The weekend before my birthday, the Vancouver Whitecaps were playing an away game in Portland. We’ve gone to these games a number of times over the years (this was my 4th) and so we decide to take a couple of days off and make a 4-day weekend out of it. The game was great, we had some fun in Portland, got out to our favorite winery, and took the long way home along the coast. Our friend Stuart came down for the game as well, and we had a great weekend!
This has turned into quite a lengthy post.
The Drive Down to Portland
This was our first road trip since COVID - believe it or not We used to do this trip, or something like it every year. So it was nice to get back out on the road. We decided to leave around 10 a.m. on Friday morning with the plan to miss the Seattle traffic. Well that plan really didn’t work out - noon on a Friday and we were bumper-to-bumper from north of Seattle all the way past the stadiums and part way to the airport. I don’t know how anyone lives there and deals with the traffic. We did note that there seems to be a light rail project running the whole length of the city, so maybe they will get some decent transportation options soon.
As we got through Seattle, we noted that there seemed ot be another major accident between Tacoma and Olympia. So we decide to make a stop for lunch in Tacoma, to see if we could let it clear itself up. We went inot the old city center (I had not been) and found a cool place for lunch, the McMenamins Elks Temple. We really like the McMenamins locations - they convert historic buildings inot great hotels/pubs/restaurants. We’ve been to a few, as they are scattered across the Pacific Northwest.
The McMenamins Elks Temple in downtown Tacoma. It’s a very cool spot.
There were two options for lunch - the pub inside or a Mediterranean restaurant on the “Spanish Steps”. We opted for the pub.
We opted to stay in the main pub and had a great lunch. We tried some of their own beer and had some great food. The interiors of these places are equal to the exterior, often surpassing. This one looked like they had moved a whole optician shop inside to provide the interior walls, and all the amazing stained glass.
After lunch, we headed back out on the road. Sadly the traffic had not sorted itself and our trip through to Olympia took an hour longer than it should have. Despite that, we had an amazing drive down. It was clear, and we got good views of all the big mountains - Baker, Rainier, St. Helen’s, Adams and Hood. There is a ton of snow on all the mountains!
The drive was smooth once we got past the accident site (how one car can cause this much grief is hard to fathom…) and we cruised down to Portland. We made a stop at Costco for gas and to check out the selection, picking up a couple of things that looked like really great deals! Not long after we made our way over to the hotel downtown and got ourselves check in.
We were staying at the Moxy hotel, right downtown.
We’ve stayed at Moxy hotels before - they’re funky and modern, with cool lobbies and very spare rooms. Not a lot of storage or anything in the rooms. But we were not spending a lot of time in the room, so it doesn’t really need to be more.
By the time we got checked in, the truck parked and settled into the hotel, it was starting to get a bit late for us to grab dinner. We walked over to the Pearl District to try and go to one of our favorite pubs for dinner. Sadly, it was packed, so we had to find something else. We ended up at 10 Barrel Brewing, another of our favs and had some great beer and a pizza. It wasn’t the latest of nights but the trip was off to a good start.
Dinner time!
Hanging out in the very cool lobby of the hotel.
Game Day!
Saturday morning we slept in a little bit, and got off to a leisurely start. We headed out (it was already getting hot!) and stopped at another McMenamins for breakfast! We had a good meal and got the day off well.
Breakfast at Zeus Cafe!
Our friend Stuart was flying down to join for the game and for the fun of Saturday night. We were expecting him around lunch time, so we had a bit of time to fill. We headed up to REI (the US equivalent of MEC) and did a bit of light shopping. Justine got a cool new hat (on the picture above)!
Stuart arrived and we met him back at the hotel. It took a while to get him sorted, and then we were off to enjoy the breweries of Portland before our evening soccer match!
Gotta love perspective - such a funny photo! Hanging out in the lobby waiting on Stuart.
After Stuart got settled, we headed out, Portland has quite a famous Saturday market - crafts and food and such - and so we thought we’d head over there and check it out. We’d been on previous trips, and there was always some cool stuff.
We spent a couple of hours exploring. Stuart needed an item or two, and we found a few cool things as well. There was one artist that we really wanted something from, but the piece in question was gone when we went back. Too bad.
After we had our fill of the market we headed back over ot the Pearl District and did some brewery hopping! We only had time for two before it was time to head over to Providence Park for the big game!
