We have returned from the lovely state of Oregon, where we embarked on our first family vacation. Our expectations were low, and our plans loose, because we had no idea what to expect traveling with Simon. As it turns out, this was the right plan.
All of our group's group (EPX... a subgroup of DevDiv but parent to STO) got an extra two days off as a reward for, uh, supporting the shipping of all of those products the last few months. Glad I could help. :) In any case, this seemed like a great opportunity for us to get out on a driving trip without using any vacation days, so we decided to head out to one of the very small number of places we could go: Oregon.
I went to Portland in 1998 with Stephanie to attend a conference for local cable access people. I think I went to two actual sessions that week, because I wasn't getting anything out of it, and Steph was doing all kinds of interesting things downtown. I remember feeling like it was a very cool, and yet large, small town. We headed to the coast on that trip, so I had some idea about that as well, and I figured we'd put that on our agenda.
Thursday's goal was simply to get to Newport, the town where the Oregon Coast Aquarium is. The route was to head down around the sound to Olympia, then head west from there around Aberdeen to US-101. I foolishly let Google Maps and Nigel (our name for the Garmin GPS) lead the way, and this led us away from the coast. Twice. The problem in both cases is that it thinks the route is faster based on a lack of speed limit, but in the case of rural roads, is totally and completely wrong. You can't drive 55 on a road up the side of a mountain with hairpin turns. The first unroute was just north of the Columbia River, while still in Washington. It probably saved five minutes of time, but it put off the ocean views. The second one was deep in Oregon, and that denied us quite bit of ocean town stuff. On the plus side, we drove through a stunningly beautiful valley with a number of small dairy farms, but it was one of those rural areas with bullet holes in the road signs that left you feeling uncomfortable. We missed the ocean from US-26 almost all the way to Tillamook. I'm still a little angry about that, but I should know better after our Wyoming detour through nowhere on our cross-country move. Despite these pain points, I'm completely amazed at how beautiful the Pacific Northwest is. There's just nothing like it anywhere else in this country.
The area around the Columbia River, where the 101 bridge is, is absolutely breathtaking. Seeing pictures of it, or looking at it on a map, doesn't really give you any context for how big it is. The bridge goes on forever, in the way that you'd expect some coastal Florida bridges to go (only without the tolls). The mountains in the distance and giant ships add to the scope of it all. There were some places to stop, and I would've liked to, but Simon was getting super cranky, and we wanted to keep our pace.
The optional objective of the day was to stop at the Tillamook Cheese Visitor's Center. It's right on US-101, so it's not out of the way. We rolled in there about 45 minutes before they closed at 6, and immediately took to feeding Simon, who was really tired of being in the car for the prior four hours. We really only stopped twice to that point; Once in Olympia for a quick feeding, and once at some random point to get him out and stretch a bit.
Tillamook is pretty much the shit when it comes to cheese and ice cream around here. They have the cheese in the grocery stores, and you can buy small packages in the Microsoft cafes as well. Their sharp cheddar is the tits. Prior to this day, I only bought a tub of their mint chocolate chip ice cream, and I was really disappointed in it. It just wasn't that good. So before we got to the ice cream, we of grabbed a bite in their cafe for, what else, but grilled cheese! I had a sharp cheddar and swiss, and it was delicious. For the ice cream, I had vanilla bean, and this was the salvation I was hoping for. I really liked it. Diana had the mudslide flavor, and it was damn good as well. I Bjorn'd Simon as we walked up to the observation deck above the packaging floor, where thousands of pounds of cheese was being cut up into little pieces and magically wrapped. I didn't get any non-phone photos, unfortunately, because with Simon getting so restless, I wasn't that motivated to get the camera out. There was what appeared to be a huge old blimp hangar just outside of town with an air museum, the first of two we'd pass, so I've made a mental note of that.
By this point, Diana had given up trying to sit up front with me, because Simon was being high maintenance. We weren't that far out of Tillamook before he started to cry uncontrollably. I mean, he really started to flip out. This is something that Diana has a really hard time with, as all moms probably do. Her frustration level maxed out to her breaking point, and just then, there was a pull-off on the road. We had finally reached a bona fide ocean view. There was no one else there. I turned off the car, pulled Simon out with a blanket, and walked up to the stone wall overlooking a beach. Diana and Simon finally had their first view of the Pacific from the west coast. I told Simon that this was where the noise from his Sleep Sheep came from. He chilled out only momentarily. The timing couldn't have been better. I started to wonder, could he be hungry?
