The Honeymoon’s Over

We flew back from Seattle on Friday, December 4, and got home at about 10:30 PM. Our cat, H, was thrilled to see us, and we rested and relaxed all weekend while gearing up to go back to our respective offices on Monday morning. We were so excited to go back to work!!! (Yes, our coworkers have been reading this….) Actually, we realized mid-trip that our maximum ambitious vacation time seems to be about 10 days; we might have been more into staying on vacation if we’d just been relaxing throughout, but all the hiking, driving, and wandering was a little tiring. It’s nice to be back in the normal swing of things, but married.

So, here’s the question: should we keep up the blog? There are a lot more tourism activities left to do in our lives, we think, and we live in Washington, DC, where there are a ton of touristy things to see just around every corner. At the moment, we’re thinking that we’ll just return to this every time we go on an ambitious vacation – this might not be as interesting if we write, “T read a lot today” every day. Please let us know if you want to read more about our adventures by commenting below!

Victoria, or, A Tale of Three Bathtubs

After the excitement of Forks, we ventured on to Port Angeles, where we discovered the fantastic Blackbird cafe and a quiet but hip little port town. Not much is open this time of year in terms of museums and whatnot, as we had discovered further down the coast, but it’s great to get a window into the real lives of people outside of tourist season. However, our own tourism beckoned, so we boarded the ferry for Victoria!

The ferry itself was pretty neat – the line has been running since 1816, and it’s really a civilized way to travel. After dealing with our Passports (a very smooth process), we went onto the boat, which has its own cafe and a duty-free shop (not being duty-free types, we weren’t super-excited by this, but lots of other people were, so we lived vicariously). A short hour and a half by sea later, and we were in Canada. Victoria, the capitol of British Columbia, is lively and twee, and it’s one of the closest places you can get to feeling like you’re in the UK on this continent. We visited the inner harbour, saw the wax museum, and stayed right next to the Legislature, which allowed us great views of the water as well as a nice sense of the feeling of the city.

Nearing the two-week mark of our vacation, we were starting to feel a bit desirous of a cozy place to stay, and we booked a room at the Gatsby Mansion bed and breakfast. We are not the bed-and-breakfast types. As T told her mom, “really, no one should speak to me before I’ve had at least three cups of coffee in the morning”: it’s difficult to find three cups of coffee to imbibe before venturing downstairs at a cozy B&B. Nevertheless, we thought the rooms and the house looked lovely, and the people on the phone when we booked our stay were inviting, so we went with it. But should we have…?

<creepy music>
T & C in the Horrifying Tale of the Haunted Honeymoon
</creepy music>

After checking in to the nineteenth century mansion, we made our way up the crickety old stairwell to the absolutely gorgeous Room 6[ed. 66] that overlooked the water at the top of the house. There was a reading nook for T, and a comfy sofa for C, and all was well, and then T decided to take a bubble bath to relax and rejuvenate. Which was when the trouble started.

Turns out, although the bubble bath was luxurious and pleasant, the drain didn’t exactly work correctly, so, as the bath was draining, a puddle was forming under the clawfoot tub. T was about to dry her hair, when she realized that standing in a Puddle of Doom while plugging in a hair dryer might not be the ticket to happily ever after. No problem, we thought – we’ll change rooms, all will be well. No problem, the staff said – here’s a new room key, all will be well.

We moved our things into Room 7, started to settle in, and discovered…(cue creepy music and evil twin girls) that the bathtub there was already overflowing. The plug had fallen into the drain, and the faucet had been dripping, so the water’s meniscus was right at the edge of the tub. Argh and drat!, we thought, and wandered back to the front lobby. Argh and drat!, the staff thought, and handed us a key to yet another room.

Behind door number 3 was a modern bath, and the water was normal, and all was well, and we loved breakfast, and we might just become B&Bers after all.

Except that we learned on our last day at the inn that the house is supposedly haunted…

We returned to the U.S. on the ferry, having developed goosebumps for reasons beyond the cold. Victoria was absolutely delightful, but we planned to avoid bubble baths at all costs for the next few days.