Heading into Providence Park for the game!
Ready for the game!
After a quick stop at the hotel to change, we made the very short walk over to the pitch. Providence Park is a great venue. It an old stadium, but as we discovered they had added a huge new stand to the stadium! Another 5,000 people can now attend games. And they get a good turnout - it certainly makes the Vancouver attendance look pathetic.
We were seated in the away supporters section. The travelling crowd was the smallest I’ve seen. I assume COVID and the escalation of costs (and the ridiculous exchange rate) all play into the smaller travelling group. Still, there was maybe 60 people and hey were being pretty loud!
The view of the pitch from the Away Supporters section.
Our small but rowdy group of fans.
Sadly the game didn’t go our way. Portland scored an early goal, we never really hit our stride, and the Timbers ended up winning 3-1. Not our finest performance. But still, it was fun. They normally hold the away supported back for 20 minutes after the game, so we bailed before the final whistle so we could make our escape. We’ll get them next time…
After the game we made the poor decision to continue our drinking. We ended up back at 10 Barrel, up on the patio to enjoy the fine, warm evening.
Continuing on after the game might have been a mistake…
Wine Tasting
Sunday morning Stuart had to head back to the airport fairly early, but we had the liberty to sleep in a bit. From there, we decide to take a little drive out into wine country. The Willamette Valley is Oregon’s major wine region and is comprised of four regions - North Valley, Mid-Valley, South Valley and West Cascades. Our favorite winery, Brooks, is just southwest of Portland in the North Valley, and we like to swing by when we’re in the area.
On the way to the winery we passed right by a pretty big Outlet Mall. As Oregon has no sales tax, we thought we’d have a look. It was fairly quiet, but we ended up finding a few things that seemed good value. Not a lot, but worth a stop.
The winery was about 30 minutes further into the valley, and it was about 1:00 by the time we arrived. The winery sits up on a hill, with sweeping views back inland. As the day was fairly clear we had views of four mountains - Mount St. Helen’s, Mount Adams (faintly), Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson. It’s been a good trip for seeing mountains.
Despite the fact that it was Mother’s Day, we managed to get a seat on their amazing patio overlooking the vineyards. It was still very warm, but it was also very windy - so much so we had to worry about wine glasses getting blown over!
Time for wine!
Justine trying not to get blown away!
The views are spectacular!
We ordered some food and a glass of wine and enjoyed the view. Eventually I went and switched my camera to my big lens, as I had noticed quite a few interesting birds handing about. And it made for some good close-ups of the mountains!
But of course, once I started noticing some birds that took my focus. The best sighting was a violet-green swallow! There were many of them swooping around the vines. So beautiful! Their colours are just so vivid. We have some on Galiano, but we don’t see them often.
This is a great view of the “green” in the name.
And you can see the violet in the tail.
After spending some time on the grounds of the winery, we took a bit of a scenic route back to Portland. We stuck to mainly backroads and enjoyed the warm, summer-like day. It was really nice. After getting back to Portland and dropping off the car, we walked a couple of blocks up the street to Powell's Books - The World's Largest Independent Book Store. This is a bit of heaven for me, and I could spend days wandering around this place. It covers an entire city block and houses both used and new books. I did not get out without buying a few things… Justine was very patient with me.
After browsing the book store, we headed across the street to Shake Shack (as mentioned in many other blog posts) and we had an easy dinner. Maybe not the healthiest, but it was a good way to end our few days in Portland.
The Long Drive Home - and a Hike!
We had decided that we wanted to make Monday a bit of a longer day, and drive back to Vancouver along the coast. We also wanted to get a hike in during the day. So we started pretty early - getting off on our way by about 8:30. It was about an hour and a half drive out to the coast and the trailhead for the hike that we had picked.
Cape Lookout
The hike we chose was at Cape Lookout Sate Park. This narrow, cliff-edged cape juts 2 miles straight out into the Pacific Ocean. At the trailhead atop the cape, we had three choices: walk out to the viewpoint at the cape's tip; descend to a secluded beach at the southern base of the cape; or head north along the bluffs to the state park's popular picnic area and campground.
The trailhead for the hike.
We had planned on the cape view point, but the north trail was closed due to storm damage, so we didn’t have to make much of a choice. For the first three days of the trip, the weather had been spectacular. Hot and sunny, certainly not typical late spring weather for us. As we headed to the coast, the weather turned back to more “normal”, and at the trailhead it felt like we were back to winter!
