30, HOME FREE AND UNEMPLOYED
- Thread starter 4whtundra
- Start date
I'll most likely get another couple posts up this Sunday, I'm on Long Beach in Washington right now but will be headed south through Astoria again and back to Portland. My lady friend is still here so it makes it difficult to post, I'll get back to business when she leaves. 
kleinrider
Observer
I, too, am enjoying your posts. Thanks for taking the time to include us in your journey!
Sent using Tapatalk HD
Sent using Tapatalk HD
Portlandia Part 1
OK I'm back! It's been a long week, I've been pretty much busy the whole week with little time to myself for posts and what not. After my stay in Mayger I headed south on the 30 into Portland. It was rainy and pretty chilly and I had no plan on where to stay so I stayed at one of those lame RV parks that won't allow non self contained units at them and are catered to mostly large pricey RVs. I just told the lady my rig was self contained. I have a few friends in Portland and tried to get something going for the night but everyone was tired or didn't want to head out so I solo'd it and went out alone. I went down to a Brewery in Gresham called 4th Street Brewery, I sat at the bar and ordered a nice IPA and dinner. The Beaver's game was on so I pretended to care and enjoyed my brew. There were cute girls working there and the bartender thought he new me from my last name (which is the first), the beer was good as was the food. I made it a short night and headed back to the park.
In the morning I organized and headed out. On my way to the airport to pick up my special lady (SL) my check engine light came on, I thought "great perfect timing". PDX is smart and has a special parking lot titled "cell phone waiting area" which is basically a spot you can sit in your vehicle and wait for your arriving guests, it's nice because you don't have to pay for parking lots or deal with wandering around the airport. I pulled in there and checked out my engine, before opening the hood something didn't sound right at all and I was a bit nervous. I opened the hood and happily saw one of the vacuum hoses came off, I put it back on pulled my + terminal off of the battery for a couple minutes and the engine light went off, I haven't seen it come on since (fingers crossed). After picking up SL we headed into Portland, at this point I had no plan what-so-ever what we were doing or where we were staying. I typed "brewery" into my GPS and headed out to Alameda Brewhouse, it was the middle of the day on Sunday so there was not much going on but I had an awesome turkey pot pie meal and of course an IPA.
We spent most of the afternoon driving around and checking out the different neighborhoods. We stopped in a sweet bakery/coffee shop called Petite Provence Boulangerie & Patisserie, I know sounds fancy and pricey. We had some sort of coffee concoctions with rum and some sort of jelly cake thing, it pretty much cost as much as a lunch would. We finished up and headed over to my buddies house, he lives in a neat neighborhood inside the city limits. He was nice enough to allow me to pop-up in his driveway and use his bathroom whenever I wanted all week. SL found a baby there.
I was lucky enough to catch my buddy at the right time, he was able to step out of the house for a little bit and show us around the area a little. We stopped in at the Radio Room for a bite to eat, then to another little micro brew and then walked a bunch of blocks to the Kennedy School. If you haven't heard of the Mcmenamins (I didn't) they're a family that started a micro brew in the 70's that seemed to make it big, they buy old historical buildings and restore them. Inside they fill them with movie theaters, bars, pool halls, restaurants, hotels, etc. It's basically one of the coolest social places I've ever been. When entering the school everything is the same as it was back when it was a school, they add art to the walls and spruce up the bathrooms. The bar we went to was called "The Boiler Room" which was the old boiler room in the school.
OK I'm back! It's been a long week, I've been pretty much busy the whole week with little time to myself for posts and what not. After my stay in Mayger I headed south on the 30 into Portland. It was rainy and pretty chilly and I had no plan on where to stay so I stayed at one of those lame RV parks that won't allow non self contained units at them and are catered to mostly large pricey RVs. I just told the lady my rig was self contained. I have a few friends in Portland and tried to get something going for the night but everyone was tired or didn't want to head out so I solo'd it and went out alone. I went down to a Brewery in Gresham called 4th Street Brewery, I sat at the bar and ordered a nice IPA and dinner. The Beaver's game was on so I pretended to care and enjoyed my brew. There were cute girls working there and the bartender thought he new me from my last name (which is the first), the beer was good as was the food. I made it a short night and headed back to the park.