Forks!

So, why Forks? And why the exclamation point? It’s not just a group of eating utensils, it’s the home of TWILIGHT!!! (You may remember this style of writing from a former entry about DISNEYLAND!!!)

Maybe you’ve read Twilight. Or maybe you’ve seen the movie. It’s been kind of a big deal amongst tweens, teens, and, uh, grown-ups for the past couple of years. Well, this vampire love story takes place in a small logging town called Forks, WA. This town is a real place and in the past couple of years has boomed because of this book. T, hearing that we could potentially be near this town on our honeymoon, insisted that we stop by and check out the vampire and werewolf paraphernalia. So, we did.

The first thing to do when you get to a new town is to check out the visitor’s center, or, even better, the Chamber of Commerce. The Forks Chamber of Commerce Visitor Information Center is pretty amazing, as it includes two delightful ladies who know more about Twilight than pretty much anyone we’ve met, including the tweens. They told us stories about how the whole town has come together in support of the books: the hospital has even created a reserved parking space for Dr. Cullen, the “father” of the vampire clan, who works there in the novels. Seriously, you don’t see Oxford doing this for Philip Pullman – it’s pretty awesome. They also gave us a map of points of interest from the novels, which was a neat way to see the town. We wandered into the library, which was incredibly busy for 4:00 on a Monday afternoon, and we stopped by the Dazzled by Twilight store, which was filled with memorabilia and t-shirts and miscellany. The gathering of community piece of this was particularly interesting to Sociologist C; the joy of making a book come alive was nice for Librarian-of-sorts T, who was all sorts of thrilled by the nuances as well as more obvious ways that the town has embraced a fun piece of the pop culture zeitgeist.

However, after a happy hour or two, C realized that it wasn’t time to write a doctoral dissertation, and T realized that she seems to have a shorter attention span than the average teenager, so we continued on our way to Port Angeles (also featured in the novels, but in a lesser way), where we were about to make their honeymoon…international! Cue music and spotlights.

Washington Coastline

The Washington coastline is actually quite different than the Oregon coastline, which might surprise some of our readers from Eastern states where there’s not a significant change between, say, North Carolina and South Carolina. Washington is, of course, a little colder, but it’s also a lot windier, and many of the sandy beaches are filled with drift wood (which can kill you – more on that later). The coastline is still a fault line (tectonically speaking, ha! – C), and the beaches are still rocky, but the vegetation just off the beach is distinctive. No more silly palm trees; that’s kid stuff. There’s a fricking rainforest here! Can’t find one of those in Delaware, can you?! Anyway, it was rad.

We had very little rain on this part of the journey, which is unusual for this part of the world. After all, it’s called a rain forest for a reason. Because of the weather, we occasionally stopped en route on the way up to explore. Again, the views were breathtaking, although this time we found the log-filled beaches a bit ominous, as if we were in some sort of post-apocalyptic future wherein much of the world had been flooded (hence the driftwood). On our third stop, we noticed signs suggesting that we might a) be killed by drift logs on the beach, and/or b) get attacked by a cougar, and decided to stay in the car for the remainder of the afternoon. We were, however, happy to have seen all the beautiful plants and animals.

Secretly, T was a little cheery about the fact that we didn’t have to stop for the umpteenth time along the same coast. C’s jumping around with elation was, perhaps, beginning to wear on her. Two weeks in a car can be draining on any good relationship. Plus, we were almost to Forks: Land of Edward the Vampire and kitsch galore. T was impatient.

Astoria

We wanted to get a head start on our drive up to Washington, so we decided to stay the night in Astoria, a small Portland getaway located on the beach just south of the Oregon/Washington border. Cool factoid: This beach town is the oldest European settlement west of the Missouri River. Kinda cool, right? Can’t say our honeymoon isn’t educational now! C booked the motel, not the greatest motel, but it would have to do. Reminiscent of the motel we stayed at in San Simeon; not too nice but sleepable.