Sure enough, that was it. He had just put away a bottle an hour before at the cheese factory, so it really never occurred to either one of us that he could be hungry. He seems to be repeating the pattern we had at six weeks, where no amount of food was enough. This time, he was good for the rest of the drive.
We passed through a couple of beach towns that felt remarkably like Florida beach towns, only a bit desolate since it wasn't quite warm enough yet, and with mountains on one side. I spotted the light house that I took a picture of in 1998, and has been hanging on my bedroom wall for years. We arrived at our hotel around 8, with daylight to spare, and gave Simon another meal before bed. The fairly new Holiday Inn Express there in Newport is actually pretty nice.
The sleeping arrangements are actually pretty easy at this age. Since he can't roll over, we simply burrito him and chuck him into the middle of one of the queen beds. It's pretty weird to sleep in the same room as him, because we haven't done that in nearly two months. And talk about white noise, the A/C unit was just wonderful for helping the boy (and me) sleep, with a more subtle start-up than some. It was a fairly restful night after a somewhat challenging day of driving.
We began Friday with a little breakfast (wasn't bad) and checked out. The aquarium was actually just a block away, so we started there. I had been there before, and since it was something familiar, it seemed like a good objective on the coast. Last time I was there, they had Keiko (Free Willy) there, but as everyone knows, freeing him ended up killing him. I'm not positive, but I think what they did with the whale tank was repurpose it to have the walk-through tunnels typical of many aquariums. It was quite beautiful, and in addition to the sharks, there were divers cleaning the glass. The kids were more into the divers.
The other indoor exhibits were pretty typical, the highlight being their jellyfish tanks and a simulated pier piling tank, showing what stuff naturally grows on the columns, old tires, etc. The outdoor stuff included a sea lion tank, and the best thing, sea otters. As it turns out, it's mating season for sea otters, and they indicate this on signs saying not to tap on the glass because they're a little pent up. One of them was dealing with this by masturbating. A lot. He could use his hands and his mouth, and he was going at it for at least 20 minutes without a break (we passed the tank several times). Watching parents try to explain to small children what was going on was pretty hilarious, especially when they'd ask what that "big red thing" was. Nature kicks ass.
Before driving out to Portland, we wanted to stop for some lunch, hopefully scoring some local seafood for Diana. We found a greasy spoon kind of bar, with nice cars outside, so we figured it wouldn't be bad. The interior was small, but pretty clean. It was one of those places where on waitress takes on the whole place. I had a chicken sandwich, which wasn't bad, but the fries were clearly cooked in the same oil as something fishy, and that was gross. Diana had fried oysters, which came from a bay a few towns over. I suppose fishy fries aside, it was a pretty good score. Simon was a happy saint the whole time, and I'm sure his "talking" entertained the other guests.
We changed Simon in the trunk of the Prius. I guess this is as good a time as ever to mention how much I like traveling in this car. Even with our ridiculously huge stroller (apparently it's super deluxe, or so others say, but I've never really compared them as it was a gift), there is plenty of room. Diana had tons of room in the back seat. +1 to Mike J. when he suggested that the car was like a cavern on wheels.
We thought we'd stop by the light house, but it was drizzling and the state or feds or someone wanted nine bucks to drive up to it. No thanks. There were three possible routes to Portland involving various amounts of I-5 and nature, ranging from 2.5 hours to 3. I originally planned to do the long one through a state forest, but given the crappy weather and Simon's fidgeting, I opted for the middle route. We once again encountered a situation where he was impossibly hungry, but did respond to it once we realized he was.
There was another air museum on this route, and a new wing was under construction. I had just seen a photo of it online somewhere, as they just dropped a 747 on top of the new building. Another mental note.
This route did have some interesting scenery toward the start, and a lot less logging destruction than our previous day. The rain was pretty relentless, unfortunately. As we got closer to Portland, the traffic got worse too, and this time the Garmin at least prevented us from getting into some really ugly situations. It did end up taking nearly a half-hour to get the last mile to the hotel downtown, and that was not fun at all as Simon began a serious meltdown.
