Portland highlights include:
- the beautiful International Rose Test Garden (pictured above)
- Voo Doo Donuts and standing in line with the band Perry. I guess they’re some country superstars or something.
- Zane’s awesome wedding (They had the BEST craft beer, used donuts from Voo Doo in place of a wedding cake, and Erin walked down the aisle to the 80’s hit “The Final Countdown.” WIN.)
- Watching hipster bands play in the middle of the street at night
- Powell’s Books
I wish we would have gone beer tasting, but we were there for such a short amount of time and mostly there for our friends’ wedding. Oh well! It gives us an excuse to visit again.
Corrina and I just got back to Santa Barbara from San Francisco, and I am EXHAUSTED! We arrived on Thursday afternoon and have been go-go-go since then.
We stayed with a couple in SOMA that we found through airbnb.com, which is a really cool way to travel. You rent a room (or whole apartment/house) that belongs to somebody else for a short period of time. The prices are generally lower than hotels in the area, and you get a better idea of what it would be like to live in that city. Nathan and Nino were amazing hosts with a gorgeous home minutes from everything. Nathan made us the best breakfast, and I absolutely cannot wait to stay with them again - or perhaps get a visit from them here in Santa Barbara.
The weekend was filled with great music, delicious food, and lovely company. We went to Thursday Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences to see Best Coast and the Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park. We saw MGMT, The Shins, Foster the People, the Black Keys, Muse, Beirut and Arcade Fire. Arcade Fire was my favorite, of course, followed closely by the incredibly talented Beirut and the Shins.
Top left: Crawfish beignets
Top right: Banana Foster French toast
Bottom left: Traditional ramen
Bottom right: Seafood linguine
In between music festival hopping, we fit in sight seeing, great meals, and shopping at Union Square, Haight and Ashbury, Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, and we even made a Bart trip to Berekely to see my longtime friend, Thomas. Favorite foods included crawfish beignets from Brenda’s Soul Food Kitchen in downtown San Francisco and brunch and mimosas from La Note in Berkeley.
San Francisco was lovely, and Outside Lands was awesome! I’m already counting the days until I return in November to see Feist.
I am exhausted and in need of a nap! However, the nap is going to have to wait until I finish up some last minute September planning. September is going to be crazy between student teaching, Starbucks, home schooling Paul, and my last year of graduate school. Finger crossing starts now.
Finally told myself to quit lagging and get to uploading Kauai pictures.
It was a wonderful 7 days zip lining, hiking, consuming Hawaiian food nonstop, sleeping in, kayaking, sailing, snorkeling, and more!
