Battered Suitcases

One night when Mike and I were in Portland, we stopped in at Voodoo Doughnut. I was surprised by how much it had changed since the last time I was there (4ish years ago). The place is huge now. It used to be a tiny little hole in the wall where you could take Swahili lessons (remember Shauna?) before they opened at 9pm. Now there are three cash registers, a bar where you can eat your doughnuts, and room to spare. Weird.

Plus, the line out the door… well, kind of funny because they make you wait outside so even if there were only 4 people waiting the line would technically be “out the door.”

Ok now honestly, I think Voodoo is way over hyped. Sure, it’s a fun place with a glittery brick wall…but the doughnuts, not really anything special. It really doesn’t need to be the focus of every Portland themed travel show and blog. And I’m kind of sick of people making a big deal about “driving to Portland just for Voodoo” or “bringing Voodoo all the way to relatives in some other far away place.” Doughnuts get stale fast. They are not going to be delicious.

Portland has plenty of cool, unique, and much more delicious eateries. Get over the silly doughnuts already.

All that being said… of course I took Mike there. I had to. It was on the Travel Channel for goodness sakes! But I did privately laugh as the guy behind me kept saying, “I can’t believe I’m actually here!”

xo, jill

Ok, this post is a little late. But better late than never. With the presidential election coming up, I’ve been paying much closer attention to the news coming out of the US and thinking about my home country much more than usual. So I guess sharing about my Fourth of July is a little bit topical after all?

Anyways… it was my first Independence Day on American soil in a few years, so I was pretty excited. I headed over to my friends’ place for some good food and fireworks (Thanks, Ben and Stacy!).

I even brought along a little face paint to keep the spirit of last year’s celebration in Abu Dhabi. Plus, since I did this for Canada Day, I felt like I owed America a little something.

After the sun went down we were in the perfect location to watch the Oak’s Bottom firework show. Then we did a few of our own.

Personally, I stuck to sparklers. My dad trained me well regarding the dangers of shooting roman candles out of your hand. (Even if it does look pretty cool in pictures).

It was definitely a successful evening.

xo, jill

Awhile ago, Mike got me watching Northern Exposure. Remember it from the 90s? The young doctor from New York is sent to work off his school loans in the wilderness of Alaska. It didn’t hook me right away… but now I can say, I’m a fan. Probably a bigger fan than Mike. Whenever we settle in for some screen time, my vote is always for the little town of Cicely, Alaska.

Turns out… Cicely, Alaska is actually Roslyn, Washington. On our way back from Vancouver, BC we visited friends in Seattle, then headed an hour or so east to Roslyn. We couldn’t resist.

Even though Northern Exposure went off the air in 1995, Roslyn still looks pretty much the same.

The main filming locations are easy to spot, but we stopped in at Joel’s office (now a gift shop) and picked up a handwritten map of other points of interest.

We laughed at how many other tourists were out doing the same thing. The woman in the gift shop told us that people still come from all over the world to get a glimpse of Cicely/Roslyn.

It was definitely a fun way to spend an afternoon and worth the little detour.

xo, jill

Finally it was time for Mike to visit my little corner of the country. I was so excited to show him around that I don’t think my smile left my face the entire two weeks. I definitely annoyed him by saying, “Look at that! Isn’t it pretty?! You’re not looking!!” about a million times.

One of the first things we did was head to the Oregon Coast. 

First, we played on the beach near Haystack Rock. Mike wanted to surf but I suggested he go feel the water before making any decisions. Just as I suspected… he decided to forego surfing in favor of enjoying the sun. That water is chilly!

That evening we camped at Nehalem Bay campground.  We had a little picnic on the beach and watched the sun go down through the mist. There’s something really special about sleeping just yards away from the ocean.

The next morning we headed down to the Tillamook Cheese Factory because, I mean… it’s a cheese factory!

Then we hiked Neahkahnie Mountain hoping for a gorgeous view of the coastline. Instead, we got clouds! But it is a pretty neat feeling to be above the cloud line. Plus, the wind was blowing so the clouds were moving quickly all around us.

At the end of it all, Mike agreed that the Oregon Coast is a pretty amazing place. (Because it is!)

xo, jill