What happened to summer?!?!
It was a good thing we were prepared and had brought our rain gear.
As we headed off, the mist closed in around us, making the trail feel like it was just disappearing out into the clouds. While it was not what we had hoped for, it was nice in a different way. The trail heads out along the point, weaving through some big trees, with peak-a-boo views of the coast on either side. Mainly, there wasn’t much to see, but occasionally the clouds lifted as we could see the rugged coastline.
As it is migration season, there were lots of birds! Especially warblers! We saw and heard (gotta love Merlin’s sound ID feature) a huge list of birds including:
Wilson’s Warbler
Hermit Warbler
Song Sparrow
Orange-crowned Warbler
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Wrentit
Black-headed Grosbeak
Steller’s Jay
Hairy Woodpecker
Townsend’s Warbler
Western Gull
Brown Pelican
Pacific Loon
Common Murre
Pelagic Cormorant
Bald Eagle
Black-headed Grosbeak amongst the spider webs.
I’m pretty sure this is an Orange-crowned Warbler.
The Wilson’s Warbler was the most common warbler we saw. They seemed to be the least shy.
As we worked our way along the trails, the underbrush was alive with warblers. We picked a good time of year to do this hike. It did slow us down quite a lot, trying to get photos of these tiny birds as they flitted around the bushes.
The ferns were all bursting to life!
Salmonberries I think?
The clouds lifted and we could see back towards the mainland. I think this is the beach that the “south trail” would take you to.
The hike out was a little less than 5 km. It was slow going (thanks to all the birds…) but we eventually made it out to the lookout at the end of the point. One of the things that had attracted us to this hike was that it was stated that there was a good chance to see whales during their migration. It was cold and windy out on the exposed point, but we hung out for a little while, to see what we might see.
One of the more interesting things we saw were a few Brown Pelicans!
There was a big flock of Common Murres floating on the ocean below the point.
The edge of the earth!
Looking down over the edge… It was about 400’ to the ocean below.
Brown Pelican
A bald eagle soared by as we looked for whales.
Looking north from the lookout point.
Thankfully the clouds had lifted as we hiked out to the point. We had a good view and could see quite far. But sadly, there were no whales. We waited for a while, but eventually we needed to head back and continue our drive home.
The hike back was much as the hike in had been, as it followed the same trail. The clouds seemed to be hugging the coast, as it was clear out at the point but as we got closer and closer to the trailhead, the clouds sank back in over the trail.
The map of our hike out to the end of Cape Lookout.
We got back to the car and got ourselves changed and sorted, then it was time to finally head north and head for home. Here’s a last gallery of some of the random photos that didn’t make it.
it was a little after 1:00 by the time we got going again. We were close to Tillamook, which is famous for their cheese. It’s a huge dairy and cheese producer, and has a very impressive public facility. We’ve driven by it a few times in the past, but there has always been huge crowds so we never stopped.
As it was not quite peak tourist season yet, while it was busy, it was not insane. We had a bit of a wait for food, but it ended up being a great stop. We had grilled cheese sandwiches which were amazing!
After lunch we continued north along the coast. We had wanted to make more stops, but it was already after 3 p.m., and we were not projected to get home until after midnight. So stops were not really going to be a great option.
We made a quick stop at one of the lookouts just before Cannon Beach. We had initially planned to make a longer stop, but instead it was just a quick stop.
It wasn’t the nicest day either, so the cold made it seem like continuing on was the better plan.
The one stop we did chose to make was in Astoria at Fort Stevens State Park. There is a shipwreck on the beach that we wanted to check out. The weather had not improved, and the shipwreck was a little less impressive than we had thought. It was still really cool, and the beach here just goes on forever.
From there, we headed back inland and back to the I5 for the trip back home. Even at 10 p.m. on a Monday night the travel through Seattle was a nightmare! For whatever reason they had decided to close the entire highway, down to a single lane. It was insane. So we limped through downtown Seattle, then picked up speed north of the city. It was still almost midnight when we got home. While it was a long drive, it was a really nice one and I’m glad we stopped and did the hike. There’s so much along the coast that we need to do it properly one of these years.
The map of our drive home from Portland.
Postscript…
After arriving home we had a few more nice days and got to spend some time enjoying the roof! The flowers are in full bloom!