That night we ate at a really great seafood place called Baked Alaska. Occasionally, we competitively eat. No, that doesn’t mean we speed eat. Our goal is to try to top each other by ordering the best thing on the menu. Round One: Salad Course. T ordered a yummy candied pecan and blue cheese mixed green, but C blew the socks of the salad course by ordering a fire-roasted tomato and goat cheese salad with balsamic glaze! The tomatoes were warm but not mushy and the thickened balsamic drizzle was sweet and complex. Round Two: Main Course. C, happy with his victory (still glowing), ordered an expensive mango and halibut dish thinking that high prices would ultimately equal better food, but T, coming from behind and not easily bruised by defeat, ordered the seared tuna with an interesting and delightful coffee bean crust. Yowza, T’s dish was incredible. The tuna was perfectly rare, and the jasmine rice created a nice backdrop for the intense flavors of the fish. C is still dreaming of his two tiny sample bites.

Both of us feeling quite happy with ourselve decided to called it a tie and share dessert (we are still a civilized, married couple, after all). For dessert, C was excited to order the baked Alaska! Oddly, they stopped serving it a few years back as it was apparently too much work (it is a load of work), and no one ordered it. Hmph! Instead, we ate their signature dessert: the half-baked Alaska. Basically a glorified cookie and ice cream sandwich. Oh well, they are a seafood restaurant after all.

Addendum: in the joy of writing about what we ate, we almost forgot to mention the amazing bridge that connects Oregon to Washington and starts at the edge of Astoria.  As we started up the coastline the morning after the baked Alaska extravaganza, we got to travel on something that felt an awful lot like a bridge to nowhere, but is actually the Astoria-Megler Bridge, the longest continuous truss bridge in the United States.  It looks pretty fantastic when the fog is as thick as it was – it’s a little like driving through clouds.  See the sci-fi-inspired picture below, courtesy of T in the passenger seat.

Portland

We thought we were visiting Portland. In fact, we were visiting the people of Portland.

First stop, one of C’s father’s old Delta buddies, P. Since C’s father had just passed away, we thought it might be cathartic to see one of his old friends. P was very sweet and cooked us dinner and was delighted to see us. We were served a wonderful arrangement of meats and cheeses. Then we sat down for a great meal including curry squash soup and a flank steak and blue cheese salad (at this point we needed nourishment and maybe a few vitamins). P chatted with us about Dad and her memories of him and Delta and all that stuff. Surprisingly, no tears! It was a grand time!

Next stop, T’s buddy from work. A man of erudition at T’s work, he and his wife had many stories to tell about their travels and adventures. Although we only stayed for a short time, they made us feel at home. Before we headed out the door, we got some great recommendations on where to go for the rest of our trip.

Bed. We got in from those two visits at about 1 in the morning.

Next morning, Mass at T’s boss’s brother’s church. Did you get that? T’s boss has a brother who is a priest at a church in Oregon, so, since we were in Portland on Sunday, we went to the 10:30 service. It was a little different from the Mass we usually attend at our church in Washington: maybe it was the Portland slogan “Keep Portland Weird” that made this church a bit more contemporary, but it was a great experience and wonderful to see and hear. The parishioners were very community-oriented, and the choir even got a little funky, which is rare for Catholics, but very refreshing. We said hi to Father B, and then headed downtown to finally do some sightseeing.

The only real sightseeing done: Powell’s Books! (we will get to this part of the story later)

After Powell’s, we met with A, an old friend of C’s brother, had a beer at the local Rogue Brewery, and caught up. It was a short visit, but a good one.

Like we said, we didn’t really visit Portland, we visited the people. Because of this, we got a different feel for the city. It was as if we had lived there for some period in our lives and were just meeting up with a few old buddies. It was a unique and interesting visit.

C might have fallen in love with the city.