In the morning I organized and headed out. On my way to the airport to pick up my special lady (SL) my check engine light came on, I thought "great perfect timing". PDX is smart and has a special parking lot titled "cell phone waiting area" which is basically a spot you can sit in your vehicle and wait for your arriving guests, it's nice because you don't have to pay for parking lots or deal with wandering around the airport. I pulled in there and checked out my engine, before opening the hood something didn't sound right at all and I was a bit nervous. I opened the hood and happily saw one of the vacuum hoses came off, I put it back on pulled my + terminal off of the battery for a couple minutes and the engine light went off, I haven't seen it come on since (fingers crossed). After picking up SL we headed into Portland, at this point I had no plan what-so-ever what we were doing or where we were staying. I typed "brewery" into my GPS and headed out to Alameda Brewhouse, it was the middle of the day on Sunday so there was not much going on but I had an awesome turkey pot pie meal and of course an IPA.
We spent most of the afternoon driving around and checking out the different neighborhoods. We stopped in a sweet bakery/coffee shop called Petite Provence Boulangerie & Patisserie, I know sounds fancy and pricey. We had some sort of coffee concoctions with rum and some sort of jelly cake thing, it pretty much cost as much as a lunch would. We finished up and headed over to my buddies house, he lives in a neat neighborhood inside the city limits. He was nice enough to allow me to pop-up in his driveway and use his bathroom whenever I wanted all week. SL found a baby there.
I was lucky enough to catch my buddy at the right time, he was able to step out of the house for a little bit and show us around the area a little. We stopped in at the Radio Room for a bite to eat, then to another little micro brew and then walked a bunch of blocks to the Kennedy School. If you haven't heard of the Mcmenamins (I didn't) they're a family that started a micro brew in the 70's that seemed to make it big, they buy old historical buildings and restore them. Inside they fill them with movie theaters, bars, pool halls, restaurants, hotels, etc. It's basically one of the coolest social places I've ever been. When entering the school everything is the same as it was back when it was a school, they add art to the walls and spruce up the bathrooms. The bar we went to was called "The Boiler Room" which was the old boiler room in the school.
Thought maybe you were mad or something.Glad you're back and am waiting to here more of your past week.What do you do if you cant find a brewery in each new town you stop in?Maybe your doc prescribed more beer for your high cholesterol.Does the dampness of the Pacific nothwest bother the inside of your camper much and if so how do you deal with it?Sounds as if not really having a plan fits your schedule and desires and hope good fortune is in store for the remainder of your journey.We always here people saying "time is money ",it appears that your time now is worth much more then what chasing a dollar can bring you. Ke
Lingenstein
New member
Looks like a great trip so far, thanks for all the pictures. Keep up the good work!
oldpro,
I'm having issues as we speak with dampness and just recently mold. I am in the process of getting to the bottom of the problem now. I will get to more of that later.
Hope you get to see or visit Mt Rainer. In the summer of 1969 June through August I was in boot camp at Ft. Lewis and during our pt drills and daily runs I would look up at her and envision myself on her beautiful cool slopes.Never did get to visit her but hope you will be able to .I think her height is around twelve thousand plus.There was snow on her during June through August then so would imagine there is now.Safe traveling to you and keep on keepin on.
Hood River
Seeing as Wednesday was SL's favorite holiday halloween I tried to plan to be in Portland for that, I didn't want to stay in Portland for all of her trip and convinced her to get out of the city with me for a couple mini trips. Monday we headed out on 84 East towards Hood River. It was a little rainy but still a beautiful fall day, we picked a campsite on the Columbia, Viento State Park. The site was nestled between the 84 and the Columbia river. After heading to town for groceries we had a campfire, had a BBQ chicken dinner with asparagus and smores to follow.
Tuesday we woke up to rain, big surprise :snorkel: We rallied and decided to get some exercise, SL ran and I followed her on my bike, there was a nice paved bike trail right near our campsite. After we packed our stuff up and headed towards downtown Hood River, after cruising around checking out the town we stopped at Full Sail Brewery for lunch and a beer. Full Sail Brewery overlooks the Columbia river where kite surfers flock to every year, hence the name Full Sail. The Brewery itself is completely independently owned by its 47 employees which creates a chill atmosphere within. The food and beer was good plus I liked the idea of the place so I picked up an tshirt as a souvenir.
After the brewery we headed back to Portland, on our way back we planned to stop at Multnomah Falls. The falls are huge and you can see them from the 84, in low fog the top waterfall seems to fall out of the sky. We were pleased to find out that the parking is free and you can do a small hike up to see the falls and cross a bridge in front of the falls to the other side. The hike can be continued to what I think is the top of the falls but we didn't have the time to conquer that, it's about 7 miles.
