Visiting old and new friends
Astoria
On a sunny Friday evening we cross the border from Washington to Oregon and meet Gary and Teresa in their Beachhouse in Astoria. In the summer of 2005, I was allowed to spend six weeks with them in a language course, and a friendship has developed that continues to this day. Normally they live in Hillsboro, 150km away. But they often spend the weekends here on the coast in Astoria and bought a holiday home for this purpose a few years ago, where we are now warmly welcomed.
There is a lot to tell and we spend a relaxed weekend with the two of them and their four-legged companion Chalk. Both have to work again on Monday (work ... what?!), but leave us the key to the house, which we enjoy for a whole week. Every day a hot shower, quiet nights and a kitchen where Mathias' cooking skills are unlimited. Life is great!
We don't just use the week to relax, but also take the time to organize a "Purge". This means that the whole car will be completely cleared out, all items that we don't need will be disposed of, the remaining items will be stowed away in an optimized way and some minor service work will be carried out.
Punctually, on our last day in Astoria, I put the last things back in the car, while Mathias just finishes lubricating with nipples (nothing naughty).
The evaluation of the Purge shows: We still have about 1000 objects in our car - 939, to be exact.
Dayton
From Astoria we drive directly to Dayton, a small village a little further south. But not without stopping in Tillamook at the largest cheese factory in the world (Merci Urs for the info!) The process of cheese production is clearly explained and you can follow every step from production to packaging live from a glazed bridge. There is a small but subtle difference to cheese production in Switzerland. Here a colouring agent is added to each batch, which is responsible for the typical orange colour, without which the Amis would probably not taste the cheese 😉
In Dayton we spend a weekend with Melissa and John, whose invitation we have accepted to visit them for a few days at John's parents' winery. We met them in August in Glacier National Park and have been in contact with them ever since. John's parents produce their own wine (Siltstone), which we can taste plenty of and we are also spoiled with many other delicacies. At the exquisite address "Soter" we enjoy an excellent Vine Tasting at the end.
Hillsboro / Portland
When we drive into Hillsboro, it feels a little like coming home to me. Not only did I spend my language stay here, but as children we also visited my aunt and her family here a few times when they were still living here.
We stay for quite a while...
We meet my girlfriend Ali as often as possible and make a few trips for three, eat the best Mac n'Cheese of our lives with Esther and Greg and are introduced to the secrets of whisky by Walter and Kevin.
Me and Mathias explore Portland on our own by doing the "4T Trail". From the zoo we hike a two-hour trail to Oregon Health and Science University. There we take the tram down to the city, from where the trolley (=tram, as we understand it) takes us to the center. After visiting the Chinese Garden, we have lunch at the Dechutes Brewery. The Elkburger gets a 6 with an exclamation mark. Afterwards we have dessert at "Voodoo Doughnuts", which does the Keep Portland weird slogan all credit.
Since one is equal to none, we order three of these sweet delicacies. While biting into it, I briefly ask myself whether our travel planning makes sense in terms of figures and whether we shouldn't have started in South America. If we come to Mexico after all the burgers and donuts with Vamos a la playa and so on ... no matter. The train brings us back to the zoo in the evening, where our car is parked.