This post will feature one minor accident, one large failure, and one mega-success. We made a long day out of driving from Portland to Seattle but it was a lot of fun and a great way to spend our last, full-day in the Pacific Northwest. Most importantly we ended our night with our second (and greatest) AirBnB experience. Please enjoy some pictures of donuts, Bigfoots (Bigfeet?), and free flour.

Day 9 

One cannot go to Portland without going to Voodoo Donuts. It’s a local chain but probably the most well known donut shop in the area. Locals there are as serious with their donut preferences as Philadelphians are with their cheese steak recommendations. After all of the opinions we heard, we still had to go to the famous and classic Voodoo.

We had a lofty goal to make it to Mt. St. Helens. Heh, lofty, get it? We had word there was a lava tube we could explore from the past eruption. Unfortunately the weather was not with us. As you can see the higher we climbed, the worse it got. Finally we found a sign that roads ahead were closed. This was our major failure. We made it quite a ways just to be turned around.

The whole drive wasn’t a waste though. We were driving through the heart of Bigfoot country and Jen was vigilant with Sasquatching the road. Our first spot was this sign below. I’m not sure how I feel about Bigfoot these days. Our ideologies just don’t mesh.

We also got to drive out to an area that was flooded and partially destroyed when the volcano erupted years prior. They also had a Bigfoot statue, however the one I’m standing with was a replacement for the original pre-eruption Bigfoot. I love the angle that Jen snapped the picture at. It seriously looks like I’m going to be peed on by Bigfoot.

We later turned our attention from Bigfoot and moved on to little feet. Squirrels. More specifically the squirrels that use Nutty Narrows Bridge, “the world’s narrowest animal crossing.” It was created in 1963 by Amos Peters after he had witnessed too many squirrels run over for his liking. In 1983 it was taken down for repairs and rededicated with special guests Chip, Dale, and Mickey all the way from Disneyland.  We saw one squirrel up at the edge but no matter what we said or what noises we made, it never crossed.

The bridge is 60 feet long and cost $1,000 to build. It’s composed mainly of aluminum piping with a retired fire hose as the “roadway.” It still looks great after all of these years! Sadly Peters died in 1984 but the town honored him with a 10 ft squirrel sculpture. Jen honored him by making a squirrel pose.

So what was our mega-success? I got to go to the Ceder Creek Grist Mill for my free bag of flour!!! Jen would not let me miss the opportunity to go here, even with it’s limited hours and the bad weather. Everything about this place was great and totally lived up to the hype only someone like me would build up around a grist mill. The amazingly nice gentlemen inside took their time talking to us and showing us around. We watched a young man milling the grain, saw where the river water flows it to turn the wheel, etc. It was a lovely spot and with the heavy rain the creek was a beautiful but turbulent sight to take in. We have not baked with our bread and regular flours (we picked two different types) but we got them, and that’s all that matters.

Because they were such amazing and knowledgeable gentlemen, they all got a University of Delaware toothbrush. I have been spartan with them as I’m running out but I couldn’t possibly pass up giving them to these guys.

Tired as we were, I had to make one last stop before getting into Seattle. I felt my life would never be complete if I didn’t spar with an enormous corvid over a few equally enormous french fries. I love when I get to make an ass of myself right off highways.

Our last night’s sleep on the west coast was in a freaking tugboat. Airbnb is my new favorite way to look for lodging. I’ve found across the country you can stay in all sorts of weird places (Weiner-mobile, I’m coming for you!) and in Seattle we decided a tugboat was the way to go.

I wish we had time to enjoy it more, we didn’t even make it out onto the bow because of the weather. It would have been really cool if we could have taken it away from the dock. But I’m satisfied we got to stay in a very tiny, and for me, super cold tugboat.

Our flight home was a red-eye, so I have all sorts of amazing adventures to share of our last day before making our way to the airport! Continued again tomorrow!