Seattle to Portland, Sept. 27-Oct.4
LET’S TRAVEL! Radio reached land on the U.S. side on Monday, Sept. 27, arriving from the San Juan Islands on aboard the 10:50am Washington State
Ferry to Anacortes, Washington at 1:20pm.
For our second week in our Far West adventure we elected to travel by car and settled on a spanking new Suzuki Kizashi, a four-door sedan that had six speeds in manual drive. The car performed beautifully for us the next seven days. In fact, it averaged better than 30mpg on the highway. Its luxury appointments served our comfort well.
From Anacortes we drove to the town of MUKILTEO and ferried to CLINTON, Washington, an easy 30 minute drive to SEATTLE.
Our first stop was the Pike Place Market, world famous for the freshest seafood imaginable. It’s served throughout the market seven days-a-week. We choose both the clam and salmon chowders with warm crusty bread. The price for a hearty small-sized bowl was only $4.95. A bargain
for us. And we shopped the market
from an assortment of jams and jellies to take back.They were priced right,too.
As for our ” road flyer ” we harbored it at a veteran B&B named oddly enough the Bacon Mansion, which rested inside the city’s precincts. it was a short ride to the market aboard the #30 bus from where we stayed. For this we wish to thank Ms.Cheryl Rasch of the Washington State Tourism Bureau and Ms.Jacqueline Cartier from the Bellingham CVB for guiding us through.
SEATTLE has much to offer. As foodies, though we stuck to our instincts. reason enough to first hit upon the Pike
Place Market. You will not be disappointed. For info on this 100 place
or to take a tour call toll free: 888.98.SAVOR.
A 2 1/2 ride on Rte. 5 South and Rte.410 South through Mt. Ranier National Park, part of the Cascade Mountain range we witnessed an extraordinary vista of the tallest timber lines we’ve ever seen. Truly magical, pristine and silent. This took us YAKIMA, the nation’s capital for beer hops production. Sure enough our B&B there known as “the Manor” was actually situated on a 40 acre hop farm. This prompted us to visit the American Hop Museum in Toppenish, a western town on Rte 97 and Rte.22 South, a 30 minute drive from Yakima. The town also houses both the Northern Pacific Railway Museum and the Yakima National Museum, a tribute to its Indian culture. Both are open daily. Toppenish is the state’s major site for western murals which adorn many of the early 19th century buildings in their center.
And since the state is well known for wine grapes we traveled along the Columbia River to White Salmon, a two hour drive away for a night’s stay.
Our B&B, Husum Riverside, offered us a sumptuous home-made breakfast consisting of fritatta and fresh fruit.
And from here we were able to discover the state’s emerging wine industry for the next two days before pushing over to the Oregon side of the river from the Dalles where we found a B&B at the last minute in the Mt. Hood area. Appropriately named the Mt. Hood B&B and it directly faced the Mt. Hood snow-capped mountain, only seven miles in front of us. We finally had a cabin all to ourselves. Not only was this in the middle of Oregon’s wine country it was the fruit farm capital of the state and one of the largest in the country. Needless to say we took the “Fruit-Loop” tour and the Mt. Hood Railway tour the very next day.This three hour train ride using vintage railway cars was a real treat. It traveled through most of the foresty areas of the region. Wow! We have many pictures to prove it.
Our next stop was Portland, known for its beers and great food, and the more than 300 “food carts” line the city’s streets every day during the work week. But getting there was only part of our adventure. Taking the historic route, Rte. 30, after Rte.84 West, the major artery to the city, we visited the falls area where the second highest falls in North America is located. That’s Multnomah Falls, a colossal drop of more than 600′. Last year nearly two million visitors came to see it. No wonder. Two other falls nearby, Bridal Veil and Wahkeenah, are also worth seeing. All three are located off Rte.30 on the Historic Columbia River Highway which in fact is the old Lewis & Clark road and the start point of the Columbia River Gorge from the West.
Finally, Portland. To get our bearing we met up with Marcus Hibdon, the city’s communications manager. He gave us a map and we followed it. With only several days left before flying back to New York we tried to cover all the bases. First stop was Old Town, a restored complex in the downtown area where the Sunday marketplace is held.
Lots of inventive food dishes here from the numerous ethnic suppliers like Vietnames, Indian, Italian, Mexican, Indonesian, Chinese, and more. A must stop was the Japanese Garden, a five-and-one-half acre site that was created in 1963. It has been proclaimed as “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan.” They’re actually five gardens in one, one to please each of your senses.
The garden is open year ’round. Another interesting site we found was the Oregon Zoo.It too is open year ’round and is located on 64 acres. We favored Zoo Train which takes you through all parts of the zoo in less than 30 minutes before stopping at Cascade Grill and the AfriCafe where the best tea and coffee are served. Both are signature for the city as are anything chocolate and
beer. Both properties are within the area known as Washington Park. The International Rose Test Garden, the World of Forestry Center and the Hoyt Aboretum are all within walking distance.
Public transit gets you there from downtown. For more info on these go to www.washingtonparkpdx.org or call the city’s tourism department at 503-275.9700 or www.travelportland.com.
Our final night in Portland was memorable also in that we found a
unique B&B in the nearby town of
Milwaukie. A restored mansion on three acres, the Sands of Time B&B was only 30 minutes by public transit to downtown Portland. Both Al and Terry,
the proprietors we felt did a superb job of restoring the property.
Our last act of grace was finding the drop-off point for our Suzuki Kizashi that stood us so well, which we did with so little time to spare before our overnight flight to New York.
Our wish was that we might return to ateast some of the areas we visited in our long two-week excursion to the Far West to rediscover all the wonderful places we found along the way.
Michael Zufolo and Susi Raphael
LET’S TRAVEL! Radio
