Day 9 | Eugene to Portland to Seattle
Again we needed to pack up to travel for the day. Eugene was quite nice with its student population and a couple of big Walmarts. First there was an included breakfast so after showering we went down. Packaged Danish's, bread and waffles for toasting was accompanied by cereal, coffee and tea down at reception. There was also orange and apple juice in the chilling machine. Angus couldn’t get it to work and asked the attendant. "Oh, we turn that off at nine", “Oh, why’s that?” “Breakfast finishes then” Oops, looks at watch and realises its 9.10am - we didn't know when it finished.
Going next door at the service station Angus went to fill up and the service guy came over and said that it was against the law for him to do that and he would be pleased to do it. After the pump clicked off we paid at the pump, which is unusual. Pity he didn't quite fill it up. Still, a bit strange that it should be against the law.
Then we had a browse through the Best Buy which is an electrical outlet store. General observations were that it they were really helpful and all the laundry appliances seemed massive and curved.
Stopping in at Eugene we walked around the farmers market. Everyone was friendly and we got a bite to eat at the food stalls as breakfast was a little minimalist. We sat at the big communal table after being invited by some people who saw us looking for a place to sit. Very thoughtful. All the hippies and all the students in Eugene make for a great creative environment with fantastic crafts and personalities. Even Angus trying to work out what to do with the rubbish got into a discussion with someone as to what rubbish went into which of the three options. Lovely people. Next to the market place was a 'free speech’ square and seemingly quite a few homeless people. It was just a bonus that the carpark was free for the Saturday.
Also in Eugene is a Voodoo donut bakery. The quirky bakery was busy with a queue to the door but the guy was keeping things moving. There were some standouts from our sample pack including the maple bacon, the blueberry and even the ‘plain’ was delicious.
Then off to Portland about two hours north. Oregon is a gorgeous looking. It had been drizzling since we left Eugene but as we came into Portland is started to clear up. We drove around looking for a park and couldn’t find anything on the street so went into a pay and display type park. Just as we were going to pay for the ticket a lady yelled out ‘hey you guys, have you paid yet, we are leaving and it’s outrageous to charge $7 for a Saturday so please take our ticket’. Wow we can’t get over the caring spirit we have shown so far.
When we came into town we came across a square surrounded by different food trucks including Thai, Indian, Mexican, Turkish, etc. We wandered around the block looking at all the stalls and picked out some lunch. It was great mingling with the trendy crowd that was the Portland afternoon crowd.
As we left Portland and Oregon to go north to Seattle the rain carried on for the whole three hours and at times was very heavy traffic was also busy.
The Roosevelt in Seattle is very central. After checking in we had a quick dinner at the Daily Grill. What a day for eating.
Night Y’all.
Accommodation
The Roosevelt Hotel
Really lovely hotel, nice older features, smallish room but comfy bed and staff were great. Our rating 8/10
1531 7th Ave, Seattle, United States