We stayed in downtown Portland, at the Embassy Suites. As it turns out, this hotel, nearly a hundred years old, was the historic Multnomah Hotel and is absolutely beautiful. It's one of those old hotels with all kinds of funny shaped rooms and tiny elevators. I also found it interesting that the E-shaped hotel has a bunch of steel beams running between the three towers, presumably a retrofit to the building to make it more resistant to earthquakes.
They have a free adult beverage reception every evening and a pretty solid breakfast in the morning. There isn't much in the way ambiance, because it's down in the basement, but it's still a pretty nice arrangement. We had a doc to get notarized for the sale of Diana's house (yay!) and the hotel manager was good enough to help. We were impressed, and would definitely stay there again.
Upon arriving Friday night, as much as I would've rather not, we ended up getting room service. This was always a consideration, but we figured one of us would run out for take-out. That wasn't going to happen with the rain, so we settled and it was mediocre. We watched The Blind Side (loved it) and retired early.
Saturday, Simon was pretty much a trooper the whole day. The weather continued to suck. After the morning nap/feeing cycle, we loaded the boy into the stroller and went five blocks to make our first Buffalo Wild Wings run in nearly seven months. I know, downtown Portland we go to a chain restaurant, but bite me, it was a long time to go without. Simon was again an angel, and our waitress Annie was charmed by him. She was a nice Midwest girl, so we had lots to talk about. I got 12 boneless, half Mango Habanero and half Hot BBQ. They were delicious, and some returned with me to the hotel. Diana had her customary Honey BBQ. And the real good news? The first Washington location opens soon in Vancouver, and Tacoma is getting one in less than 18 months. I miss this place.
Simon was again getting a little anxious to eat at the point that we left, so we returned to the hotel for a bit, and that's when we had to deal with singing and notarizing the thing for the house. Before you knew it, it was late in the afternoon, and this is why we did not have any specific agenda. We could've gone down to the Rose Festival or the Saturday Market, but we felt like Simon was already out of sorts and decided not to get too ambitious. He was being a trooper, but we were clearly f'ing with his routine.
We did some restaurant research, and found Huber's, allegedly Portland's oldest restaurant, two blocks away. Turkey dishes were their thing, but we opted for other stuff. Even though I've been self-loathing over food choices lately, I had fettucini Alfredo, and it was unbelievably awesome. Diana had some kind of seafood pasta, and also loved it. Hooray for local flavor! Recommended if you stay downtown, but get reservations if you eat there. The place was booked solid.
On my pickup run, I couldn't help but notice there was a higher per capita rate of great hair, tattoos, and piercings. I dig that. Maybe it's because it's who I hung out with in high school (before piercings were really common though), but I've always identified with that crowd. Weird to think about all the grown ups now who adopt these styles. Downtown Portland overall seems so much less pretentious than Seattle does, and more diverse, if that's even possible.
So another night in for us, but again, we had no expectations. It was nice to have family time together, somewhere not Issaquah.
Sunday morning rolled around, and the weather forecasters managed to get it wrong again. That's three straight days of crappy weather. It was drizzling again, and it looked like it would continue to do so. Sigh. We were hoping to either hit the zoo or drive out to Multnomah Falls, but opted out of both. We also had to stop for baby formula, as we underestimated how much we should have by two or three bottles. The downtown places we tried were actually closed for the entire weekend!
The drive home was pretty easy. It's a lot like the Cleveland-Cincinnati run, only without Columbus in the middle, and generally better scenery. Because of the crappy weather, we didn't get to see Mt. Hood or St. Helens. But we liked that area downtown so much that we'll absolutely go back at some point. There aren't a lot of realistic driving trips to take from Seattle (the other obvious ones being Vancouver BC and perhaps Silverwood over in Idaho), but there is plenty to do in Portland.
We needed this weekend. That we did progressively less each day was OK, and to be somewhat expected with a 12-week-old. Simon is doing all kinds of neat vocalization now, and his grab control is getting better. His personality is forming, and it's mostly that of a happy baby. We're so lucky. I love my little family.
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