Roadtrip to California - Day 1

Brian and I woke up at 3:30am on Saturday morning. Falling asleep wasn't easy, we had people at the house for some beers and chatting the night before. I woke up with a slight hangover but after a cold shower, it slowly faded away. We loaded up the car and hit the road by 4:10am. We drove straight to Portland, were we stopped at Albina Press for coffee and a delicious best ever huckleberry scone. Albina must have been open for only minutes since it was barely after 7am. The barista was so nice and excited to hear about our trip. She has only been in Portland for a year now but shared her enthusiasm for us visiting California (Cali transplant) for the first time. I feel like everyday I'm reminded at how rad Portland is. After Portland, we drove to Eugene, Oregon. Officially the most south we have ever been! We celebrated in the car by playing tunes loudly. Afterward, we stopped at a grocery store for camping food and lunch, realizing that Eugene would be the biggest city we would see for a really long time.

We headed for Florence, OR via Hwy 101. The drive included the beautiful countryside of Oregon and much of it's breathtaking coast line. Florence was great. It's a small coastal town that heeds some of the largest sand dunes in North America. Supposedly many dunes have been recorded to be around 300 feet tall (which I realize now are about as tall as the giant redwood trees Brian and I would see later). We paid $12 to hop into a dune buggy and ride around on these gigantic sand dunes. There were a ton of people riding the dunes, many on quads and motorcross bikes, far larger than the dunes Brian and I braved.

After an hour in the buggy, we hopped back in the car towards Del Norte Coast State Park. Our destination was still another 3 hrs away and by this time we have been driving for about 11hrs so we were really ready to get to camp and chill out. Finding the campsite was simple. We set up camp about an hour before sunset, made a fire, ate some chili, and drank some tecates. No bears sightings at this camp but they did have bear boxes. The air was moist and chilly but we fell asleep rather easily after such a long day of traveling. I woke up at 4am with the urge to use the bathroom but I was not getting up by myself to walk to the bathrooms alone in bear country were no bears have been sighted in some time but I get a feeling I will see the first in a while. So I fell back asleep...

i want to rock!

The Memorial Day weekend was fantastic! Brian and I checked out those movies on Friday night and wow! The Edge of Heaven was an incredibly, gorgeous and somber movie. I’m so glad we were able to squeeze that movie into our already very full evening. The Wrecking Crew was good too but cheesy at times. A bunch of old men talking about “the good ol’ days” so after awhile you begin to realize that these stories have been told more than 50 times in their lifetime. The facts I learned in that movie were astonishing though. I can’t believe how many song that band of session players recorded/made. Pink Panther theme, Batman and Robin, Captain and Tenille, Sonny and Cher, the entire Pet Sounds record, The Ronettes…the list goes on. At one point, we were driving around in Portland with the oldies station blasting in the car and at least 8 songs in a row played that were all by the Wrecking Crew.

Portland was so nice as always. Saturday’s weather was perfect for lounging in the park. We met Dan and Vanessa at Pine State and took our food to go. We walked to a park and sat under a huge tree. I think Vik and Charisse were pleasantly happy with their biscuit meal. Afterwards, we headed to the Saturday Market where I found a really cute bag but for $85! So I decided that instead of purchasing it I would try to make it. After the market we headed to the park by Dan and Vanessa’s and played bocce, drank beers, and headed to Re-run for thrifty finds. That evening we ate at a delicious bbq joint called Dixie…I don’t remember. The clouds rolled in and the weather got shitty really quick. We eventually got caught in an insane thunder and lighting rain storm and had to run all the way home. It was intense and scary and of course everyone was laughing at me because I kept screaming every time there was lightning or thunder.

On Sunday, we drove to Haystack Rock at Canon Beach with Dan and Vanessa. The drive out was relaxing. We stopped at Camp 18 for breakfast and a few “viewpoints” for pictures. Vanessa took most of the pictures but I did take this one. Later in the evening, we rode our bikes to a bar, it was closed, then to another bar on the other side of town. Portland is ridiculously flat. I can’t believe I can ride around on my 3-speed and only used the hardest gear the entire time!

Monday was thrift store bonanza! I stocked up on lots of goodies for mine and Charisse’s booth at the Fremont Market. Opening day for Fake Banana is June 22nd. I also bought a sweet, 60’s Danish modern ottoman for $3.99. Wow! After thrifting we headed to Fabric Depot and purchased all the materials for my bag that I’m making (i.e. bag I’m copying). Everything was 30% off and I bought some cute Strawberry Shortcake fabric so that I can make a sun dress for Marisa.

Brian won some last minute tickets to the Red Sox v Mariners game. Can you believe the Mariners are the worst team in baseball? Wait, don’t answer that question. Okay, how about this…can you believe they won last night? Wow! I’m their lucky charm. It was a lovely evening at the ballpark. I just hope I don’t stink of garlic from those damn garlic fries!

*portland update

the train ride to portland on saturday morning was spectacular. it snowed all the way down to olympia. vanessa picked me up from the station. we were both hungry so she took to me to a biscuit joint! pine state biscuits was like no other place i have been to. i ordered "the reggie" biscuit...it's a biscuit cut into half topped with mushroom gravy, bacon, a piece of fried chicken and cheese. it's like KFC's bowls but organic and on a biscuit. oh yes!


me at pine state biscuits

afterwards, we headed to fabric depot, which was by far the best fabric store i have been to. 30% off fabric, notions, etc. vanessa said that on some days store inventory could be 40% off.
i bought materials to make place mats and a skirt.

our day was long but we were able to hit up all the places we wanted to check out. knitten kitten, where we bought buttons, needles, and window shop their amazing collection of vintage fabrics. afterwards, we bought more coffee, ingredients for bloody marys, and cupcakes.

we finally got home and started our projects. vanessa kindly taught me how to use her beautiful new sewing machine and showed me a couple of executing techniques that helped my projects looks pro. thank you vanessa!


vanessa made us matching rings and coat pendants

i made a skirt (my first real skirt!)

a set of reversible place mats. the idea of the place mats was so that i can sell them at my booth at the fremont market this summer but the oil canvas and laminated cotton was just a little to expensive to make a ton. they still are gorgeous. oh well, instead i'm giving them to friends as a house warming present. finally! welcome to the city, vik & charisse!

the whole weekend was wonderful. we listened to lots of records and started off with many projects and very little time. i can't believe we did everything we wanted to. next time i'm in portland we are silk screening.

i got back late last night. i'm feeling under the weather today so pho is in order as soon as i finish here. i hope i didn't catch dan's dengue fever. ; )