Jul 18, 2013

Once we left the Not a Crack House headquarters for the last time we headed to a little place downtown where we got two-for-one parfaits for breakfast. We sat in the car deciding what we'd do with the day while we ate. I needed to get cash so I went to a grocery store where an employee suggested I buy one grape to use the cash back option. I did so, and it cost 2 cents and I got my cash. Brilliant. It was a delicious grape too.

Joanna dropped me off downtown with my bike and she headed off on her own for the day. I biked down by the river and decided I'd like to go for a run. I ran along the river and over a few of the bridges and back, completing about 3.5 miles total. I absolutely love running here. There is something great about it. The scenery and the atmosphere are just great.

I headed a few blocks down to Rock Bottom Brewery for a bite and a flight. They had quite a few tasty beers, including their Belgian White which was fantastically refreshing after a run, and the Imperial Smoked Red Ale, which is just a hearty and full-flavored beer. I got some snacks and talked to the guy next to me at the bar for a long time. He travels down to Portland for work and comes into the bar all the time. He was a really nice guy, and we talked for a long time about traveling and beer tasting. It was a great bar experience.

I hopped back on my back and went for a short ride over the bridge and down the path a bit until I found a nice bench in the shade of a bridge overhead. I enjoyed lounging on the bench, bobbing on the floating dock with the waves from passing boats. I watched Orange is the New Black on my phone for a while until Joanna called to meet up a couple miles away.

When we were reunited in a mall parking garage, I affixed the bike to the car and we moved on to Portobello Restaurant. We sat at the bar for quicker seating and perused the menu. I ended up going with a pizza and a lemonade because that just sounded perfect at the moment. Joanna got some tasty fried balls in marinara sauce that we shared. Everything we had was fantastic. I even took some pizza to go.

Before leaving the area we dropped by Voodoo Doughnut for some fine vegan treats. We got a few tasty pastries for the road and headed up to Mt. Rainier National Park. We got there late and had to drive through all the campground loops before finding and open space. There was a cone there so we weren't sure if we were supposed to stay at the site, but we did it anyway.