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Published: October 6th 2012
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The Road Trip Traverse
How ironic is that name? So the day started off a little slow - our rental car wasn't ready but fortunately Hertz and Five Star Gold Membership got us an upgrade to a Chevy Traverse for less than what we were originally quoted - yes, Virginia, there is a Santa! We met up with Tim one more time in Issaquah at the Salmon Hatchery (I believe there is an underground movement to convince us Southerners that Salmon is Good Food...) The hatchery was pretty interesting and definitely worth seeing if you are interested. I had no idea that salmon return to their home river to spawn - check out the pics!
From there, we headed to Bellevue because Sweetie, being sweet, read about a Chinese Dumpling place that only has 2 locations in the United States. Din Tai Fung was located in the MicroSoft Building so once we found some parking, AHole became Mr. Sweetie and sprinted off in search of the dumplings. He did not disappoint!!! We had Spicy Pork and Shrimp along with another recommended pork and shrimp dumpling box. They come 10 to an order and they are tasty - well worth the side trip to Bellevue.
The road trip officially
Issaquah Shell Station
AHole thought restaurant, Sweetie became AHole and said "NO" began when we hopped on I-5 South. We made it through Tacoma without a hitch and then hit Portland whose traffic makes Atlanta's look like child's play. Spirits still high, we then headed West to McMinnville and the Willamette Valley Wine Country. What seemed like a day later (99W is a horrible place to be - just a warning), we arrived in McMinnville which is a really great town. Tim suggested the Hotel Oregon for our stay and it was a good choice. Owned by the McMenamin Group (they own hotels/inns, pubs and music venues), the building was built in 1905 and had various lives before being bought and renovated by McMenamins. We scored a Queen room with private bath - this, too, was European style but we could actually be in the bathroom together in this one (not that that is optimal, mind you!). We stayed in The Hannas Room - #307 and it was named after the couple from the 50s who ran the music club in the old hotel, The Paragon Room. Check out the pics of the room painting - the entire hotel is decorated with this type of painting and cool music/concert posters. Plus, there
is a UFO theme in honor of the spotting of a UFO in the 50s.
After taking our luggage to the room, we climbed up to the Roof Top bar - the highest point in the county. Sadly, missed the sunset by less than 5 minutes but got to enjoy the view and shake off (almost) the 99W drive. McMenamin's has a brewery, winery and I think a distillery - all things to make stopping there a quick decision. We ended up going downstairs to grab a light dinner and a bottle of Adelsheimer Pinot Noir - again, Tim knows his stuff. This was an excellent wine and the winery is only 25 minutes from the hotel. We split a Montelsanti Pizza with argula, bresalota, pepperoncinis, mozzarella and other cured meat. It was excellent and a good way to end the night. Sadly, it was not even 10pm - we're sticking to the story that we're on EST and not old...
Tomorrow is wineries and the Oregon coast - oh, and by the way, the weather is still amazing. Liars, liars, liars...
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