sweet dee rupee: Geeze Louise, these are some big trees!

Cowabunga, California! Hands down, my favorite state yet, and I’ve only seen about 200 miles of it, thus far.

How did we get this far already? I feel like we just left Montana, though that was Saturday, whew! We arrived in Spokane Saturday night and stayed at this cute little place in downtown Spokane called Hotel Ruby. Spokane is really, really pretty and is situated on a river. Add to it that it’s fall and all the trees are in different states of colorful autumn, making it a pleasant place to stay (and take a jog, which I did, right along the river!).

Jogging there was super awesome, being able to crunch along on the leaves and breathe in the scent of leafy decay while enjoying the landscape of both the city and the river. We ate at a local Thai place for dinner that rocked! I had the tofu panang, which was dope on a rope: the panang sauce was the perfect amount of spicy and the tofu was prepared just how I like it (big chunks, lightly fried, yum), which is pretty much how I judge Thai restaurants. The food could be totally amazing, but if the tofu is too soft: yuck-o, one star, screw that noise, lol.

Though we were downtown and the city was alive with Halloween shenanery that evening, we stayed in (Dad was kind of grumpy) to chill and do some laundry. Also, we were planning on getting up super early to go and visit the Vish in Seattle on Sunday, and we wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, so we weren’t trying to whoop it up with the rest of Spokane.

All went as planned the next day! We got up at the ripe hour of 5am and were rolling by 6am. We stopped at a gas station early on, and when I went in to pay, the woman working there exclaimed “You must be on your way to a Halloween party!” Um, no. I was dressed fairly “normal” for myself, (maroon leggings, blue mini-skirt, pink band t-shirt, long gray sweater) with my hair styled in its antler-like way. I just laughed and let her know, no, this is just how I roll every day, and I even made her feel better, I think, by letting her know I’m sure there aren’t people who come in everyday with antler-hair on their head so I can understand why she thought that. Though, why I’d be on my way to a party at 6am is beyond me. Perhaps she thought I was busting out a “walk of shame/fame”? Whatever. We thought it was hilarious!

Also along the way we witnessed so much beautiful scenery! With the leaves and the mountains and the trees and the rain we were subject to a landscape that is almost impossible to describe with words (unless you’re Jack London or Ernest Hemmingway) and totally impossible to catch with the lens of a camera. I’ve never seen a double rainbow before, yet of course we saw one on the way into Seattle: how amazing! Further, hearing “Happy Trails to you…” on the radio was another good omen on our travels.

We got into Seattle around 10:30, and the Vish was ready for us. We were pretty hungry (ate half a bag of chips for “breakfast”) so she promptly walked us over to this place called Vera’s for breakfast (in Ballard). It was everything I could have asked for in a breakfast! They had strong, potent diner coffee and I ordered the veggie benedict, which included a portabella mushroom, a fire roasted red-pepper, along with the English muffin, egg and hollandaise sauce. WOW! I wish more places had a feast like this!

After getting stuffed to the brim, we headed back to the Vish’s new apartment (I’m not kidding, the building is less than 2 years old!) for the grand tour. Tell you what, that woman is moving on up in the world! The place was super cool, and even had a rooftop-garden-hang-out area, complete with a view of the whole city: bad-ass! She also gave us a tour of her neighborhood, Ballard, by taking us over to the local farmer’s market, which was poppin’, and there were plenty of little munchkins running around in their costumes; super cute! There is also a pretty cool street performer “scene” in Seattle, and we witnessed several of these artists out on the street in the farmer’s market. Dad fell in love with these two girls playing guitar and fiddle and singing close harmonies. They had CD’s but he didn’t buy one because he’s a silly, silly man, apparently.

I can’t believe how well that woman knows this city already, but she does and I’m happy to know her! She also took us to the Golden Gate park, the locks (which I had never actually seen before, complete with a fish ladder!), down to Market Street to witness all of the touristy things (like those guys selling/throwing/catching fish and the Space Needle), the new Anthropologie store that she manages (I tell you, the woman is AMAZING!) and out to a fancy little Cajun-seafood restaurant called Toulouse for dinner, which was quite the eatery. Dad’s been obsessed with Cajun food ever since he went to Louisiana a few years ago for work, so he was definitely happy. I try to be a “good” vegetarian, but when there’s fresh seafood around, I turn into a sucker and usually eat some. I had the blackened yellow snapper with cheesy grits; hello! Mouth heaven! I’m still a southern girl at heart; I love me some grits!