T might have fallen in love with a book store. Powell’s was awesome! They have a great website, but there’s nothing like the real thing. One of the grand poobahs of independent bookstores in the U.S., Powell’s has a fantastic selection of new and used books and really helpful staff to assist with sorting through the masses and making your way through the store. They also have a great rare books room, where we saw a handbound volume of The House of Seven Gables, bound by…wait for it…Virginia Woolf (providing the link so you can buy T a $9500 Christmas present, if you so choose). Amazing and cool. We also saw some interesting editions of children’s literature, which used to be T’s stock in trade. And we bought some things, of course, and left happy, as all should leave great bookstores.

Florence and Muriel

Last night we finally made it to Oregon. C was overly excited about this. He has had a childhood dream of one day moving to the Oregon coast. We left the NoCal coast with enough time to pull into Florence, OR, rent a room at the Lighthouse Inn (a very cute lighthouse-themed motel next to a gorgeous PWA bridge), and have a little desert and coffee at a sweet little restaurant on the Siuslaw River called the Waterfront Depot.

We have quite an affection for a TV show called the Gilmore Girls. Snicker if you must, but watch a few episodes, and you, too, will be a devotee.  Anyway, Florence reminded us of the town where Rory and Loralai Gilmore live in the show (Stars Hollow). Quaint, cute, and a little over saccharine all at the same time. As we walked the main strip that night, we noticed a knitting shop, a few coffee shops, and (here’s the klincher!!!) a books and bears shop. That’s right, there is a shop where you can get used and new books AND Teddy bears!  For realsies: not just in the children’s section, but, here you are, checking out some new Dan Brown novel, and, oh! Look! An adorable bear! Books and Bears, friends. That’s where it’s at.

The next morning we packed our bags, put on our hiking shoes (T bravely wore gold flats) and went to see the Oregon coast. We had already made it pretty far up the coast:  Florence is actually near the midway point between Cali and Washington.  C remembered all the cool tide pools his father had shown him as a child when they traveled to the west coast, so we wanted to visit at least a beach or two to check them out.   We stopped at the Muriel O. Ponsler State Scenic Viewpoint on our waiter’s recommendation from the Waterfront Depot, and it didn’t disappoint in terms of beautiful views, tide pools, and the occasional barking of a sea lion in the distance.

During our walk down to the beach, T slipped a bit and twisted her ankle.  Water, rocks and a bit of sand can make for dangerous conditions, but with the addition of cute gold flats, well, that can be near fatal.  Luckily it was only a twist, and T’s a pretty tough bird (comes with the clumsy territory).  T was a trooper, but we didn’t walk quite as far as we originally intended – nevertheless, we got a few nice pictures, as seen below.

So, we saw the pools and the sea urchins or anemones or whatever those green, wormy things were and headed back on the road.

Redwood Forest

Before heading back out on the PCH, we went over to M’s house again for an amazing breakfast (steel-cut oats, berries and yogurt).  T had never had good oatmeal before and was surprised to find oats actually have texture and flavor!  The meal was wonderful; we were both getting a bit homesick at this point and needed a little comfort from a family member.  M was also sweet enough to let us wash a batch of clothes.  We are very thankful for M’s generosity.  Thanksgiving had started off on a good note.

Because nothing was open on Thanksgiving, we drove  and drove and drove until we hit a small town called Eureka.  We passed some beautiful sights while driving but little is worth reporting.  That night we stayed in a very unique hotel called the Scottfeild Executive Suits (yes, they spelled feild with wrong way…but it’s a name, so who are we to argue) .  Not a chain and not your average hotel; it was colorfully decorated with brown and white and a little more brown.  It was quite charming in its own little way.

The next morning we began to make our way to some really cool Redwood sites, but we started with the coast. We stopped at Trinidad, California, and visited the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, a small site just above the beach dedicated to those who have been lost or buried at sea.  After that, we stopped at Patrick’s Point State Park and hiked to the Wedding Rock (aptly named, eh?), where we saw some of the most breathtaking views of the ocean thus far.  The wind was wild, and T froze a bit, but it was a happy freeze.

