But first, a teaser from Jen and Dave's beautiful Playa del Carmen wedding.

When Tony and I rolled into San Francisco late Thursday night we were pretty tired but excited.  Even the trip over was a bit adventurous, courtesy of a late day at work and our beloved Los Angeles traffic.  To make a long story short, we actually squeaked into a flight we were already resigned to missing. 

Tony was busy for part of Friday, so I wandered around the ferry building and took some pictures.  The weather was gorgeous, moody but dry, with patches of glorious sun.  A day wandering around San Francisco can look a little something like this.

   

Pacman on building windows and funny, toothy statues, how could I resist taking pictures?

me:  Tony, can you come a little closer please?  Ok.. good.  Can you tilt your head a little this way?  Make a face.

Tony:  Like this?

me:  Yes, perfect.  <click>

Tony:  What was that for?

me: ... nothing.

 

 

 

The man inside smiled and waved after he caught me snapping a shot.  Tony still thinks I am a stalker.  But don't leave doors open where I can peek inside them if you don't want your picture taken.

All in all, it was a pleasant (partially rainy) weekend around the Bay area filled with good friends and good food.  I got to see Kelly and Andrew's fabulous pad, tried to "read" a book to a toddler, and had my Hong Kong style food craving fulfilled.  On Sunday we boarded back onto the plane and bid adieu... for now. :) 

 
 

Stasia's mom likes to say that Stasia is a very equal opportunity baby, kiss one and she'll kiss them all (even stuffed animals are not exempted).  We very much loved hanging out with this little person and the rest of her awesome family.

More San Francisco pics to come soon!

The final leg of our trip was to Portland, Oregon.  The ride was quick and scenic, a slight detour takes you to the Mt. St. Helen's visitor center, but the volcano was shrouded in heavy fog during our visit.






Our first stop was at the lively Saturday market, one of the largest open-air crafts market in the US.  "Elephant ears" are massive, flat pieces of fried dough, ours was slathered with apple butter and cinnamon.



Yes, the weather would alternate between heavy wind, sunshine, and rain.  Hardy Portland natives just rolled with it, whereas I was constantly adding and removing layers of clothing.



That night we ate at Jake's Crawfish, which had the fattest, tastiest mussels I had ever eaten.  So often we eagerly pry open those black shells only to find tiny, wizened mussels clinging to the inside.  But it was certainly not the case this time.  I'm getting a little hungry just thinking about it.



My morning wakeup call in the form of an almond croissant and a mocha from Stumptown coffee. 



A few shots of Pittock Mansion, a chateau built by the Oregonian mogul Henry Pittock on the west hills of Portland.  Not a huge place, but richly detailed with lovely views downtown.  I saw an engagement session and a bridal shoot during the brief time I was there.  Popular. :)





I'm not quite sure if the toiletries are in keeping with the era, but I would greatly appreciate having some "fairy soap" that is "daintily scented."









Afterward, we entertained ourselves at Finnegans for some time.  Don't we look cool?





I was very tempted to buy this.



We really liked Portland City Grill for two reasons: (1) happy hour and (2) amazing views of the city.  We had the papaya, avocado, and cucumber stack, the dungeness crab & bay shrimp bruschetta, and the calamari (devoured too quickly and thus not pictured).



And for a snack?  As if we hadn't eaten enough, we stopped by a quirky little landmark, Voodoo doughnut, frequented by tourists and locals alike.  Previously I thought sweet and salty should be separate flavors, and never the twain shall meet.  But their bacon and maple doughnut cured me of that notion.





Three excellent reasons why I like OSHU (from left to right): (1) wonderful facilities, (2) amazing views of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens, and (3) they have their very own farmer's market.



In case you wanted to go to the Great Wall of China, this helpful post will point you the right way.  Or perhaps you'd like to go to Timbuktu?  Only 6,726 miles away...



Heading back home

Our drive started out as serenely as it could possibly be from Seattle.  It was my first time driving a car in the ferry as we took it across Pudget Sound to Bainbridge Island, a mere half hour away.





We watched Seattle disappear into the horizon.





I can't for the life of me remember the name of this bakery (a local Seattle bakery), but it was at the ferry cafeteria and it was surprisingly good.  Or perhaps I was just ravenous, I'm not quite sure.  This is a picture of my morning almond poppy seed muffin.



Nothing can quite capture the sheer breadth and vastness of the Olympic National Park.  Certainly not our short forays in nor my camera.  We took advantage of the excellent weather and drove up to hurricane ridge, which affords gorgeous views of the Olympic mountains, including the Carrie glacier.





We also did a short hike to Marymere falls.





Tony demonstrated his literal definition of the word "tree hugger" in this picture.



Our pitstop was at Forks, Washington.  If the name rings a bell then that means you've read (or watched) Twilight (you know who you are).  The town is crawling with Twilight paraphernalia, even shops are named after the book.  There are two camps to this, the ones who have embraced the teenie bopper phenomena and the ones who wish that they could rename their town.  Regardless, it's the only decent town at the halfway point between our hikes, so in Forks we stayed.



We made a brief pit stop at Rialto beach for "sunset," or what we could sort of see through the ever-changing layer of clouds.  The beach is littered with the bones of old trees, swept white and bare by the ocean.









I actually really liked our bed-and-breakfast, Miller Tree Inn.  When they have a little library with sections that say "innkeeper favorites" and "to trade or borrow," you know that it's a homey place.  And by constantly having a plate of fresh-baked goodies by the nook, they easily won over Tony.







Tony "posing" with the bear found in our room, pretending to read the copy of Twilight they left in our room.



People put pins on a gigantic world map, detailing where they are from.  The United States map looks like a pincushion.



Our entry into Hoh rainforest was slightly foreboding.  Pardon the drops of rain on the windshield.  The first bouts of rain came our way to the rainforest, which was oddly fitting. 


Hiking seven miles with chilly, periodic showers is a muddy affair.  However, the views were definitely worth it.