Anyone want to go for a drive?

Hello from Oregon! Well it's been go, go, go since we left San Francisco...well, actually since we left Ft. Lauderdale! We left Ukiah on Friday morning and were headed for Brookings, Oregon. We took a slight detour backwards so we could visit our dear friend Chuck Brown at his museum...and it was definitely worth it! After that, we pretty much spent the remainder of our day on the road. Not much for me to report there because I have difficulty staying awake in a car for more than 20 minutes at a time. I did wake up for a delicious meal at Marie Calendars. :) A few hours later we arrived in Brookings at our lovely little hotel on the beach (good find, mom). We walked on the chilly, chilly beach, and most of us even got our toesies in the Pacific waters. We found a Fred Meyers before hitting the sack that night. In the morning I went on a chilly little run through a retirement community 1st thing and then we hit the road after breakfast. We were headed for another little coastal town near Lincoln City, Oregon (Naskowin???). We made it there early in the afternoon and thanks to Lori's connections, we had another hotel right on the water! We went shopping at the outlet mall and brought subs back to our oceanfront balconies for dinner. We even got to see a wedding right on the beach! Seems to be a common occurrence for us this summer (although this time they had their own tent). We walked on the chilly beach for a few, had a near death experience with a moth and a broom, and then got some good sleep. Today (Sunday) we woke up and once again hit the road. We were supposed to be in Portland in less than 2 hours, but it took us a bit longer due to some traffic. We stopped at this cute little roadside farm stand, sampled some yummy snacks, and saw arguably the biggest zucchini ever grown. We made it to Portland, checked into our hotel, and then went out in search of the yummiest coffee ever cold brewed...and boy did we find it! Thanks to Ry's suggestions, we went to the original Stumptown and I got a cold brew from the tap...FULL of foamy deliciousness! We will definitely be headed back tomorrow. Lori and Jan got some that was already mixed with milk and enjoyed it too. We then went to Clackamas mall for a little bit of tax free shopping. We stopped by Fabric Depot (with no luck for what the ladies were looking for) and then had the yummiest veggie filled dinner at VeggieGrill (why can't we have one of you at home, sweet veggie wonderland???). I had grilled peaches (oh.my.word.DELICIOUS.)on my salad of quinoa, romaine, beets, tomatoes, and candied walnuts....I also had roasted veggies and think I was close to heaven after my first bite. Lori got some "fish" tacos, Jan had grilled portobello skewers, and mom had mac and cheese. We were all happy campers (and didn't get a ticket for parking illegally). We hit up Fred Meyer again and then made it back to our hotel. We decided to go for a little stroll and...wait for it...went foraging for wild BLACKBERRIES!!! Mom spotted a ginormous bush right by our hotel and we gathered a whole bunch!! And let me tell you...the yummiest and sweetest blackberries I have ever tasted! We discovered a waterway behind our hotel too with some adorable houseboats and are now in for the night. Tomorrow we plan on going to a U-pick farm and doing some more fun things that I don't know about :) I CAN tell you that we will be making at least one visit it Stumptown for some more deliciousness. :) We are taking bunches of pics and I can hopefully put some one soon...they are just all on Lori's computer. Thanks for reading! Miss you all! Katie :)

I left my heart in San Francisco...

