Hello everyone!
Since we cannot foresee us traveling on another North American road-trip anytime in the near future, we have decided not to renew this domain name.
All of our old posts can be located at jackpriscillaamerica.wordpress.com
I will continue to write about any future travels on my new blog, Priscilla In The World.
Thank you for following us on our journey.
Driving down the Pacific Coast Highway is exhilarating and vertigo inducing. On a cloudy day the Pacific Ocean is replaced with a thick blanket of clouds and we saw the tops of them as we were making our way south towards Redwood National Forest.
Mendocino allows medical marijuana use and personal growth of the herb within people’s homes. The county smells faintly of the plant, especially near the public library which sets a strange ambiance. The entire county seems to have a haze over it, and I’m not sure if that’s because of the thick fog that rolls off the ocean, or because of the perpetual daze the locals seem to be in.
My favorite part of driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, besides the crystal blue ocean smacking up against the sandy grey cliff-sides, is the random farms which reside near it. Cows standing idly against the ocean is not something you see everyday and it offers a new perspective on ranching and farming.
Redwood National Park is magnificent to say in the least. I remember being in elementary school and learning about Redwoods being some of the largest in the world and I idolized them looking in awe at glossy textbook images. It was a dream come true to find myself walking through the forest, craning my neck to see the tops of the trees and smelling the salt from the ocean drifting in on a cool summer breeze. We took a ten mile hike through the forest occasionally splashing in the river and ending at the beach where we ate some peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and watched two elk grazing.
After our hike we stopped in Trinidad, California where we had some really tasty sandwiches at Catch Cafe. We also got to sample some vegan gumbo which was delisicous! That night we decided to camp in one of California’s state parks. Because of recent budget issues CA state parks increased to $35/night (after the summer peak season!) and most barely offer any amenities. We had some rude camp neighbors who decided to party all night and keep us up until 5:30 in the morning. Luckily Jack flagged down a park ranger in the morning we got our money back for the evening. The noisy neighbors got kicked out of the park and a fine for being loud. Justice was a fabulous side dish to our cereal.
*If planning to stay at Richard Grove State Park realize that you are going to pay a lot of money on camping for limited amenities and an unmonitored campsite. It’s more worth it in our opinion to pay $5 extra and get a hotel room!
Portland is a simply laid out city with a prodigious Vegan community. Large amounts of bikers battle for riding space on the streets among the cars. Despite the fact that there are so many bikers, only a small portion of downtown (from what we saw) offered an actual bike lane. The city is currently experimenting traffic flow with bike lanes.
We spent one night in Portland and went to the all Vegan Pub, Bye & Bye for some local beer and Vegan meatball subs before crashing for the night. In the morning we headed to the Columbia Gorge where large narrow waterfalls are prominent.
Afterwards we headed to downtown to Powells Bookstore “the worlds largest independent bookstore” where we browsed the used and new sections across multiple floors. We walked casually around downtown, pausing for a Gelato for Jack and stopping to take pictures of Portlandia, The Goddess of Commerce statue emerging from the Michael Graves’ building.
In the late afternoon we headed to Montinore Vinyards…one of my favorite wineries. They are a small family operated biodynamic and organic vineyard located in the heart of the Willamette Valley. Their flights are only five dollars and we were given generous amounts of wine for the selections we picked. After sampling some very tasty wines (the region is known for their Pinot Noirs, which Jack sampled) we sat on the balcony over looking the vineyard, each with our respective glasses and the picnic we brought consisting of, pepper crackers, olives, and local organic sheeps milk cheese. While the staff was nice, friendly, and knowledgeable, our favorite staff member was Miss. Kitty – the wineries cat, who sat with us throughout our meal.
That evening we went to Beverly Beach State Park to camp across from the ocean, in a very well kept state campground that had *gasp* showers! We took a walk along the ocean front watching dogs catching frisbees at dusk before calling it a night and heading to Northern California the next day.
Oregon is gorgeous and offers great beaches and camping as well as a low key downtown life in Portland.
As you’ve seen it’s been a while since our last post. The west coast is filled with amazing things to do, whether it be exploring one of its many waterfront cities or getting acquainted with the vast outdoors – there are few limitations, if any.
We were lucky in Seattle to have some clear skies and warm weather so we could take advantage of all that the city has to offer. We started our first morning by going to Pike Place Market to check out the world renowned scene. The market offered fresh seafood, artisan cheese, produce and flowers among other goods such as pastries and gourmet pastas. We were brave enough to try some interesting jams, such as black pepper pomegranate and ginger. We picked up some locally made goods; champagne grapes, a rustic baguette and chevre and walked along the waterfront to the sculpture garden where we ate a deliciously simple lunch in the shadow of the gardens largest sculpture.
Pike Place Market
Lunch after Pike
Afterwards we walked to the Seattle Center which hosts the Space Needle. Hopping on the cities only Monorail we passed through part of the Experience Music Project Museum and ended up near Pioneer Town, the oldest part of the city. Pioneer Town was completely burnt down in an early 1900’s fire but has been rebuilt according to the architecture of the day. We walked through China Town, which was surprisingly very small and almost unnoticeable where we found refuge from the glaring west coast sun in a small asian garden.
Space Needle on a Rarely Clear Day
In the evening we headed to Cafe Flora somewhat on the outskirts of downtown where I was personally very excited to go! Cafe Flora has been mentioned numerous times in my favorite magazine, Vegetarian Times, and has won vast amounts of awards from vegetarians and food critics throughout. The food was nothing short of perfect and we made sure to give the chef our compliments before leaving. We started out the meal with a lentil pate platter which included locally baked croccantini, caper berries, caramelized red onion confit, and assorted olives. Our entrees were as equally creative and tasty. I had the wild mushroom tartlet baked with goat cheese and sweet onions, topped with a green bean salad in a shallot djion dressing and a huckleberry current sauce. It was perfect combination of spicy, sweet, and sour. Jack had the Polenta dish which was served with onions, peas, and cherries in a balsamic port reduction with cambazola cheese. Dessert was also wonderful. I had the vegan chocolate mouse topped with fresh blackberries and Jack had the blackberry ice-cream, which unfortunately was not vegan. Out of all of the many places I have been which offer vegetarian food (and I’ve been to dozens and dozens) I would highly recommend Cafe Flora above all others.
Lentil Pate Platter at Cafe Flora
Our last day in Seattle we went to the Porchlight Cafe while we were getting the car serviced. The cafe was simple and offered good coffees and Mighty O Donuts which are also famous world-wide amongst vegans for their large menu of Vegan and Organic Donuts. They were by far the BEST donuts we have ever had! Fluffly, rich but not too dense and topped with just the right amount of glaze or topping. Thankfully they also sell them at Whole Foods and other local organic eateries. Mighty O and Cafe Flora alone are enough to make me visit Seattle again!
Seattle was a nice town which was vegetarian friendly but it lacked that certain something that would make me move there. I will definitely be back for a visit again, if only for the food.