Pacific Northwest - Days 6 & 7

On Saturday morning, Janda and I woke up in a comfortable bed in a nice hotel room.  Probably not Janda's favorite morning.  ;)  Since we didn't have to be on the wedding bus until 3pm, we figured that we would head into Portland in the morning.  We started at the Saturday market, which was full of handmade objects of all kinds.  There were food trucks getting set up, but nothing that seemed like breakfast food, so we kept going.  We walked past the Oregon Brew Fest set up right on the river and then headed into the city.  While Portland was well-maintained and clean, I have to say that it wasn't my favorite city ever.  Maybe we were in the wrong section, but all that we saw on our hour long walk were stores and restaurants.  There were endless places to shop and eat, but not much to see, so to speak.  I guess coming from Boston and having visited Europe that past two summers, I'm used to a different kind of city.  Not to say that there wasn't anything interesting in Portland, it just didn't appeal to me much.  Because of that, I didn't take any pictures.  Oops.

After we walked by all the stores and restaurants, we strolled through Chinatown and a couple of blocks later we were back to the Saturday Market.  Now all of the food trucks were in full effect and Janda and I grabbed lunch and ate by a fountain on the river.   Janda had a taco salad in a huge tortilla bowl and I had teriyaki chicken with rice and noddles.  It really hit the spot.  Janda and I relaxed and did some people watching by the fountain- the kids playing in the fountain we really enjoying themselves.  After lunch we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.

Ignore the weird squinty look on my face! I made this dress earlier this spring.

The wedding was lovely.  It was held at the bride's parents' house and they did an amazing job planning, etc...  The ceremony location was a clearing that they had cut in the forest and the reception was on an old tennis/basketball court.  It was a great vibe and there were great local beers and of course great food.  After all of the eating, cake cutting and toasts, there was a lot of dancing!   We didn't leave until almost 1:30, which is way past our usual bedtime!

Our table - sitting with another of Janda's former athletes

Our table after dark

Janda and I 

Our table neighbor tried to take a picture of me dancing, but the settings weren't cooperating

The morning we slept in a little bit and then headed out on the road to Seattle, via Mount Rainier.  We decided to take a scenic route that would afford us views of Mount Rainier, so you could say that we took the long way.  I would say that it was almost 2 hours longer than a direct trip, but we got to see a lot.  We ended up on another windy mountain road, but at least this on was paved.

Mount Rainier 

Mount Rainier again 

Janda documenting 

See how dirty our car got on that dirt road! 

 After we saw Mount Rainier, we headed straight to Seattle to meet my high school best friend and her husband.  It was the first time that I got to see their house, which they scrupulously remodeled themselves.  They took us on a tour that included a really cool park called Gas Works Park.  I'm totally bummed that I didn't bring my camera- I didn't want to lug my huge camera to dinner- because the views were amazing.  A little later we went to dinner at a local pizza place, Ballard Pizza, which my friend's architectural firm designed.  After a little digestive walk to see a couple of other places that she had designed, it was time to get to the airport.  Our flight left at 11:30pm and we arrived home around 7:30am the next day.  No big surprise that I took a nap and fell asleep super early that night.