5th Annual Mother-Daughter Trip: The Recap

Warning! This entry will be a doozy, since I'm attempting to capture ALL of our vacation awesomeness in one post!

Day 1: Portland/Seattle
Not much to report here - we had an early evening flight into Portland International airport (PDX), then immediately drove up to Seattle for the next two days.  We attempted to find a place to grab at least one start-of-vacation beer, only to find the pub a few blocks from our hotel was closed (!) by the time we got there.  Boo.  We ended up getting one beer at Fado Irish Pub, but the place was insanely loud, so we decided to call it a night.

Day 2: Seattle
Day two began with heading to the Space Needle and surrounding attractions.  We got some great views of the city from atop the Space Needle, which we learned was built for the 1962 World's Fair.  Located just next to the Space Needle is the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit.  This is a beautiful, colored, blown glass exhibition featuring an outdoor "garden" and series of rooms inside.  Below is one picture of the exhibit (inside the glasshouse).

One thing I wished we would have had more time to see was the Seattle EMP Museum, which features a myriad of exhibits related to music, science fiction and pop culture.  They had special Nirvana collection, featuring tons of random memorabilia from the band.  I also never made time to visit the house where Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love lived during their time in Seattle.  Not really a major landmark, but I am a fan of both their bands, so I suppose it is kind of like the grunge version of Graceland.

After doing the tourist thing, we embarked on a pretty decent walk to Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, which is home to one of the Elysian Brewing Company pubs.  It also happens to be their main production brewery.  We had a few appetizers and of course a few rounds of beers, which Megan and I were both fans of the beer, and especially their new "Beers of the Apocalypse" series, which they started to coincide with the end of the world (according to the Mayan calendar).  We tried two of the beers at the pub and would later buy a bottle of another while in Portland.  I didn't find anything too special about the beers, but the idea and bottle artwork was memorable.

We finished up at Elysian and made our way to another famous destination in Seattle, the Pike Place Market, home to the original Starbucks location, as well as the Pike Place Fish Company.  We enjoyed dinner with Megan's cousin at the Pike Brewing Company, but we were disappointed by their average beer offerings.  For our nite cap, we finally made it to the Collins Pub, a mere 500 feet from out hotel and discovered they had a pretty good tap list, though not much to speak of in terms of atmosphere.  So, we downed a couple of beers, and called it a night.

Day 3: Seattle/Mt. Ranier National Park
For our last day in Seattle, we decided to see even more (natural) scenery by driving to Mt. Rainier National Park.  The drive was longer than we expected, so it ended up taking up the majority of our day, unfortunately.  At the park we went on a short hike along the Paradise River to see Carter Falls (below).  We then drove up to another part of the park known as Longmire to snap a few photos and grab a picnic lunch.  As you can see, the park was beautiful, and I can only imagine what some of the longer trails are like to hike.  Hopefully I'll make it back up this way soon.

Following our drive back to Seattle, we stopped at a few touristy spots - one being the famous 'Fremont Troll' (right) and Gasworks Park (right, below)

Feeling famished, we made our way to the Pyramid Brewing Company alehouse across from Safeco Field (home of the Seattle Mariners).  Megan and I split a sampler of beer and were glad to find they had a good lineup of beers outside of their flagship hefeweizen and apricot ale.

Day 4: Vancouver
The drive from Seattle to Vancouver was easy breezy, and we even got through customs in just a few minutes.  Since it was relatively early in the day, we got in some sightseeing/exploring at the Capilano Suspension Bridge park.  The Capilano Suspension bridge is apparently the longest and highest suspension bridge in the world.  They also had a cool, "cliff walk" experience where you walked along a narrow, curved platform that was suspended 30 feet away from the face of a cliff.

After the morning thrills, we ventured back into Vancouver and over to Granville Island to seek out Granville Island Brewing, as well as Dockside Brewing Company.  Granville Island was a nice spot, but they didn't serve anything more than snacks, and had a goofy 12 ounce rule, which meant we couldn't have any more than 12 ounces of beer per person (crazy, right?!).  Supposedly it is because of the way their business license was setup.  Dockside ended up being more of a restaurant than bar or taproom (and a bit pricey for lunch) so despite our efforts, we decided to go elsewhere for lunch.  We finally settled on Yaletown Brewing Company as our (late) lunch spot.  Good grub, good beer, so I couldn't complain! 

