Seattle and Portland

Hello!

I’m going to backtrack a little here and talk about our brief time in the upper northwest.  This was our first time up there and while we weren’t there for incredibly long, Jamie and I really enjoyed Seattle and would love to go back.  We started our stay with the Burkhart’s cousin, Laura.  She lives about 20 minutes outside the city in a really lovely little neighborhood and rather close to a hospital.  Which, at this point in the story, is important because we needed to take a trip to the Emergency room as Jamie had pulled a muscle in his neck and ibuprofen wasn’t working anymore.  As soon as we arrive, we scoot back off to the hospital to get Jamie’s some drugs.  25 minutes later we are out and looking for a pharmacy.   After the quickest emergency room visit ever we forgot that pharmacies take some time so when we realized that it would take an hour to get the meds we set off in search of an early dinner.  All this background is just to say that we were driving around in Laura’s area and noticed that every sign seemed to be written in Korean. There was Hanguel everywhere!  So we stopped to have Korean and just about died of excitement. They had EVERYTHING on the menu and it was all absolutely delicious!  When we got back to Laura’s house were were so excited about the Korea town that we started talking about Jimjilbangs (Korean Spas) and we all decide to go to one!  It was very traditional and even had a little restaurant where Jamie ordered OFF MENU because the man was so thrilled that he knew the Korean names of the soups. 

Jimjilbang! 

MMM! 

Holloway Manor 

OKOKOK. We were in Seattle and I’ve already written to much about just one day because we were so thrilled to have a Korean experience!! 

The next day we went to a Mariners/Braves game at SafeCo Field which was lots of fun and Jamie’s first experience in a baseball stadium that wasn’t Fenway.   Uncommonly, the weather was bright and sunny which we were mildly disappointed in because the stadium has a retractable dome and we wanted to see it in action. 

When we left Laura’s house we went to stay with our Ice friend Trevor.   It was our five year anniversary so Trevor came out with us for a fun day of Canoeing in the bay, eating Thai at this awesome little delicious hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Thom Thai,  a walk through the UW campus, saw the troll under the bridge, played pinball at Add-a-ball and then went over to Card Kingdom to eat dinner and play boardgames.

The troll under the bridge

Card Kingdom 

At Trevor's House

The next day we went off to see our friends from Korea, Kelly and Kristin.  We met up at a food truck festival and then they took us to watch the sunset and have a fire on the beach.  It was a marvelous evening with tequila and chatting and good times.   The next morning, we had breakfast in their garden before heading out to Portland. 

Kelly and Kristin

PORTLAND!! 

We got to Portland that evening but needed some time to kill before meeting up with our friend Matt Petrie so we went to the Test Rose Garden. Just smell walking up to this garden was stellar.   It has over 10,000 roses.  Most of them are tried and true but they do have some beds of “test roses” roses that are not available for commercial use yet.  

Test Rose Garden 

After the Test Rose Garden we went to meet our friend Matt and he took us to three awesome places.

Dinner at MCMenamins- Kennedy School 

The Kennedy school is an awesome old structure that wasn’t being used. The McMenamins bought it and turned it into a restaurant, art hall, hotel and movie theater. The inside still looks just like the school. They haven’t changed the layout very much.   It was super fun to wander around to all the rooms as each has it own character and feel.  I really enjoyed eating here and wish we and more time to explore it. 

Dessert at the Salt and Straw 

Next we went to an ice cream place that had a line down the block.   As we approached the counter I decided I didn’t care how long the line was. I was going to try all of their ridiculous ice creams!  I tried:  Bone Marrow and Bourbon Smoke Cherry,  Pear and Gorgonzola, Olive Oil, and a salted caramel.   I decided on Olive Oil and a Salted Caramel.  Surprisingly delicious.

After dinner Entertainment: a Barcade called GroundKontrol

Exactly what it says it is.  A Bar Acrade.  Jamie and Matt went and I stayed back and relaxed.    Jamie said it was awesome and all the games had drink holders on the side.

The next morning we were heading down the coast to California. 

Our brief impressions of the Pacific Northwest: GREAT! We’d love to get back there. 

Dad Keller in Memphis

Hello!

Not only do I love a good roadtrip, but my Dad does too.   He left MA on September 6th on his way out to visit his brother in Albuquerque and seeing as how we were going to cross paths he stopped in at Memphis to visit.   This was well timed as he arrived on my birthday and was able to come out to dinner with us.
I was expecting him to need to hit the road early the next morning but as he's not pressed for time he stayed the next day and we went to do a little sightseeing.

We started our day with, you guessed it, a meal! We went down to Beale street and had a BBQ lunch at the Blues City Cafe. We ordered the platter to share: a half-rack, a catfish filet, coleslaw, baked beans, french fries and texas toast.  At Matthew's recommendation we also ordered the Beef Stew. Everything was good.  Not over the top awesome, but tasty.  The ribs were tender, the coleslaw tasted fresh and the beans were cooked with peppers-a unique flavor.  The atmosphere, however, was festive and fun.

After lunch we wandered around Beale street be-bopping in and out of all the tourist shops selling Elvis tee-shirts, shot glasses with drinking slogans on them, bedazzled hats, "My aunt went to Memphis and all I got was this lousy shirt" shirts.   You know the store.   We went into a music store owned by Clyde Hopkins, The "Godfather of Blues".   He was standing outside saying hello to people and inviting them in.  I linked someone else's video of it. 

After wandering the half block of Beale street we got hungry and wandered into a store with an ice cream parlor where we got Milk Shakes, ice cream and root beer floats. While sitting there I convinced them of the excitement to be had at the Peabody hotel and we wandered over there next.

Peabody Ducks and the DuckMaster

                                                             














The Peabody Hotel is home to the Peabody Ducks.  The Ducks live in the hotel lobby fountain.  The attending DuckMaster (not kidding) brings the ducks down in the elevator every day at 11am and then brings them back up at 5pm.  They roll out a red carpet, play a loud orchestral number with trumpets and drums and march the ducks out with as much pomp and circumstance as possible.  The DuckMaster then hovers around the fountain all day making sure people don't poke or harass the ducks.  I chatted with him and this is what I learned:  The ducks are wild.  They come from a farm outside of the city. The owner puts out feed to lure wild ducks down and from the ducks that come he picks out the ones that are around 1 year old and seem to have the right temperament. He trims their right wing and brings them to the Peabody.  The work there for about 90 days and then he brings them a fresh batch of ducks and takes the other ones away to be released.  He tags their legs so they won't get accidentally chosen a second time.   Fascinating.