that was yummy too. We ended up doing a little more shopping at the Market and bought our family souvenirs. It started sprinkling on us again so we decided to walk to the nearby movie theater (about 4-5 blocks away) and see a midday movie. We wrapped up our night with dinner at a little place called The Innkeeper and drinks and a few rounds of Ms. Pacman at a bar right below where we stayed. We couldn’t stay out too late because we had incredibly early morning flights so we arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 3:30 AM and went to bed at 10 PM.

I feel like there’s so much more we can go back and do and see in both Portland and Seattle but we didn’t want this vacation to be too overscheduled. I enjoyed having the relaxing times and walking around, discovering neighborhood shops and restaurants but definitely wouldn’t mind making another trip back in the future.

Year traveled: 2015

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