We finally hit the road today! Not that I’m excited to leave Seattle or anything. I’m just stoked to see where the road takes us. Before we leave today, we’re attending a birthday party for Kassidy’s nephew, Carter. The best thing about the birthday party? It’s at an ice skating rink!
We arrived slightly tardy to the ice rink in Issoquah. After we ate pizza and cupcakes with everyone, we proceeded to the private rink that they had rented for everyone. Let me tell you, ice skating made me feel like a kid again. It was so much fun.
We skated until about 3 o’clock, said our goodbyes, then headed back to Kassidy’s sisters to pack the car. Packing the car was such a stressful experience. It was literally a real life game of Tetris… One bag, and only that one bag would fit in a particular spot, and then we had to place the next bag. After about an hour of trying to make it work, we were all set. It wasn’t fun, but we got the job done. Bags poured over into the back seat, but it made the vehicle cozy. That’s being positive right?
It wasn’t until about 5:30 that we departed for Portland. We took Interstate 5 from Seattle, to Tacoma, to Olympia (where we stopped for Dutch Brothers coffee), and then to Portland. Earlier in the day, Dustin had booked us a place to stay on the north side of Portland and we were all really excited about it.
We arrived in Portland around 8:00 p.m.. The suite we rented was located on the back of his house and had a private entrance, which was incredibly nice. It was very spacious, had its own kitchenette, a bed, a couch, an air mattress, laundry, and a really nice bathroom. Ben, the owner, was this super awesome self-employed, music instructor who had previously worked for Fender and the Dave Matthews Band. He even brought down a few guitars to show us! One of them was a vintage tobacco Gibson LG-1. He also gave me a really cool Stratocaster pin.
After we thanked him for his hospitality, our group headed out to a local bar called Bye and Bye. I'm not a big drinker, so after a short while I left the bar to wander around for a bit. Not even a block away I stumbled upon this awesome place called The Grilled Cheese Grill. The kitchen was run out of a refashioned Airstream and located adjacent to the trailer was an old school bus, which they had gutted, and placed tables inside.
The inside of the bus was adorned with a massive hand painted mural as well as tons of old Trivial Pursuit cards. I ordered a four-chesee grilled cheese with chips and a pickle spear and it was absolutely amazing. Shortly after eating, I met up with the Kassidy, Clancy and Dustin and we drove back to the suite to call it a night.
PS: Sorry for the lack of photos over the last few days! Tomorrow will be photo heaven, I promise.