A Birthday Trip to Portland and Seattle

For my 30th birthday, Anna and I decided to take a trip to mythic Cascadia! After a red-eye flight to Portland (one of the best flights I’ve ever been on, not even joking), we took a brief overnight at a hotel near the airport, woke up bright and early, and made our way to the world-famous Portland Japanese Garden! In classic Anna & Ric style, we got off at the wrong bus stop and had to hoof it up some pretty steep streets to the garden, but it was a beautiful experience through the morning fog. The Japanese Garden was a beautiful sensory experience and I would highly suggest any visitor to Portland make the journey, especially on an early foggy day. We then walked around Portland’s International Rose Test Garden and the surrounding park before making another hike up the hill to the Hoyt Arboretum. The Arboretum is an amazing open space park at the top of the hill, and is an absolutely overwhelmingly beautiful place. It offers over 2,300 different species of tree around 190 acres, and I couldn’t recommend it enough. On the way down, we happened to get just a liiiiittle bit lost (and missed a bus) and ended up at the World Forestry Center on a virtual tour of the world’s forests. Afterward, we found ourselves light rail train back into the city, where we made it safely back to our hotel.

Later in the day, we got to visit with my good buddy Mike at one of the local favorite breweries and historic preservation joints, McMenamins. These quirky restaurant/breweries are scattered about Oregon and Washington, and we ended up visiting a couple during our trip. We also visited a fun little bar called Circa 33, and then Anna made a very spontaneous and surprise decision to take me to Purrington’s Cat Lounge. It’s exactly what you think: a bar that allows you to play with rescue cats. And it was fun. I pet many cats. Once we were done, we took a brief stop at a quirky bar in a historic household called Beech Street Parlor, then took the bus back through the city to briefly visit Deschutes Brewery, followed by the original Voodoo Donuts to get some seriously delicious treats. We ended up back at the hotel just after midnight.

In the morning, we ate breakfast at an excellent, messy hole-in-the-wall called the Brunch Box, followed by wandering downtown and finding the Saturday Market. We wandered through the vendors for around an hour (and I wish I had more bag space to bring back things!) and then headed to Union Station to catch the Amtrak from Portland to Tacoma to meet up with my cousin Matt and his fiancee Kayla. The train ride was very pleasant, relaxing, and beautiful. I think the total ride took about three hours.

We caught up with Matt and Kayla as they toured us around Tacoma and later while we shared some snacks at the 7 Seas Brewery in a neat warehouse building overlooking the city and Commencement Bay. We then made the journey to Auburn to eat some Gor Gai Thai Street Food, watch reruns of Parks & Rec, and sleep. In the morning we got some tasty local coffee (I mean, we had to, right? It’s Washington.) and headed to my aunt & uncle’s house in Gig Harbor. We were only there shortly, because we realized that we had to catch the ferry over to Seattle for a fun day of exploration!

The ferry ride was fun (if not a little bit cold) and gave us some great views of the Puget Sound and the City of Seattle. Once on the streets, we made our way directly to Pike Place Market to explore the shops and vendors, and eat a couple delicious Piroshky Piroshky tiny-meals. And boy, were they delicious. We almost considered waiting to get a coffee at the original Starbucks, but decided against it. Because, let’s face it, it’s pretty much the same as any Starbucks.

We grabbed the Seattle Center Monorail up to the Space Needle where I was surprised by Anna with a trip to the Museum of Pop Culture, which easily became my very favorite museum of all time. On top of that, THERE WAS AN EXHIBIT ON STAR TREK, WHICH MADE IT EVEN MORE MY FAVORITE. Okay, sorry about the shouting. But seriously, I was so giddy. So so giddy. And I got to climb through a Jefferies Tube. There were also exhibits on horror and science fiction genres, which were all so great. Plus a tribute to David Bowie. Honestly, would highly recommend.

We followed the museum with a quick walk through Chihuly sculptures up to Seattle’s own Dick’s Drive-In burger joint, which is comparable to In-N-Out and quite tasty, and then took the monorail back, with a stop at a very special Starbucks (Starbucks Reserve) and then a short stop at our second McMenamins. After that, we took the ferry back across the water to Gig Harbor to stay at my aunt & uncle’s beautiful home. In the morning, we took a short walk around the neighborhood and down to the bottom of the cliffs to see a sunken boat from the early 1900’s, had lunch at Devoted Kiss and visited with my aunt & uncle, then were dropped off at Seattle International Airport for the return trip home.

We packed a lot into this trip, but it never felt like it was too much. And I would do it all over again. This was the best way to turn 30 years old. Thanks to Anna, Mike, Matt & Kayla, and my aunt & uncle for making it happen. I can’t wait to do it again.