Pacific Northwest Road Trip
Flying to a destination, then going on a road trip from that point is very satisfying. A friend and I decided to do just that. Our road trip would consist of Seattle, Long Beach, Canon Beach and Portland. We flew into Seattle late on a Thursday so that we could get an early start in the morning. We settled into an Aibnb for an night’s rest before exploring the city.
On Friday, we woke up and went to Pike Place Market. I love this market! The fresh fruit and vegetables, flowers, Ellenos yogurt, LePanier Bakery, Beecher’s Cheese, views and atmosphere cannot be beat. It’s my favorite market in the United States and I enjoy coming here. We started the day with some yogurt from Ellenos (marionberry pie, coffee and mango), then we went to explore the market. We took pictures of the flowers, ogled the fruits and veggies, tried some chocolate covered cherries, meandered the stalls and took some pics of the first Starbucks. We waited in a brief line at Beecher’s for a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch then went to Le Panier for lots of french treats. We did another walk through of the market and took in the view of the Puget Sound.
After our fill at the market, we went to see the Space Needle and take a walk through the Chihuly Gardens. Chihuly is amazing, the gardens in Seattle are gorgeous. His work is stunning and even after a previous visit it was nice to see again. I would have no problems visiting again. After the visit to the Gardens, we rode the Monorail just for fun! We got off at the only stop and did some shopping then got back on and went back to the Space Needle.
Once we were finished we went to Kerry Park to watch the sunset over Seattle and the Puget Sound. The view of the city, Mount Ranier and the Sound was quite breathtaking. After the amazing sunset, we went to dinner and then ended the evening with an affogato at the Starbucks Reserve. No visit to Seattle is compete without a visit to a Starbucks, preferably the Reserve.
After a long day of sightseeing, we had a good nights rest in preparation of our road trip to Long Beach, Canon Beach with an end in Portland. We stopped at a rest stop on the way in Elma and enjoyed some Elleno yogurt and the treats we got at Le Panier. It was fantastic!
The drive was nice and we finally reached Long Beach in the early afternoon. We walked around the town and found a kite store and decided to fly a kite on the beach. You can drive on Long Beach which is quite fun! We spent an hour or so flying a kite and then continued our adventure to Canon Beach. We made it in time to watch the sunset and it was stunning!
After spending a bit of time in Canon Beach we went to Portland, checked into our Airbnb then went out to the Bollywood Theater for dinner. After dinner we stopped at Salt & Straw and it felt like we were hitting all of the Portland musts. The following day we went to Pittock Mansion, the view from the mansion grounds was great of Mount Hood and downtown Portland. We walked around for a bit and then headed to the Portland Saturday Market on the Willamette River. The market was nice and once we were finished we went to Sizzle Pie for lunch, stopped by Stumptown for a coffee and went to Saint Honoré for a treat. As far as Portland goes, I think we hit all of the must dos.
I was a little sad for this trip to end. Our day in Seattle was amazing, flying a kite on Long Beach is something I will never forget and the sunset at Canon Beach was breathtaking. I have decided Portland is not my favorite city, it was nice to do things I have not done on past visits. I would like to visit Seattle again, I would say it’s one of the best cities in the United States. But that’s just my opinion.
What do you think? Leave a comment below!