Blanca Lake hike, Mariner's game, and Portland for 2 days!

I've got a lot of things to cover, so this entry won't be written with a lot of attention on style or syntax, haha. I apologize in advance!

So with our friend coming into town, we had a very eventful week here in the Pacific Northwest.

First, an awesome BBQ on the roof during the afternoon, and I made a middle eastern style spice and honey marinade for the tender lamb kabobs. We also grilled some of the balsamic marinated artichokes as well as some bell peppers and onions along with some intensely garlicky herbed mashed potatoes from scratch.

The following day was quite the experience ... we decided to try our hand at hiking the Lake Blanca trail in the Cascade Mountains of central Washington. It was only a 3 mile hike, but the elevation gain was around 2700 within those 3 miles. Needless to say, it was STEEP and my legs were burning.

Stevens Pass highway on the way to Blanca Lake ... this highway is closed during the winter due to snow. The beautiful peaks are appearing!

Our ZipCar totally covered in dirt ... little Subaru Impreza all-wheel-drive hatchback did a great job on the dirt roads through the forest!

Immediately, you can see how steep the trail became right from the start. It seemed like for every foot forward, we gained 1/2 foot which is quite a steep climb!

I was hoping to see some huckleberries and at the lower elevations there weren't any. However, as we climbed higher up they appeared everywhere!!

One of MANY breaks along the hike ... my heart was pounding so fast so I had to really slow down.

As we climbed higher up, the trees began to thin out a little bit. I believe this is Kyes Peak, but I could be wrong

Now, along the ridge of the mountain, we can see all around. This is about 3 hours into the hike, and I believe that's glacier peak in the distance. Beautiful.

Reaching Virgin Lake means now we begin the steep 600ft muddy descent to Blanca Lake ... still not done

My huckleberry collection and wild raspberries along the trail too! Eating these for energy saved my life!

FINALLY made it to Blanca Lake ... aquamarine lake fed by the glacier up in the distance. Freezing cold water, but I found a friend:

The hike TO the lake was brutal enough, but it was having to hike all the way back out that was the toughest part. Having not eaten breakfast (yeah, I know .. REALLY bad idea), I was nearly about to faint. With lots of mental support from Ian and P., and a ton of breaks, we eventually made it out alive. This really was the toughest hike I've ever done, but in the end we completed it :). Next time I'll be better prepared with LOTS of food and water! For now I'm content in the city, but maybe we'll try it again sometime ;-)

The following day, we took it easy with some early afternoon dim sum in the International District, and a fun trip to Safeco Field for my first ever Mariner's baseball game.

All about Ichiro down here!

View of Alki Point from Safeco Field

Despite not being a huge sports fan, I had a lot of fun at the game. I liked being able to walk around the field and see what was going on from different angles.

After resting up, we took the Amtrak Cascades train down to Portland, Oregon!

Portland's Union Station is much prettier and better maintained than Seattle's King Street Station. Seattle is repairing its train station, so hopefully it will look quite grand eventually, too.

A cool pedestrian bridge over the station to some waterfront condos

After a wonderful breakfast in the Pearl district, we stumbled upon this "Art in the Pearl" festival. Streets were closed down and lots of different crafts and food vendors were out.

Our hotel, The Inn at Northrup Station, was right on the streetcar line and we had free streetcar tickets included with our stay. The Portland Streetcar, combined with the MAX light rail throughout the city all contribute to a very pleasant car-free journey around town. All of downtown Portland is a "free ride" zone for any of the rail transit

The streetcars, made in the Czech Republic, were clean, quiet, roomy, and very efficient.

One of the older red-line MAX light rail trains running through downtown

A newer yellow-line MAX light rail set running through downtown

We need more of these ... streets closed to cars, but open to public transit and pedestrians

Pioneer Courthouse Square, downtown

Pioneer Courthouse

Lots of bridges over the Willamette River running through Portland

Love this color :-)

Stopped for dinner at the Moroccan restaurant (Marrakesh) next to our little hotel. They had bellydancing  during dinner

Our meal was banquet-style with 5 courses. After washing our hands at the table, sitting on beautiful leather poofs, we started with a chilled eggplant salad with bread and lentil soup, then came P'stilla (chicken, raisins, almonds, and egg inside of a phyllo dough package and topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon), then our entrees (various tagines - mentioned in my last blog post), and finally with some almond pudding and of course, Moroccan mint tea. It was really fun and delicious!

The next morning we took the MAX light rail to Washington Park where we then took a small train through the mountaintop park to the International Rose Test Garden

Portland supposedly has some of the best conditions for growing roses, and many varieties of roses from around the world are tested here

My cool "sap dripping down the tree" pic ;-)

That afternoon, we also checked out Portland's food cart scene. Tons of little trucks and stands all around town provide some of the best lunch deals! I had a Bosnian pita from Ziba's Pitas. Instead of a mediterranean style pita that most people are familiar with, Bosnian pita is actually some kind of filling which is rolled between dough into what looks like a cinnamon roll. It was delicious! I had a spinach pita with a side of Cufta (meatballs with garlic sauce). Ian had some of the most delicious fish and chips I've seen. I hope Seattle loosens up its land-use laws to accommodate more food carts - they bring so much more vibrant life into various parts of the city.

Tanner Springs Park ... a cool new marshland park, completely self-sustaining. Rainwater is fed back into the pond which waters the marsh and filters itself. This is in the newly redeveloped, pedestrian-focused Pearl District with lots of cute condos around and the streetcar running through.

And with that we headed back in the late afternoon back towards the train station ... killing some time along the Willamette River waterfront. Portland is the 2nd largest shipper of wheat in the world, so this huge ship must have been filling up on grain

Harvesting some delicious, ripe wild blackberries along the river

On the way back to Washington along the Puget Sound by Amtrak

Took the Amtrak Coast Starlight back to Seattle:

http://www.northamericanhighways.co.uk/images%5Cpackages%5C74-1.jpg

 This train runs from Los Angeles all the way up to Seattle - double decker with sleeping rooms, a movie theater, full-service dining car, and even a video game arcade! It was slower than the Amtrak Cascades since it is much bigger and loading/unloading takes longer, but the seats were very comfortable, and roomy. I might take this down to San Francisco (even though it takes 24 hrs) someday - train travel is so much more relaxing than airports and planes.

As far as my impressions of Portland go, it was a really fun trip. The city has small blocks, so it was very pedestrian-friendly. It's definitely much smaller than Seattle and I was disappointed that restaurants and shops closed quite early but then again, we did go on Labor Day weekend. If I ever had to live in Portland, I wouldn't mind at all - it was clean, tranquil, and very pleasant. Still, I'm happy here in Seattle with lots to do and the energy of the bustle which Portland lacked. 

For now, I'm content with staying home for a little while and wind down. Time to focus on school as the semester is now more established, and focus on eating healthy and staying active. Speaking of exercise, I'm going to try playing tennis in the 2011 Vancouver OutGames - a "gay olympics" of sorts. Ian's team will be playing in the soccer tournament so we'll be there anyways ... I'd love to set a goal of competing for Tennis next July. Orchestra is starting in two weeks and I can't wait ... our first concert is November 20th showcasing a lot of Spanish composers and pieces.

Stay Tuned!