Portland to Palmdale in a Day (And Other Recent Adventures)

This blog is starting to feel like a travel blog. It's not. It just so happens that I did the lion's share of my summer traveling in the past week and half, and had some cool experiences along the way :-). Yesterday, I completed the longest single-day drive of my life: from Portland, OR to Palmdale, CA- 15 hours, 950 miles, and (luckily) three drivers. It's definitely not something I'd recommend that you do often, nor was it as bad as I thought it would be. Good conversation and some hilaaaaarious (any Louis C.K. fans out there?) comedy albums to fill the silence made it completely...bearable.

The 952 miles did not take us 16 and a half hours to drive...but it still tested our patience, perseverance, and ability to withstand the odor of three people crammed into one car for the duration of their waking hours.

We were returning from a long-anticipated trip to Oregon for the nuptials of two of our favorite people in the whole entire universe, Jon and Jessica. Maybe part of the reason the drive was so bearable was that we were still coming down from the high of such a relaxing and fun trip. You all would hate me if I tried to include all of the details of our trip ("Not ANOTHER novel from this chick," you'd think to yourself, rolling your eyes and quickly closing your browser window), so I'll just describe the highlights and hopefully make you want to make the long, but beautiful, journey to the Pacific Northwest yourself.

The Drive There

The view right outside the door of our little road-side motel room in Dunsmuir, CA (please don't mind my finger ;-)).

Israel and I were alone for the drive up the 5 (yes, THE 5- not I-5, not Highway 5, not just 5, you non-Southern Californian weirdos!), as our third companion, my big brother, Eric, flew up to meet us. We had two days to get from Southern California to Portland, so our pace going there was more leisurely than the return. On our first day, we drove from Palmdale to the quaint little mountain town (as all mountain towns are, at least in my experience of having grown up in one) of Dunsmuir, CA. Here, my dream of finding a relatively cheap roadside motel with awesome views and nearby culinary destinations came true. The Dunsmuir Inn & Suites was nestled right among all of the redwoods that surround Mt. Shasta. AND less than half of a mile away there turned out to be a local microbrewery, Dunsmuir Brewery Works, with delicious food, their own IPA, and cherry-pie made from scratch with cherries grown on a tree right next door! A quick one-night stay over turned out to be a detour worth making again :-).

Fresh-baked cherry pie a la mode at Dunsmuir Brewery Works.

McMenamins Edgefield


After our surprisingly pleasant and relaxing night in Dunsmuir, we hopped back onto the 5, weaved our way through the remainder of the Northern California redwoods, and crossed the border into Oregon. Though Dunsmuir was a hoot, we were now headed toward our REAL destination: Edgefield.

We pulled off the 5 and went on a mini-hike to get this picture of the "Oregon Welcomes You" sign with the endearing green paint splatter.

McMenamins Edgefield is a wonderland for fine beer-wine-liquor-tots-and/or-greenery-loving adults. Allow me to explain. First of all, by tots, I mean tater, not two-year-olds. And by tots, I mean AMAZING! NOT Napoleon Dynamite lunchroom-looking tots. Oh, no. These are a fried potato delicacy, offered in both plain and cajun styles. I could write a whole blog post just about these tots, so I should just stop there. The beer-wine-liquor component is easily explained by the fact that Edgefield has its own brewery, distillery, and winery ON SITE- fine beverages and the source is literally feet away. As for the greenery, a few simple pictures of the grounds speak for themselves.

The garden on site at Edgefield, which provides some of the vegetables used in Edgefield's restaurants.

Greenery defined. Just gorgeous.

Just chillin' with my glass of Black Rabbit Red...

Edgefield, like other McMenimins locations, has a rich history and backstory to its property. This particular location was first established as a poor farm near the turn of the century (1911), then became a nursing home after WWII. It spent the 1980's abandoned and derelict, until it was purchased by McMenamins in 1990, and the conversion into the beautiful property we get to enjoy today began. Among all of this rich history, beautiful scenery, hearty food, home-made libations, and loving friends and family, our good friends exchanged their vows, and I cried- A LOT. Luckily, they were happy tears, and the wedding and days surrounding it (during which we were lucky enough to get to stay at Edgefield) were a blast.

The quirky artwork inside the main building tells the history of the property.

The winery is located in the basement and has a cozy yet creepy vibe, if such a thing is possible. Oh yeah, legend has it that the building is haunted. This is the only place that makes me think it might be...but it's still cool :-)

Portland


Between all of the wedding festivities, we managed to squeeze in a day in Portland. Not being well-seasoned hipsters, we decided to stay in the downtown area, which boasts what I think is one of the coolest attractions in Portland: Powell's City of Books. This place is ridiculous- it takes up a whole city block and has color-coded rooms to direct you to what you're looking for BECAUSE IT'S THAT BIG. Jackpot Records and EM (Everyday Music) are also worth checking out if you're vinyl collector, which Israel recently became. We ended the night at a bar/club called Dixie's, which reminded me of the places I used to party at in San Diego when I turned 21. This is good because it allowed me to reminisce and dance as I have not done in a while; it was bad because I realized how old I am getting when I was kind of annoyed that I couldn't carry on a decent conversation because of how damn loud it was. A late-night stop at Dante's Pizza helped clear my ears and fill my stomach, but I only got to stare longingly at Voodoo Donuts, as the line was way too long to stand in at 1a.m. Next time, Voodoo. Next time.

Didn't get a picture myself, so I had to borrow this blurry one from Powell's website. Source: http://www.powells.com/locations/powells-city-of-books/

Oregonian Suburbia 


My cousin, Fatemeh, was kind enough to open her home to us on our last night in Oregon- and what a gorgeous home it was. It was built into a hill among the famous and ubiquitous Oregon pine trees, of which you got THE most spectacular view from the large (like, floor to ceiling large) window of her family room. A walk around the neighborhood, including down a lovely trail about 500 feet from her house, had me convinced that this is where I want to live. Israel thinks that I couldn't handle it because of all of the rain. I love this man to death, but sometimes I wonder if he knows me but at all!

Feeling like a kid again in the Oregon suburbs :-)

Portland to Palmdale in a Day...


The saddest part of any fun trip is saying goodbye. We woke up early on our last day in Oregon to say goodbye to Fatemeh and her lovely family, and off we embarked on the part we had all been dreading: the 15 hour drive home. We split it into three 5 hour shifts, with Israel, the morning person, going first, me, the NON- morning person, going second, and my brother, the brave person, going last. Probably the highlight of the trip was that, after years of making that drive up the 5, we FINALLY stopped at Santa Nella for the "World Famous Pea Soup." It was good. The cheese and bacon helped. Certainly beat our other options of Carl's Jr. and Taco Bell. The other highlight was finally seeing the lights of the Antelope Valley on my right as we approached it on the 138. Much as I pine (haha, get it? Me so clever!) for a home like Oregon, right now this place is my home- and I was relieved to be back.

So here I sit, with honey on my face (will write a post about that soon!) and memories in my heart, feeling lucky that I have the opportunity to make little journeys like this one and fantastic friends and family to make them fun. Thanks for reading. I hope that you'll consider checking these places out if you ever find yourself on the same path I did, and let me know about experiences you've had if you've already been there!

ALBUM OF THE TRIP: Louis C.K., Hilarious. Sometimes people suck, and this man is a GENIUS at making fun of the reasons why. So funny that we listened to it on the way there AND the way back.

"Hey, I got a cup, in case we need another cup."
"Dude, you're a GENIUS."
- Louis C.K., Hilarious