Later that night, Megan and I wandered out to find a local place to get a few drinks and ended up at a spot across from our hotel called Back Forty.  It was pretty dead, but then again it was a Monday, but we enjoyed our time, chatting up our bartender and having mugs full of Big Rock Brewing beer.  As you can see to the right, their beer mugs were pretty unique! 

Day 5: Vancouver
This day started off rainy and dreary, so we decided to stay indoors and visit the Vancouver Aquarium.  It has been many, many years since I've been to an aquarium, so it was kind of neat to view the various exhibits, especially the larger marine life - sea lions and sea otters, dolphins and beluga whales.  After visiting the aquarium we took a quick lap around Stanley Park then headed off to get some lunch at Steamworks Brewing Company.  Beer was good, and food was good, but expensive, as would seem to be the theme in Vancouver.  Fortunately *most* places took American dollars at an even exchange rate which made things much easier.

When dinner time rolled around, I wrangled the group into taking a long walk to a place that I read was the place in town to get authentic poutine, a Canadian culinary delight.  Apparently, poutine originated and is most popular in Montreal, but nonetheless, plenty of places in Vancouver peddled the dish.  Poutine is pretty simple - its basically french fries, covered in gravy and cheese curds.  Sounds delicious, right?  And it was!  Having fulfilled this craving, we ventured back to the hotel, where I considered stopping at Japadog, a Japanese style hotdog place, but I decided otherwise.

At night,  Megan and I decided we'd venture out for a "late night."  We bar hopped to three different places, all located in Vancouver's Gastown neighborhood.  The first was The Cambie, a sort of dive bar, which happened to be connected to a hostel of the same name.  I read it was a favorite spot for locals and known for having cheap beer (yay).  We indeed drank a few cheap beers then headed a few blocks away to Six Acres, a tiny gastropub with a small plate menu and extensive beer selection.  In keeping with our usual M.O. we ordered beers and snacks.  One of the beers we tried was a watermelon witbier, 'Seedspitter,' from a brand new brewery, Parallel 49.  Girly and fruity? Yes, but it was really tasty!  Our last stop of the evening was to a highly recommended pub, the Alibi Room.  Widely known for having the biggest and best taplist in town, we were not disappointed.  The atmosphere inside was dim, but like so many things in Vancouver, pretty hip.  I got a "frat bat" (sampler) of various Canadian brews, and can't say I didn't like a single one.  I wish we would have checked out this place sooner because it was my kind spot.  It reminded me of a larger Map Room.

Day 6: Vancouver
Our last day in Vancouver was (finally) sunny and fairly warm, so we decided to be adventurous once again and head to Grouse Mountain a nearby mountain resort/park.  While our moms opted to pay for entry to the park, which included a sky tram ride for getting to the top of the mountain, Megan and I took the challenge of doing the 'Grouse Grind' a steep 1.8 mile long trail to the top of Grouse Mountain.  It took us approximately an hour a a half, and we huffed and puffed most of the way!  Our reward was some pretty sweet views at the top (right) and only $10 for the sky tram ride back down.

Later, in keeping with our pact to take it easy before the long drive back to Portland, we had a chill night consisting of dinner at Back Forty, and then Megan and I stayed for one beer afterwards.  I also made a necessary stop at a drugstore to pick up some dill pickle flavored potato chips and some Canadian candy for the full Canadian culinary experience.

Overall, I was impressed by how diverse Vancouver was and couldn't escape just how "cool" of a town it felt like.  I wish I would have better prepared for how much more expensive food and drinks were, but luckily my credit card charges weren't as bad as I thought.

Day 7: Portland
By the time we arrived it was close to 3:30pm, so we were able to check into our hotel, nicely located in the heart of downtown Portland.  Megan and I convinced the moms to take a short hike across the Morrison Bridge to check out Hair of the Dog Brewing, a place we managed to miss on our previous visits.  The beers were worth the wait, albeit strong!

The original Voodoo doughnut

Beer sampler at Hair of the Dog

And of course, since we were in the neighborhood, we also dragged our moms to Cascade Barrel House to introduce them to the world of sour beers.  Much to our shagrin, they weren't really fans, but Megan and I certainly enjoyed our 3rd visit to Cascade.  Before getting dinner, we couldn't resist a stop at Voodoo Doughnut (especially when the line wasn't long).  We justified it as "dessert" and brought their famous pink box to dinner with us to Deschutes Brewing Company.  Megan and I had been to Deschutes before, but just for one beer, and the fact that the pub was family friendly and had more than just burgers and sandwiches, was something we thought might appeal to our moms.  I had some awesome mac and cheese with fennel sausage and opted for their "regular" sampler of beer, whereas Megan hand picked a few of their pub exclusives/limited releases.  Back at the hotel, we scarfed down one of our doughnuts and promptly passed out from a full day. 

