// see Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 here //

This is the last of the road trip posts. I know it’s been awhile since the previous post, and even longer since the actual trip, and at this point you’re probably like didn’t this trip happen months ago, and are we on Part 15 now or something, but I’ve been thinking – perhaps I’ve been subconsciously stretching it out on purpose. Because perhaps I don’t want the reliving of this trip to end.

Our final stop was Seattle. We spent three days there and were so fortunate to find the sunny weather had followed us all the way up the coast. (Quite literally… it started raining the day we left!) We had some of the best food of the trip {most seen below}, including Via Tribunali which is — prepare yourself — quite possibly the BEST PIZZA I HAVE EVER EATEN. (Things to ponder when considering the weight of that statement: a) I’ve tried the pizzas from the birth country of pizza, b) I regularly order large pizzas, by myself, and then finish them all, I DIDN’T SAY I WAS PROUD, c) my boyfriend sometimes claims my brain is probably in the shape of a pizza.) In all seriousness, probably the best meal of the trip, and Barrie and I still compare all subsequent pizzas we’ve had to those.

The non-food highlight was most definitely our impromptu visit to the University of Washington, thanks to a tip from a Seattle-based friend. He told us that the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and were not to be missed. I’ve seen pretty amazing cherry blossom spectacles while in Japan, but I have to say, I think this might have been even more impressive. The campus was blanketed in these pink blooms and it was just at that perfect time when they were starting to fall, creating mini pink flurries everywhere we walked.

And then it was the last day of the trip. We woke up early, returned our little rental car at the Seattle airport, and flew back down to Long Beach. It’s a bit surreal how perfectly everything came together. The memories we were able to make.

10 days. 1,550 miles driven. 7 cities visited. 100,000 calories consumed.

And one person, just the one, who makes my heart very very happy.

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day 8, 9, 10 – seattle

Pike’s Place – Seattle, WA

Beecher’s, Seattle, WA – They claim to have the world’s best mac and cheese, and they’re probably right.

Piroshky Piroshky, Seattle, WA – We were supposed to get a “snack” and I ended up buying 4. Enough said.

Toulouse Petit – Seattle, WA

// see Part 1 and Part 2 here //

The Oregon coast is something pretty amazing. It is dotted with small towns all the way up, each a little different from the one before. We crossed the Cali-Oregon border when it was sunset, and got to our destination {the lovely little town of Bandon} after dark. When we awoke and peeked out our hotel balcony, that first photo is what greeted us – crisp air, beautiful weather, blue ocean, a quaint coastal town.

We wandered into the town center for brunch and fueled up on gyros and pastrami sandwiches, which would give us energy for all the running up and down sand dunes we’d be doing later. Yes! THE SAND DUNES!! They follow you for a large portion of the coast and are pretty much the coolest thing ever – they’re tall and blindingly white, and it’s just like playing in the snow, except without that whole cold and wet factor.

And then, PORTLAND! As was the plan for this entire trip, we ate some delicious things, and then ate some more. This city also always proves to be a feast for the camera – lovely bright beautiful things seriously everywhere you look. It almost makes me sad that after this there is just one more stop on the trip, and one more post after this one, but for now enjoy Oregon. She was beautiful and so very good to us :)

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day 5, 6, & 7 – bandon | portland

Driftwood Beach, OR

Tasty n Sons – Portland, OR

Ace Hotel – Portland, CA

Voodoo Donuts – Portland, OR

Multnomah Falls – Portland, OR

// see Part 1 here //

Every day for the first half of the road trip, we would wake up and be like, IT’S ONLY THE THIRD DAY! or IT’S ONLY THE FOURTH DAY! It was so exciting to think that with all the amazing things we had seen so far, there was still more of the coast, and Portland, and Seattle, in the days to come.

We initially wanted to spend 2 nights in San Francisco, a city we both love to pieces, but when planning the trip realized we could only spend one. So we squished all the zillion places we wanted to eat at into less than 24 hours, and it was MARVELOUS. And because that wasn’t enough, at the end of it all I started craving cheese, so we picked up some of the best cheese I’ve ever had (Beecher’s!) at the Ferry Building, that served as our snack on our drive up to Fort Bragg (a stop we put on the map just for North Coast Brewery).

The last leg of California was the redwoods – one of the things I was most looking forward to. I pretty much wouldn’t shut up about how I wanted to see the HUGE GIANT TREES THAT YOU CAN DRIVE YOUR CAR THROUGH OMG. We did get suckered into one touristy version of those, which was actually a pretty small tree, and therefore was really nervewracking and stressful to drive through (“turn your mirrors in!”). But Barrie got a trucker hat at the gift shop, and I picked up some vintage-inspired postcards, and we still laugh and reminisce about the Chandelier Tree, and like many of the things on the trip I realize – it wasn’t the big landmark things per say, it was the random unexpected moments that made it all so beautiful :)

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day 3 & 4 – san francisco | fort bragg | avenue of the giants

Ike’s, San Francisco, CA – This is where we got the infamous Kryptonite sandwich, which includes (WAIT FOR IT): roast beef, pastrami, salami, turkey, bacon, ham, mozzarella sticks, stuffed jalapeno poppers, beer battered onion rings, avocado, pepper jack, and pesto spread. When Barrie first told me about it, I swore he was lying, and was just naming everything I like in one sandwich to entice me to go there (not that he’d have to because I LOVE ANY AND ALL SANDWICHES! THINGS BETWEEN BREAD FTW!) And I have to say, even though all those things are delicious on their own, I was a bit skeptical about throwing them all together and having it be too much of one good thing. And then I realized, what does that even mean?? OF COURSE IT WAS DELICIOUS.

Morning – Fort Bragg, CA

Avenue of the Giants, CA

Up next – into Oregon! :)