Seattle seemed like a dream or a movie or something of the likes, because at 9pm we split ways with Vish and said good bye; it felt like the end of the ball when Cinderella turns back into a regular woman, the carriage turns into a pumpkin, and all the magic dissolves. The Vish and I always have such an awesome time together, but only about once a year, so we really try to make the most of it (which we definitely did) but it always makes me greedy for just a little more time.

But screw it, that was days ago already! In the meantime, we’ve been able to explore Portland and Eugene on the way to northern California.. (We are driving south on Hwy 101 from Eureka to San Francisco, where I currently write these words!)

Back to Portland: as amazing as ever! Not to mention we witnessed ANOTHER double rainbow on the way! We were pretty much just stopping in for Voodoo Donuts, but we managed to hit the town right at lunchtime, so we could score some sandwiches off the food-carts, walked down the street to grab some coffee at Stumptown, before descending on donut-heaven deliciousness. Dad rocked the maple-bacon bar, and I opted for the voodoo doll, in honor of Halloween. Once we ate our donuts, it was time to hop back on the road to head to Eugene.

On Monday (Halloween), we heard plenty of awesome Halloween related songs on the radio, including: Running With the Devil, Sympathy for the Devil, Hells Bells, Evil Woman, Thriller, The Monster Mash, Witchy Woman, Lake of Fire and Spooky, to mention a few. Though we weren’t really celebrating my favorite holiday, it was nice to sing along to these spooky songs along the way.

I really, really led Eugene! It was a college town, but a super cool one! It kind of reminded me of East Lansing, but more spread out (if you can believe it!). I stocked up on my favorite IPA (Ninkasi’s Tricerahops) which is brewed in Eugene, and we had a kitchenette in our room, so we bought some veggies and rocked a veggie feast. I also went for a jog in Alton Baker Park whilst there and it was really refreshing. I would like to go back to Eugene just to take a few more jogs because they have a few paths that are made of earth and wood-chips, which makes it so much easier on the old’ knees. I’m not in the shape I used to be when I first started running, and I feel every single mile a bit more than I used to, especially in the knees, ouch.

After Eugene, we hit the road early Tuesday morning with California in our sights. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve never been to California. I know, I’m lame, but that’s why I’m trying to correct that at this point in my life. Dad lived in San Francisco for 7 years before I was born, so he’s not near as lame as I am :)

We met so much awesomeness along the way, including: some folks who had RV envy (one RV versus another monster one, with a hummer in tow, lol), lots and lots and lots of trees, a baby black bear (the first of the trip, surprisingly so, considering we spent time in Yellowstone), an iPod that bungeed across the truck on a crazy turn in the National Redwood Forest that almost took out our driver and narrowly escaped crashing us into a giant tree, and an awesome radio station that kept cranking out all of the tunes we needed to hear (100.3/102.7 The Point, out of Arcata/Eureka).

We stayed in Arcata last night, at a fancy Hampton Inn. When no Marriott’s are available, Poppa Bear swears by the Hampton. For dinner, we noshed at a little place called Humboldt Brews, which boasts an impressive beer selection, an even more impressive food selection (the menu was six pages long!) and a cute wait-staff, which dad and I both managed to flirt with :) I love California!!!

Today, we did a lot more driving down Hwy 101 which took us through many more redwood forests (we even got to drive through the Avenue of the Giants, where all the large lasses grow), and plenty of coastal highway. My favorite part of the journey today: getting to stop in Petaluma, CA, at the Lagunitas Brewery and Tap Room! It was such a cool set-up, with picnic tables sprinkled in a courtyard outside, coupled with a pretzel/peanut basket and a four-beer pick-your-own sampler for five bucks. I tried five Lagunitas beers I had never tasted before (they don’t always ship out all of their seasonal beers) and I left a happy (if not buzzed) woman!

On our way from Petaluma to San Francisco, we also heard “American Pie” on the radio, which was the icing on the cake of a beautiful day on the road. We just checked into the Columbus Motor Inn in downtown San Francisco and will be staying/exploring in the city for the next few days. I’ll be sure to update you all with our adventures in the city soon!