Day 8: Portland
Much like we did for a day in Seattle, we ventured out of the city and towards Mt. Hood,  ending up in the quaint town of Hood River, about an hour away.  Hood River reminded me of Lake Geneva, but on a much cooler scale.  There were tons of little shops, coffee/bagel houses, restaurants and of course, beer! 
Megan and I were stoked to finally make it to Full Sail,  one of the larger Portland area breweries, as well as one we'd never heard of, Double Mountain.  I was impressed by both places, which had some really great beers.  At Full Sail, I was drawn to their Session Black Lager, and at Double Mountain, we all agreed that the Clusterf#ck single hop IPA was amazing. 

On our drive back to the city, we stopped off at a few scenic spots to snap photos, and once back in Portland, mowed down some delicious pizza from Sizzle Pie.  For our night out, Megan and I opted to check out The Commons Brewery, which we learned had just opened back in December.  The place was so small we almost walked right by it, but once inside, we were literally drinking IN the brewery (right).  Even though they were just starting out, they had some interesting styles of beers (including a sour) and all the beers we had were solid.  Just like with Cascade Barrel House from a few years ago, it felt pretty cool to have discovered this place early on, and I'm excited to see more from them.  We also hit up what is perhaps my favorite place for beer in Portland, the Green Dragon.  We ended up chatting with a few locals (including our bartender from back in October), munching on some snacks and ordering up a few sampler trays.  The favorite beers of the night for me were "Sweet Heat" by Burnside Brewing, as well as the Russian River "Supplication" (sour beer).

The night wouldn't have been complete without a late night snack after our walk back - I ate my bacon maple doughnut and Megan got some nachos from a food cart (I managed to help here a bit with those, too).

Day 9: Portland
We found out that Saturday was the annual Rose Festival parade, which apparently is a pretty big deal to the folks in Portland, as evidence by the closing of city streets and the large crowd that gathered to watch the action.  In addition to the parade, we also checked out the scene at Portland's Saturday market, which I likened to the Bucktown Art Fair, but on a slightly smaller scale.  There were various merchants selling crafts, apparel, food, etc. 

Around 11:30am, the four of us headed to the Portland Fruit Beer Festival at Burnside Brewing Company, which Megan and I had bought tickets for prior to the trip.  The fest started off well, with a small crowd, which made it easy to sample the 20+ brews available. 

Despite the "fruit beer" theme, there was quite a wide variety of beers represented from traditional to the more exotic.  As always, we identified a few hits and misses in our book.  Quite possibly my favorite beer I tried in Portland was not one featured at the festival, but one we tried the night before at the Green Dragon and again at Burnside Brewing Company in their pub.  It was actually an imperial version their Sweet Heat, an ale made with apricots and some type of chili peppers.  It was exactly as described, sweet then heat, but on a bigger scale than what we'd tried the night before.  If only they bottled it!


After seeing the crowd that had gathered, which made lines slightly unbearable, and seeing the moms had enough of their beer fill, we headed back to the hotel for some downtime.  For dinner, we decided this would be the night we sampled from the array of food trucks located within a few blocks of our hotel.  I opted for something slightly more exotic and got a great falafel sandwich, while my traveling companions opted for a cheap (yet excellent) Mexican food truck.  Back at the hotel, we chowed down our food, Megan and I finished a few of our stockpiled beers at our hotel, had a mini karaoke session, and hit the hay shortly after midnight.

Day 10: Portland/Home
We made one last trip to Voodoo Doughnut, where I picked up (another) bacon maple bar and an original glazed for my breakfast of champions.  We made it back to Chicago safe and sound, and although I really enjoyed our time in the Pacific Northwest, I'll always say, its nice to be home.  I couldn't ask for a better start to the summer with my best friend and our moms.  We even started planning our 2014 vacation, which more than likely, will mean a return to cruising the seas!

UP NEXT: I have approximately three weeks until my next major vacation, which is an epic two week long, cross country road trip with Megan.  We'll be making our way from Chicago to as far west as San Diego, with stops in Memphis, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park (Utah), and Las Vegas.  On our return leg, we'll spend time in Yosemite National Park (California), Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, and Omaha. Most of these places I've never been to, so it should be pretty exciting.