West Coast Road Trip 2014 is underway and we’re living it up Cali style! We left Ft. Lauderdale Wednesday morning without much delay and had a pretty uneventful flight (minus Mr. Coughing man of the century sitting next to us and his crying, seat-kicking children behind us). No real complaints though because we made it to San Francisco around 1:30pm ready to rock and roll. We decided to take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit for you nonlocals…basically their subway) as far is it would take us. We ended up still too far from our hotel to walk, so thankfully we made it into Hussein’s Taxi Cab of Wonder. If you are ever in the Bay area and in need of a cab, I suggest you go with Hussein. Considering you probably have a 1 in 3 chance of stumbling into a cab with a Hussein behind the wheel, this shouldn’t be too difficult. But unless you ride with our Hussein, you probably wont have as much fun as we did. First off, he seemed rather unconcerned about fitting four women, four large suitcases, four large carry-ons and a bipap machine into his itty bitty little California eco friendly vehicle. This resulted in the four us in the backseat (which was probably intended to hold 2 ½ women on a good day), and our luggage squashed in all around. Well thankfully, our comic relief came from our driver. After a bit of small talk conversation I asked him where he was from. This seemed to excite him and spur him to challenge us to a game of “Guess my cab driver’s nationality and win a free cab ride.” He allowed us two chances and unfortunately we were wrong (Persia…who knew?) but it certainly made for an enjoyable ride to our hotel. We were staying at the Sheraton down at Fisherman’s Wharf, which is the same place we stayed the last time (which was pretty phenomenal considering it is located right at Fisherman’s Wharf….greatest location EVER!!!). After a quick change at the hotel, we decided to venture out and find some food. I had wanted to try this organic place called The Plant that I found online. They have quite a few locations, one of them being Pier 3. Although advised against it, we decided to walk there because we needed to stretch our legs and the weather was GORGEOUS!! Sunny and cool, our walk was just delightful (and only about 30 minutes long). We got to see all of the different piers and then enjoy a delicious dinner outside right on the water. It was pretty much a perfect way to start our trip and stay in San Fran. Mom and Jan got yummy salads, and Lori and I had the plant burger (made from all kinds of fun things like beets, lentils, and cashews). We had a great walk back and then decided to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off night tour of San Francisco. This was Good Decision #4 of the day (#1 being Hussein, #2 walking to dinner, and #3 eating at The Plant). We had a beautiful tour of the city as the sun was low in the sky and got to go across the spectacular Bay Bridge (which unfortunately doesn’t get as much credit as she deserves). We were undeniably frozen by the end of the tour, but it was stunning and well worth it. We ran into Safeway for a few treats and then hit the sack shortly thereafter. Well…after a few episodes of the Duggars, circa 2003. We had a great sleep and I went on THE BEST RUN OF MY LIFE first thing this morning. I ran past Ghirardelli Square, up the biggest hill ever (exaggeration??? No way!), and then back down to where we ate dinner last night. I was pretending the entire time in my head that I was a local going for a run at the Wharf before biking to my posh job downtown in the Financial District. I’m pretty sure everyone around me was thinking the same thing about me too… After cleaning up, we hit the road (with our feet) to the local farmer’s market at the Ferry Building (pretty much at the beginning of the piers). We tasted lots of yummy samples (fruit and cheese curds and brittle and shortbread…oh my!) and I even tried a sea bean (but taking a giant gulp of water from the gulf will give you the same effect for free). It was such a fun little market and was good choice #5 for sure. After the market, we caught the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus to go to the Golden Gate. This unfortunately is where bad choice #1 was made: our seat choice. We didn’t have much choice since the bus was pretty full when we “hopped on” so we had to seat directly in front of our tour guide. All I will say is that she had only been on the job for 2 weeks and hadn’t mastered the art of speaking loudly and clearly vs. screaming in our ears. I used some ear buds to help so I didn’t have to keep my fingers in my ears the entire 2 hour ride. Our goal was to walk the bridge, but we ended up not having time because we had to pick up our rental car. After picking up our car, we did get a chance to stop at the Golden Gate viewing spot, snap a few shots of the magnificent views, and get a quick walk on some of the bridge. We then headed out of the city hoping to stop at the Charlie Brown museum. Massive amounts of traffic caused this plain to fail and we somehow ended up at an Applebees (surprised?). We chowed down and then hit up the Trader Joes in the shopping center. An hour later we pulled into Ukiah for a fun filled night of a trip to Walmart and pretty much nothing else. Well folks, I’m pooped. We are headed to Brookings, Oregon tomorrow… which looks like a beautiful coastal city. Hope to post more in a day or so about our continued adventures!!