Road Trip 2014: Day 12

This was our last day in Portland. :( We were so sad and really really didn't want to leave. We got up really early so we could make a few stops before we met up with Darby and her husband for a photo shoot. I'd talked to Darby online and through our blogs a bit and we finally met in person the day of the Showbread show. Fletcher and I wanted some fun Portland photos from our trip plus we figured why not get some anniversary photos while we are at it. So, we hired Darby to photograph us at some very Oregon/Portland locations. 

Our first stop was the Pittock Mansion. I had heard the views were amazing so we decided to check it out since it was on our way to our other stops. It was well worth it. The view was stunning.

Hi Portland! We miss you!!! 

 Our next stop was Stumptown again to pick up some souvenirs and get 1 more nitro cold brew before we left. We ended up at the Stumptown next to Voodoo and since there was no line we decided to get donuts one more time before we left.

It was the day after Robin Williams passed and they had made this gigantic donut in memoriam of him.

Had to get some photos with the "Keep Portland Weird" wall. Duh! Then we headed down the block to Stumptown. Seriously, they are the nicest people ever. Long story short, I tried to pay with a visa gift card and my total was more than what the gift card had left so it locked up their system. It was frozen for at least 15 minutes while I sat there apologizing for being difficult and holding up the line and EVERYONE was so nice! The baristas were so nice and made sure to tell me it wasn't my fault it was a new system that wasn't 100% perfected yet and the customers behind me were so patient and hey, a few of them even got free drinks because of me. It was crazy. Each time the girl would ask the next person what they wanted and they said they didn't have cash she would tell them it was on the house and I kid you not every single person said they'd come back later and pay for it. SO NICE! Anyway, they finally got it all back up and running and we figured out my payment situation and they even gave me 2 free drink cards! I can see why Stumptown is the best. Not only do they have delicious coffee but they have the nicest employees. 

Next stop, Barista. We only stopped in here to grab a mug. The Barista shops are so nice. They look very sleek and modern but also very classy and sophisticated. Again, super nice employees too! 

There was a wall in the building where Barista was that had a bunch of clocks with different Portlands and the current time at each one. I snapped this photo because my brother lives in Portland, TX and it just so happened to be next to the Portland, OR one, where I'll probably live someday ;) 

After that we headed across the river and still had some time to spare before we met up with Darby so we decided to check out Coava. Darby's husband, Derrick, works at this Coava but he wasn't there that day since he was helping Darby with our shoot. 

We met up with them at Stumptown and cashed in our free drinks. Fletcher got a mocha which was the best mocha I've ever had. Then we snapped a few photos outside the coffee shop and then headed toward Multnomah Falls for the rest of the shoot. 

After we got to Multnomah and snapped a few photos before we decided it was waaaay too crowded we decided to go to another waterfall not too far away. On the way we stopped at this river overlook and took a photo of all four of us. New friends! YAY! :) 

I'm not sure exactly what the other waterfall was called. It was a pretty quick stop but super cool. You could walk right up to the falls. I can't imagine how beautiful all these places must be in the fall. Next time we will plan our trip right when the leaves change. 

We parted ways with Darby and Derrick and headed east. It was pretty sad having to leave. We will be back though. A little ways down the highway we saw a tree farm and Fletcher just had to turn around and take some pics. 

The closer to Idaho we got the flatter it got.

We were going to stop at Pendleton but we got there like 5 minutes after they closed. 

Road Trip 2014: Day 9

August 9 was the day we'd been waiting for. See, our original vacation was supposed to be the first 2 weeks of September so we could celebrate our anniversary but our favorite band, Showbread, had announced they would be doing a reunion show on August 9 with the original line up that was on their first big record. Of course, we had to be there. Not only are they our favorite band but in the past ten years we've become friends with most of them and so seeing all of those guys again that we hadn't seen in years was pretty exciting. Fletcher and I had gone to a Showbread show in the first couple of months we had been dating. It was one of the first shows we went to together and as you probably already know we even got engaged on stage with them. We'd been looking forward to this show since the day it was announced. It seemed like it was meant to be that we go because we had the exact same trip already planned we just had to move it up a month. So, fast forward back to the day of the show and we were in Portland! It was a little surreal because we have never been that far away from home before and we'd never been on a real road trip together. On top of that, we were a little amazed that we had saved enough money to afford it! But we did and we were there. It was crazy! So, we spent the morning walking around with our friends we were staying with, Ronald and Hannah and their adorable son, Shane. We went to the Saturday market and had lunch which was sadly not very good. Then they headed back home and we explored the city some more on our own.

We got to experience Stumptown for the first time. We have ordered their coffee a few times before and had it shipped but being that we'd never been to Portland we'd never been in a shop. I got the cold brew coffee and milk and Fletcher got a nitro cold brew. Basically, it's a cold brew that comes out of a tap like beer. It makes it really thick and creamy and delicious. More on that later. 

This pretty much sums up Fletcher & Ronald's friendship. Goofy. 

We happened to pass by a Whole Foods while we were walking around and it just so happened to be sample day. Score! It was local sample day at that. So, all of the samples were from local (PNW) places. We tried most of them. We had mini quesadillas (adorable!) and tried kombucha for the first time. It was pretty exciting. Not to mention it was a huge store!

After our sample extravaganza we went to meet another friend for coffee and then head to the concert. We had met her at numerous shows before since she worked at one of the venues we frequented (and got engaged at ;) ) and she was in town for the show too. 

If you don't know who Showbread is then let me tell you a little about them. They are crazy! The first time we saw them play was at a really small venue in Joplin, MO. At the time they had 7 members...7! There are 8 people in the photos above because they brought back all the original members from the album they were celebrating, No Sir, Nihilism is Not Practical, and they currently have 3 permanent members. One of which is not from the original line up but everyone got to participate. But yeah, back to the crazy. Imagine 7 people on a small stage just going nuts. That's Showbread. During this 10 year anniversary show I sat in the balcony with one of their wives and I could feel the floor moving. They had to ask everyone to calm down in the audience and stop jumping because the floor almost caved in. Just FYI we were in a church, not a concert venue. Ha! It was an awesome show. Fletcher stayed on the floor while I was safe in the balcony from the ridiculously excited crowd. It was so great seeing an audience for Showbread that was so excited and were genuine fans. In the past few years I've been to some Showbread shows where there is hardly anyone there. I literally watched one show where there were like 5 people in the audience and 2 of them were my friends. This was the whole reason for moving our trip up a month and it was very much worth it. I'm so glad we made it and got to see that line up again.