I’ve said it before, but I really must emphasize how hard it is to keep track of all the things that are going on, especially with a lack of time and internet access! Right now, we are in Greeley, Colorado, close to Fort Collins, staying with our friends Chris and Amanda. They live in a wonderful location, and since Amanda rides and trains horses, they have two horses, a few chickens, a dog and a cat! We arrived late, but had some time to catch up and chat before bed.
The past few days have been great, and we’ve gotten to see some wonderful things! We spent our first day in Portland exploring the city with Harvey, who is in a pretty big band called The Builders and the Butchers (he plays mandolin and banjo and is actually beginning a headlining tour in a few days!) You should check them out:
We took the MAX, which is the public transit train, around town to visit a few hotspots. One was Powell’s Books, a huge independent bookstore with new and used books for very reasonable prices. We also visited a few different independent music stores and a clothing store that buys and sells used clothes (Portland is a very “independent” do it yourself kind of town!)
After a bit more exploring, we headed back to hang out with Harvey and Rachel a bit and then ventured out to see his friend’s band, Pancake Breakfast, at a local venue. Portland has a huge music scene with tons of local artists playing original music. It was great to see so many people at a local show, and everyone had a great time! We stayed to see a few bands before picking up some donuts at the famous Voodoo Donut shop:
The next day we got an earlier start (driving is tiring and we usually end up sleeping late the day after a long trip). Rachel and her Friend Kara took us around to a bunch of places around Portland and outlying areas. Our first stop was a waterfall located about a half hour outside of Portland. Here’s a few pics:
Next, we headed to Mt. Hood, one of the active volcanoes in the area. Because of the high elevation, some snow was still on the ground:
We also visited Timerline Lodge, which is at the base of Mt. Hood and was used in the famous movie The Shining. They had some memorabilia, but what was more interesting was the history of the lodge and people who participated in its development (it was almost like a museum)! Anyway, here are a few pics.:
After Timberline, we headed back to walk around the city a bit more and ended up getting some food at a place called Montage where the waiters all have their own eccentric personalities and your leftovers are wrapped in aluminum foil sculptures! I’d love to post some photos of it, but I didn’t take any, so the website will have to do just in case you ever decide to go to Portland! http://www.montageportland.com/
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Our next stop was Seattle where we stayed with Jana, who we met up with at Pike Place market. If you ever go to Seattle, this is definitely a place you need to see. It is right next to the water and has a slew of incredible merchants selling their handmade goods, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, and amazing fish!
Jana was an amazing tour guide and great comrade to have around the city. She took us to many of Seattle’s “must see” spots including the Space Needle, built for the 1962 World’s Fair, the wonderful water fountain in Seattle Center, and a bunch of other really cool things, including a really great statue of Jimi Hendrix outside of a popular local music store
We also got to see the Fremont Troll (famous for its appearance in the movie “10 Things I Hate About You”) and Jimi Hendrix’s final resting place in Renton, Washington. Our friend Mike was also in town, so we were able to finish out the day by meeting up with him at the Vessel bar in Downtown Seattle.
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I realize that this is a long post, and I’m cutting out some major details, but as time is short and words are few at 2:00 AM, I must be brief. After Seattle, we headed on to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The drive was relatively long (about 13 hours), but we made it ok and met up with couchsurfers Andrea and Patrick. They were amazing, and ended up taking us to two neat night time locations in the park even though we got there late. Since the two work in the park for the summer, they have lodging and were nice enough to let us stay with them. We also met Cait, who offered us a hiking experience the following day. We agreed and exchanged information and times and headed to bed after a long day of driving!
Our first full day in Yellowstone was spent exploring. We saw such amazing and wonderful things, including up-close-and-personal Bison, waterfalls, hills and valleys, trees and meadows, and everything in between. We also hiked up Bunson’s Peak, which is supposedly one of the best views of the park. It was a tough hike for a beginner such as myself, but I made it! Here’s some pics of the day:
Unfortunately, Bret lost his wallet somewhere along the hike. That definitely put a damper on his day, as did the continuous thunderstorms that we experienced throughout the night at our campsite at Bridge Bay, but we made it through and moved along the next morning to take a quick peak at Old Faithful erupting and heading towards Colorado:
The drive through Wyoming was long, and most of it was relatively boring. We did, however, pass through the amazing Grand Tetons.
We also happened to catch a wonderful thunderstorm that produced some unbelievable clouds and two full rainbows. I unfortunately didn’t get great pictures of them, but just imagine the most magnificent rainbow you’ve ever seen and multiple it by two!
So now here we are, resting in Colorado. Tomorrow we are planning on catching up on a few things, including a much needed oil change and a trip to Bret’s bank to deal with some lost wallet issues. After that, we are heading to the Red Rock’s Amphitheater to see Ra Ra Riot, Andrew Byrd, and Death Cab for Cutie. It should be an awesome show!
Nice blog. enjoyed going through it. keep it up the good work. Cheers 🙂
Hi Beth,
Glad you enjoyed it!! Do you own the food hampers business? There are some tasty treats on there and I like the fair trade/organic options!
Take care!