20140616 | West Coast Trip Part I: Coast Express

Click to skip to West Coast Trip Part II or West Coast Trip Part III
For most of my life, I had the bizarre idea that the West Coast consisted of California, and that was it.  I had also thought that "Norcal" was pretty close to the northern most point of California. Little did I know, I was way off, and it would take another four hours to get to the California / Oregon border!  The photos below are my attempt to document our trip up and down the entire west coast.
The first leg of our trip took us from San Diego, CA to Concorde, CA.  We made a stop  in San Ramon to meet up with some friends and stop by Zachary's for some amazing pizza.
After dinner, we made a quick stop in Walnut Creek, CA - our main main goal was for Cream, but took a quick walk around the little town!
Not really sure of the story behind this, but we obviously couldn't resist...
Yum. warm cookies and ice cream!




Saw this awesome sign at a bar!


Turned around and snapped this.. kinda awesome!

The sign for the Anthropologie right next to where we parked


After a good night's sleep, we left bright and early (well.. not too early.. but as soon as breakfast was served...) for the second leg to Halsey, OR to spend the night.
After a quick shopping stop in Medford, OR, we continued on our way to Eugene, OR to take a look at the University of Oregon for its track history.










Creeper...


We didn't feel like eating fast food in the city, but didn't really have a choice to eat in Halsey, as it is pretty much a hotel off the freeway with a small restaurant.  We glanced at the GPS screen and saw that there was a cafe off another exit before the hotel, and decided to give it a try.
It's an unassuming little cafe inside with mostly truckers having a quick meal, but the food was pretty good (think stuffed meatloaf on an open faced sandwich) - especially after nine hours of driving, with half of a subway footlong for lunch!


The trees lining the onramp next to our hotel - it was LITERALLY beside the freeway, but the soundproofing was good, and we actually weren't disturbed by the noise from the road!


Our third day was a much shorter drive, about four or five hours from Halsey, OR through Portland, OR and into Seattle, WA.  After finding parking, we visited the EMP Museum.  Here is one of their main pieces of art.  Apparently, a select few of the many instruments are automated and can robotically play music, but we didn't get to see this in action when we were there.




Couldn't resist...


They also had a large exhibit of Lego models of famous buildings!




Just going to town with the 35mm f/1.8...




Our fist view of the Space Needle!


We had gotten tickets for the Space Needle and the Chihuly exhibit, but we read that the exhibit was the best after the sun set, so we took a walk by the waterfront.




He's enjoying the chrome pipes a bit much...




There was a little mall / food court area by the Space Needle, and this little shop only sold pies!


Here's a meat pie


YUM.


And an apple pi(e)!


The indoor portion of the Chihuly exhibit!














The blue edge of this bowl is pretty interesting..






Since the sun apparently sets after 9pm in Seattle, we decided to go up the space needle!












The obligatory selfie!


Yup.


Don't mind us.. we're just being dorks...


After looking around the top of the needle, we went back to the Chihuly exhibit to see it at night!


The next seven are all chandeliers in a walkway leading to the outdoor part of the Chihuly exhibit.


















Now for the amazing part of the Chihuly exhibit - the outdoor garden at twilight


Space Needle with glass


The room that would be amazing to have a formal / dance / prom type thing in...




JUST.

LOOK.

AT.


THIS.

AMAZING.


ROOM!


Another view of the space needle!


MORE SELFIE TIME!


That pretty much summed the first three days of our trip!  Stay tuned for the next two parts!
Click to continue on to West Coast Trip Part II or to skip to West Coast Trip Part III