portlandia- part 1

April 2012- My annual girl's trip with college girlfriends took me to Portland, Oregon this year.  Why Oregon?  I had the same thought when I was informed of our destination.  I voted for the beach.  As in Key West, FL on the completely opposite (and much warmer) end of the country.  But I'll go anywhere with these girls so it doesn't matter where we end up.  As it turns out I was delightfully surprised with everything Portland and the surrounding area had to offer, including no sales tax!

We arrived late on Thursday with plans to drive about an hour and a half to the coast.  We knew we'd be excited to see one another and the chatting and catching up would make a long drive seem shorter.  Jamie arrived before the rest of us so she had already picked up the rental car and stopped at Target for provisions.  What should have been a fast passenger pick up and trip out of the city was delayed once it was discovered something had been left at the airport and we had to go back to retrieve it.  Enough about that.  We made it to Tillamook sometime around 2am local time.  Laree had booked us in the finest accommodations Tillamook had to offer.  The next morning we ventured out for breakfast.  Our hotel had a nice continental spread but we needed substance.  We needed bacon.  We ended up at this place.

We'd been warned it was unique.  It was small and cozy and yes, indeed, had very unique decor.  I've never seen a collection of Mammy dolls outside the South.  I loved it.  And the breakfast was so amazing I could have been talked into driving back the next day.  I don't normally order an omelet; I like pancakes.  But the nice server-owner-spouse of the cook said the omelets were the best.  So I ordered the bacon and cheese omelet suggested by my local guide and this is what I got.

It was all of the deliciousness I'd been promised.  Okay, so it had been at least 15 hours since my last full meal and I was starving, but it really was an amazing breakfast.  And they didn't scrimp on the bacon.  There was every bit of 5 crispy slices in there.  Although I'm pretty sure that wasn't the famous Tillamook cheese atop my omelet.  Red Apple Inn for breakfast- if you find yourself in Tillamook, you must go there.

Next it was off to tour the Tillamook cheese factory.  If you haven't already figured it out, our annual girls trip involves food- and lots of it.

We finally found the samples! 

The rest of the day was all about the coastline as we drove north to Cannon Beach before continuing on to Portland.  The weather was slightly overcast and cooler than we expected (or packed for!) but it made for a nice drive with a bit of exploring along the way.  We stopped at multiple scenic overlooks.  I insisted we go out onto the beach.  I had not come all the way across the country to look at the ocean out of the rental car window.  I needed to touch the sand and feel the water.  I needed rocks to take back home.

We unknowingly picked the perfect place to stop.  Right at the end of the access path to the beach was this collection of beach stones waiting for me to pick through.  I probably broke some code of beach etiquette but selecting a few.  But I figured they wouldn't be missed.

Here's my final selection from there and a few from Canon Beach. {I'll explain more about my rocks in a separate blog post}. 

 Jamie wasn't wearing proper footwear for beach-combing but she went along with it anyway.

Lora & Jamie- we called this their engagement photo

The coastline was beautiful with enormous rocks.  Somewhere along this amazing coastline the movie The Goonies was filmed and if you are familiar with it you know the scene at the end where the pirate ship comes sailing out and you can see those beautiful coastal rocks.  I was amazed by them not only for their natural beauty and wonder but because the coast that I'm most familiar with is flat and the only large structures within sight are oil rigs.

Cannon Beach has a famous rock called Haystack Rock because it looks like- you know what's coming- a haystack.  There were many rocks along the coastal drive that fit the description so we were kind of like children in our constant asking "Is that Haystack Rock?"  As if any of us had ever seen it other than in the brochures and knew which one it was.  But once we got to the town of Cannon Beach we knew we'd found it.

We spent most of the afternoon exploring the shops in Cannon Beach.  We also stopped at a few local wineries- not vineyards- but wineries.  I've heard wonderful things about Pacific Northwest wines but sadly, did not taste them at any of our stops.  One was in a neat building that was the original Tillamook creamery.  And another had one wine that our sommelier described as "jammy", but once again my unrefined palette failed me.  I detected no jam.  I've had great Pacific Northwest wines in nice restaurants so I'll stick to those.

a fly deterrent at the entrance

To finish up the day, we made our way to Portland, checked in at the swanky hotel Jamie booked- The Nines- found a nice place for dinner and rested up for our bicycle tour the next day.  See Portlandia- part 2 for the next installment of my Girls Trip re-cap.