Posting from Portland: The PNW

Mt. Rainier, at last!

Found some Lawrentians in Seattle! 

Yes, we are standing in front of a wall covered in used gum. 

Yes, it is gross.

First Starbucks Store. 

Tried the Cubano shot (espresso pressed with sugar).

mmmm.

Marie made a bouquet for the bus!

Met up with Annie and Erica & Family for 3 fantastic days. 

Erica's husband works closely with Brush pickers who invited us over for a Cambodian feast! 

(The nuances of this industry are incredible. Our host, Sun, and Craig were featured on a PBS special along with Nalini Nadkarni that you can find here) 

Next day Erica sent us off to Climb Mt. Ellinor in Olympic Nat'l Forest.

We met some mountain goats.

photo credit: Doug, thanks!

The hike is short but the altitude gain is 3,000 ft in 2.5 miles.

Summit elevation: 5944

This little guy was waiting to greet us at the top. 

These super bold chipmunks mooch off hikers who forget their lunches in favor of the awesome views.

Fellow hikers, Doug and Tom.

At the summit.

A sweet panoramic view from the summit from Doug's iphone.

Spent an afternoon lounging at the beach on the peninsula side of Puget Sound. 

Saw a needle fish and tons of tiny crabs!

Met the folks at Avery's Air Cooled in Woodland, WA 

and got a tour of the performance case manufacturing and machine shop. 

Ask Brandon for the nerdy details.

On the real life Oregon Trail you stop at Ikea for supplies. 

Unfortunately they were all out of spare wagon tongues.

Calfee Bamboo bike at West End Bikes in downtown Portland, coolest city on earth.

Oh, hi there Powell's.

How many books can kate fit in the bus?

(Answer: Not nearly enough)

Met up for a Portland Dojo session with Max.

Max sent us to Multnomah Falls this morning.

Now we're at Stumptown Coffee in Portland. Seriously the best coffee on this trip so far (and I think it's safe to say, the best coffee we'll find for the rest of the route). 

It will be sad to part with this sweet, sweet little city but the Redwoods await...