We headed back to Portland and popped up at my buddies house, we had some plans for Wednesday (halloween).
Seeing as Wednesday was SL's favorite holiday halloween I tried to plan to be in Portland for that, I didn't want to stay in Portland for all of her trip and convinced her to get out of the city with me for a couple mini trips. Monday we headed out on 84 East towards Hood River. It was a little rainy but still a beautiful fall day, we picked a campsite on the Columbia, Viento State Park. The site was nestled between the 84 and the Columbia river. After heading to town for groceries we had a campfire, had a BBQ chicken dinner with asparagus and smores to follow.
Tuesday we woke up to rain, big surprise :snorkel: We rallied and decided to get some exercise, SL ran and I followed her on my bike, there was a nice paved bike trail right near our campsite. After we packed our stuff up and headed towards downtown Hood River, after cruising around checking out the town we stopped at Full Sail Brewery for lunch and a beer. Full Sail Brewery overlooks the Columbia river where kite surfers flock to every year, hence the name Full Sail. The Brewery itself is completely independently owned by its 47 employees which creates a chill atmosphere within. The food and beer was good plus I liked the idea of the place so I picked up an tshirt as a souvenir.
After the brewery we headed back to Portland, on our way back we planned to stop at Multnomah Falls. The falls are huge and you can see them from the 84, in low fog the top waterfall seems to fall out of the sky. We were pleased to find out that the parking is free and you can do a small hike up to see the falls and cross a bridge in front of the falls to the other side. The hike can be continued to what I think is the top of the falls but we didn't have the time to conquer that, it's about 7 miles.
We headed back to Portland and popped up at my buddies house, we had some plans for Wednesday (halloween).
Need travel advice, located in Olympia
I'm currently located in Olympia, Washington and need some travel advice from someone who has traveled through North West Washington (or whoever). Today is 11/7/2012, I need to be in Bellingham, Washington by 11/22/2012 and from there I need to be in Missoula, Montana by Mid december. I want to travel around/through the Olympic Forest, see Vancouver and possibly get to the San Juan Islands. Also before leaving Washington I need to see Mt. Rainier. Does anyone have any suggestions on what route or direction to go from here? One plan I am devising now is to take the 101 North out of Olympia and head clockwise around Olympic Forest heading toward Port Angeles, then catch a ferry into Victoria, BC. Then I would ping pong between the San Juan Islands and catch a ferry back to the mainland and get to Bellingham by Thanksgiving. From there I can check out Vancouver for a few days then head south and check out Mt. Rainier then head East on the 90 towards Missoula. That is my wonderbout plan at this point. I will appreciate any comments about the path I'm thinking about. :088:
I'm currently located in Olympia, Washington and need some travel advice from someone who has traveled through North West Washington (or whoever). Today is 11/7/2012, I need to be in Bellingham, Washington by 11/22/2012 and from there I need to be in Missoula, Montana by Mid december. I want to travel around/through the Olympic Forest, see Vancouver and possibly get to the San Juan Islands. Also before leaving Washington I need to see Mt. Rainier. Does anyone have any suggestions on what route or direction to go from here? One plan I am devising now is to take the 101 North out of Olympia and head clockwise around Olympic Forest heading toward Port Angeles, then catch a ferry into Victoria, BC. Then I would ping pong between the San Juan Islands and catch a ferry back to the mainland and get to Bellingham by Thanksgiving. From there I can check out Vancouver for a few days then head south and check out Mt. Rainier then head East on the 90 towards Missoula. That is my wonderbout plan at this point. I will appreciate any comments about the path I'm thinking about. :088:
Sounds like a great plan to me.....
Stop in Seattle watch em throw fish at Pike Street Market.....world famous. Seattle has more micro brews then you can shake a bottle at!! Fact is the pnw is covered in breweries (sp) . O by the way Pike is very big and right downtown. Tons of ferries right below pike. You will love the Olympic Rain Forest! Awesome!
Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2
Stop in Seattle watch em throw fish at Pike Street Market.....world famous. Seattle has more micro brews then you can shake a bottle at!! Fact is the pnw is covered in breweries (sp) . O by the way Pike is very big and right downtown. Tons of ferries right below pike. You will love the Olympic Rain Forest! Awesome!
Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2