On to the Rockin’ Redwood Revelry! First we drove through a Redwood with Deadpool.  He seemed to get a kick out of it but thought it was a tight squeeze; maybe even a bit too close for comfort.  We also took pictures of us standing under the tree and practicing our mountain lion stances, but we’ll save those for Facebook.

For further tree-going experience, we took a short hike through the forest.  C says, “I know this goes without saying but those trees are freaking huge!!!” T says, “Yay, nature!”, then shivers a bit nervously at her own enthusiasm.

One of the most fun stops on this leg of our trip was the kitschy sky tour of the Redwoods.  Basically we rode a pod up the side of the moutain and back down.  It was really high up and C got a bit nervous, but after a few loving pats from T, he calmed down a bit.  At the top of the lift we got off and saw a great view of the mountain range and the Pacific ocean off in the distance.  Truly awe inspiring!  After that, we came back down, and hiked a bit more.  Yay, nature.

San Francisco

As we zoomed over the hills in our new car between the airport and the city, we were both a little sad (the last car was a good one) and very excited (San Fran: historical counter culture galore!).

The first night we checked into the Orchard Garden Hotel. Perfectly located between Union Station and Chinatown, we unpacked, took a short walk, and then got a call from M (T’s cousin) inviting us over to her pad near Castro Street to have a homecooked meal and a drink. We made it back to the hotel by about 1 and promptly fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up at 9 and walked throught Chinatown to City Lights. City Lights, if you are not in the know, was the central location for all the beats in the late 50′s and early 60′s. It’s a bookstore and a publishing house. T and C were both very happy to peruse the shelves for a good hour. This was our favorite spot in all of San Fran. We shopped a bit more, wandered through the North Beach area, picked up lunch in Little Italy, and headed back to the hotel to regroup.

We got to the hotel at 1:30, were a bit grumpy at each other, and decided we needed a rest. Apparently we really needed a rest; we woke up at 5!

Where had the time gone? We were planning to do so much in this lovely city, and we slept through our entire visit! Feeling a little confused, a little peeved, and a bit peckish, we decided to fret no longer and, instead, took a walk down the street to Union Square where the holiday lights were in full force. It was totally beautiful (in that high voltage sort of way). C, in his sleepy daze, was quite happy and in love; T, also still waking up, gave C a much needed, movie-esque kiss in front of the skating rink amidst the sparkling lights. Sweet sweet romance!

We then got a very late dinner at a great French restaurant near the hotel. It was much trendier than our usual diners, but the waiter was friendly, and we didn’t pay much attention to the house music and dark ambiance, since we were so enjoying the delicious Bastilla appetizer, Serrano ham pizza, and amazingly delectable creme brulee for dessert. Happiness abounded, and we wandered back to the hotel in a cheery Frisco dream.

RIP Deadpool

Of course something horrible happened to us on the road trip.

Deadpool served us well for the past week, but his time had come.  Big Sur’s frightening coastline took its toll on Deadpool’s electronic system.  He started off fine, but by day four T & C noticed some strange shifting issues.  By day 6 they became impossible to ignore.  Deadpool was ready to go, and we were sad.

Luckly, Deadpool II was waiting for us at the San Fransisco Airport.  A near exact replica of the car we had grown to love.  While a bit more chatty (the horn honked when we locked the doors), we were more than happy to take Deadpool II up the rest of the PCH!

A note from Deadpool II: Deadpool I was a sucker!  I’m glad that I’m here now.   I was getting bored at the San Francisco Airport, and now I’m getting to explore the rest of the coast.  T and C are also teaching me how to love, which is nice.  I used to be a quiet, stoic, noir-ish car, but I’m starting to enjoy sharing a joke and seeing the sunsets.  Also, I like long drives on the beach, and getting caught in the rain, but I’m not much into pina coladas, because they tend to mess with my engine.  Rwaor!  That’s my engine.  But you’ll never hear it, because I’m Deadpool II.

(From here on out Deadpool II will be refered to as Deadpool.)