Portland ~ Seattle ~ Vancouver 2011

Well i’m finally getting around to posting images from my trip last month to Portland and Seattle Oregon, and Vancouver BC. We drove nearly 900 miles in a weeks time, so we saw a lot kinda squished into a 7 days…

 

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I usually don’t do this since it feels so ‘touristy’ , but felt compelled to shot out of the airplane window – the sky was so beautiful as the sun set.

I may want to enlarge this triptych–really LOVE it!

 

as soon as I saw the old signage ALL OVER Portland, I got all sorts of excited—

I’m pretty sure from the way it looked, that this chinese restaurant space was now a ‘mens spa’ – if you get my drift…

 

we took am amazing drive from Portland out to Mt Hood, and REALLY took our time along the scenic loop, well worth it if you happen to ever be out there!

 

you’ll see a close up of that small building on the right in a few images—

so off this scenic route is a SMALLER route that took up way up to the top of a mountain ( 17 miles If I remember correctly, as I think we passed 1 car ) But as we got up there the weather turned crappy, it started to drizzle (raincoat left in car, of course) so it was a bit of a washout—

 

I especially like the mood with the weather/fog in these tree images–

 

so apparently–somewhere out there beyond the pea-soup-thick fog, lies Mt St Helens…

 

On the way back down, the skies cleared and it was as sunny and pleasant as we could have ever asked for!

a view inside the dome of the Vista House

 

the Multnomah Falls ( which I cannot pronounce if my life depended on it ) is a BIG tourist highlight along this route

 

Midway we stopped at the Full Sail Brewery for lunch (no photos – just a t-shirt) and a beer or 2 — or 3 …anyway it was a great place for a pit-stop. Then–as dorky as this is– I HAD to stop at the Timberline Lodge, which was the hotel used for the exteriors of The Shining. On our way, we got closer and closer to Mt Hood.

 

It’s nearly impossible to capture the interior scale of the main room ( i tried unsuccessfully to do a panorama–didn’t work so well)

 

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The next day, we spent a little time poking around Portland before heading to the coast for the drive to Seattle.

getting to the sign was no easy feat not knowing the city too well, and we were greeted on the bridge I needed to be on by The Portland homeless welcoming committee (honest – they said Hi to us, even though the area at dusk started feeling sketchy)

“Voodoo Donut! Voodoo Donut!  Voodoo Donut!” everybody said to go to Voodoo Donut. Well we tried TWICE and never got in due to lines like this ALL DAY LONG—FOR DONUTS!!! We finally got one at about 1 am. I opted for one with grape and lilac powder and one dipped in Capn’ Crunch. A stomach ache followed shortly thereafter…

and remember: the magic is in the hole.

 

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well it was time to leave Portland ( which I really loved, by the way) and we took the  L O N G  way to get to the coast to drive up to Seattle (not a quick trip but SO worth it for scenery!)

 

I call this “Moon On A Wire”

 

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that sign is a dead giveaway- we finally landed our butts in Seattle!! (Which I will say now, I could totally move to in a minute, I think.)

 

being a Worlds Fair looney, I HAD to ride the monorail – a left over relic from the 1962 Seattle Worlds fair (why – that tram is as old as I AM!!)

 

no blue skies? Opt for moody!!!

 

I really don’t know WHAT the devil is going on in this photo.

 

I did not know that the building that kinda wraps around the tunnel into the monorail is a Frank Gehry designed building that houses a museum.

 

Ok, ok I know—stupid: but we took a Duck Tour —HEY! It came with a guy balancing crap on his nose, so how bad could it be?

 

it’s hard to not take the ‘standard’ shots of the Pike Place market from the outside, but INSIDE I was transfixed by all the old neon!

 

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after Seattle we drove up top Canada to Vancouver (NOT the worlds most interesting drive, however it does include the excitement of Customs)

 

Thats the torch from the Olympics that they moved downtown. I have to say, after the charm of Portland and Seattle, Vancouver – while very nice and full of amazing views- felt just like ‘a city’

 

The Lions Gate Bridge — pretty cool art deco style to it, built in 1938. We crossed it on our way to Grouse Mountain, mostly because I wanted to see the wind turbine that you can go to the top of , The Eye Of The Wind.

 

the turbine peeks over the hill in the distance

 

some giant wooden guys and a helicopter….

 

I’d love to say that we came across these bears in the woods or something dramatic like that, but they are orphaned bears that now live at the mountain.

 

a great view of the city from Grouse Mountain

 

I was SO fascinated by this thing, I could not stop shooting it–took some neat video too! Once up top though, I must admit, it gave me the heebie-jeebies—it was a little too high and part of the floor was clear acrylic.

 

Our last day we checked out Granville Island and market in Vancouver. I bought a bar of handmade soap. My big Canadian purchase.

so there you have it – I just saved you $2000 by taking you along here on the blog. Stay tuned, as i’m headed up the CA Coast in 2 days from LA to San Francisco!!!