Trippin' - Days 1-3

The great cross-country trip has begun!

Matt and I began our travels early Tuesday, after a final bagel and coffee at Yali's cafe... exactly 24 hours after our scheduled departure time. Driving north on I-5, lunch at McDonald's and several bathroom breaks later, we made it to Ashland, Oregon, where we stopped for dinner. My mom and aunt keep raving about it, so we thought we'd check it out. It's very, very cute. Strangely so, in fact. It's main industry is the Shakespeare Festival, which runs for about 5 months, so the entire town is funded by drama money. And you know what happens when you give yuppie Shakespeare fans a huge amount of money... well, they build a Globe Theater, have tons of cute shops, very clean streets, and heraldic flags hanging at every corner. A beautifully appointed park and dolled up creek bed make for "creekside dining" at all the local restaurants. We did find a rather exquisite restaurant - dragonfly - for dinner. Not on the creekside strip (fortunately... really, the creek needs some more water in it, and less stagnancy...), but up under the cabaret theater a few streets back. Latin-Asian fusion. We had crispy plantains with avocado, and my favorite, ahi tuna "wontons" with sweet soy sauce, sesame seeds, and wasabi sour cream. It was like tuna candy. So, so good. This was followed by their vegan "Buddha" bowl - a tasty noodle bowl in coconut milk broth with a polite smattering of shitake mushrooms. Ashland is very yummy.

After dinner we tried to make it to Eugene - that was misguided - but we ended up and a slightly less-than-comfy Comfort Inn in Roseburg. At least we got free donuts in the morning. We stopped in Eugene, Oregon for second breakfast and walked around the University of Oregon campus. (Several of Matt's history professors got their start at Eugene...) And may I say... woo-wee! Oregon has got some mad cash flowing into that university! The buildings are suitably old feeling and ivy-covered, the trees and lawns are geometrically manicured, and it has quite a New England feel.

We lunched in Portland - after we found Portland, that is. I mean, we found the ports. And the industrial area. But - for those who don't know that "Rose Quarter" or "4th Street" are the proper city exits - the actual "cute" part is very difficult to find from the highway... The whole city is contained by a highway loop which goes around it ... we missed the city 3 times. Yeah, well. When we finally made it INTO Portland, there wasn't anywhere to park, so we cruised the shopping and financial districts for another 15 minutes. Finally parking and asking for a map at the local Westin hotel (we *always* ask for restaurant recommendations and maps at swanky hotels... they're much nicer), we made it to the northerly part, saw Powell's Books (stepped inside, just so we could say so), and found a lunch place. Everett St. Bistro - I had quiche, Matt had steak tartare and a salad. It was nice to sit, and it's a nice place - not spectacular, but just what the doctor ordered for restorative measures.

Losing Portland meant that we were several hours late to Great Aunt Alice's - not too much traffic coming into Seattle but we had to wait for 40 minutes for the ferry to Bainbridge Island (the McMicken ancestral hometown). Matt waited until this moment to tell me he didn't have his great aunt's address ... just the directions. Luckily they live in a cul-de-sac and when we parked Alice walked outside (she had been watching for us).

Matt's relatives will take a whole 'nother post; I will let them be for now. Alice is very nice. Her husband's name is Joe. We also met Gretchen, Alice's daughter (Connie - Gretchen says to remind you about a bottle of sauternes and a rowboat?) and her husband John. Tonight there is a dinner with everyone plus Joanie (Great Aunt #2) and her daughter Sarah.

I guess one fun thing is that Matt and I get homecooked dinner and breakfast every day, and we're served with regular dishes on plastic placemats with paper napkins... and the ancestral monogrammed silver.

I'll probably be able to put pictures up once we're at Matt's sister's in Minneapolis. We're in Seattle now - leaving tomorrow - heading across Montana...

More later!