Portland On our first morning in Portland we wanted a relatively quick breakfast, so we opted for bagels at Bagel Land. I got the simple lox on an everything bagel - very reasonable at $7. Eric had the Porklander, with eggs, bacon and pepperjack cheese on a sesame bagel. Oh, and an absolutely enormous chocolate chip cookie. The bagel shop isn’t an eat-in situation so we took our food to the nearby Beverly Cleary garden in Grant Park and found a picnic table. We also had a night in ... continue reading...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon wine tasting
Dominio IV - Our first wine tasting of the trip. Jose did a great job taking care of us and we enjoyed sitting at the high top outside on the patio. We even had a mini tour after the tasting was done - the gardens were blooming, and we saw our first blue blossom bush of the trip. Argyle - For this tasting we decided to sit inside. Eric and I both opted for the “Pop Flight” (sparkling) while Sandie and James both got the “Rainbow Flight” (still). Each glass came out via a wooden ... continue reading...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon waterfalls
With an open afternoon and good weather we headed south out of the Willamette Valley to Silver Falls State Park to do some hiking. We'd been there on a summer trip in 2016, and we were hoping that the water levels would be higher given the spring rains. After a fairly long drive we got to the North Falls parking lot and saw the first falls - wow! The flow was definitely more than our last trip and the trails were uncrowded on Wednesday. We started with North Falls and Upper North Falls. ... continue reading...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: introduction
Oregon and Washington are amongst our most visited US states, and with good reason — they have an wide range of natural beauty, plus great food scenes including amazing wineries and breweries. Across all our visits we had visited the Pacific Northwest in summer, fall, and winter, but somehow we'd never been there in spring. In addition it had been five years (!) since we last visited Seattle, so in June 2022 we set out on a trip that would take us through the Willamette Valley in Oregon, up to ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: a day in Madrid
Our flight back to the US left out of Madrid, so we spent out final night in Spain here again. This time we stayed next to the Puerta de Atocha train station, as we were arriving there, plus it would give us easy access to the Real Jardín Botánico and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. After checking into our hotel (and passing our COVID test), our next stop was lunch. Just two blocks away we grabbed an outdoor table at Bar Noa, a small cafe with a Canary Islands focused menu. We ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: Cuenca
Cuenca is known for its historic walled city sitting on top of a rocky bluff between two rivers. Located roughly halfway between Valencia and Madrid, with a stop on the high speed train between the two, it made for an interesting detour between the two cities. On arrival at the AVE station, we made our way outside to wait for the #1 bus that goes all the way through town. It comes every 30 minutes on the half hour and was on time both ways. We got off on the second to last stop, most ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: Valencia street art
Before we left on this trip, I researched a bunch of street art places and muralists that I wanted to see. As with most street art, a lot were still visible while others had been painted over or tagged. The street art in Valencia varied greatly in size, scope and subject matter - from entire building facades to small paste-ups. We spent a lot of time wandering around and discovering - here are some of my favorites. mural by thegreatakimbo; "hyper reality" by Deih mural by ATILA ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: Valencia food & drink
Our week in Valencia was filled with food and drink experiences, from quick snacks to full-on meals. Bar Oliví is a lovely little wine place with a bar on the right and some additional stools on the left, room for 30 people maybe? This was our first stop of the trip — the moment when we finally had our bags in our room and we felt like we were truly in Spain. And we were definitely ready for some wine! I started with a Goleta Azul Rueda, followed by Celler del Roure Cullerot (a white ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: Valencia museums
To be honest, I feel like we struck out a bit with the 'formal' art institutions in Valencia. The street art was a lot more interesting to us than the two museums we tried. That said, both art museums were free to visit while we were in town, so no financial loss! The Museu de Belles Arts de València Eric had noted that this museum was supposed to have a great collection, so when we got our tickets and entered into the main gallery behind the entrance and saw the entire space filled with ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: Our Lady Of The Forsaken Festival
Midnight on Saturday and BOOM! BOOMBOOMBOOM...!!! Leandra got up to see what was going on and is surprised by a large fireworks display taking place a mile away in the Turia Park, but visible from our balcony. For the next 15 minutes we were treated to a nice display. Sunday morning started with what seemed like all the church bells in the city going off at once. We eventually figured out all this was for the Our Lady Of The Forsaken Festival (more info). And later in the ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: Valencia – El Cabanyal
We centered our Saturday afternoon around reservations for a late lunch at Casa Montaña, and we were very happy with our choice to do so! From the old town we used google maps to help find a bus route, and after a short wait we masked up (required), paid our fee, and were by the coast in about 25 minutes. Our reservation wasn't for another 30 minutes, so we wandered around exploring the neighborhood. Buildings felt a little smaller, and there were fewer trees. Our lunch at Casa Montaña ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: Valencia gardens
Jardí Botànic - This small university-affiliated garden has a reasonable admission fee of 3€ and surprised us with its number of specimens and blessedly shady interior. Palm trees, massive oaks, lots of flowers, a koi pond, several specialty greenhouses and an especially memorable cacti collection. Jardi de Montfort - Google Maps had the wrong entrance listed so we wound up walking around the exterior of the park first but once we got inside - wow! This small, classical ... continue reading...
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