San Francisco to Seattle: Feasting our way up the coast

A road trip told in 5 breakfasts

Day 1 - Wednesday at Angelina's in San Francisco

After waking up at 1832 clement (thanks Ian and Suz!), we started a fave run. The fave run heads due south from our old place to Golden Gate park. The run then winds west through the park until reaching the crashing foggy expanse of Ocean Beach. Once we reach the beach, we run north and climb the hill past SF institution -- Cliff House restaurant. We enter the Lands End Park and make our way East, running along the cliffs that tower over the Bay separating us from the Marin headlands. We watch the Golden Gate appear through the fog and catch glimpses of Baker Beach before we skirt South for a short stint along the edges of the Land's End golf course (poor man's Pebble). Then we are back in our beloved Richmond heading east towards home. Of course, in our sweaty state, we pull out the carefully stashed (and slightly wet) twenty at Angelina's cafe - the neighborhood catering, breakfast, coffee, Italian cafe. Wilson grabs some mac and cheese from the bounty of sides and mains available in the deli-style counter and I opt for the lemon blackberry scone to go with their coffee. A coffee that most would probably find unremarkable but to me tastes like home.

Day 2 - Cafe Brio in Arcata, CA

This Thursday began with the smell of Redwoods. In Humboldt State Redwoods Park, we camped in the Avenue of Giants. We were so excited to camp among these Giants that we made due with a loaf of bread as dinner the night before because no nearby stores, restaurants, cafes were open by the time that we pulled into the Park, a tardy 8:45 pm.

After inhaling the smell of 20 centuries from these old trees, we hit the road in search of food and we were not disappointed when we arrived at Cafe Brio in Arcata: potato rosemary tart with two poached eggs and blue bottle coffee for me; and an avocado, goat chese, caramelized onion focaccia sandwich with a berry croissant bread pudding for Wilson. Heaven!

Day 3 - Word of Mouth Bistro in Salem, OR

By Friday, we'd left the coastal (and slower) highway 101. We crossed the California border headed away from the beach and over the scenic Grants Pass to Interstate 5. We stayed in a roadside hotel in Oregon's capital - Salem. The hotel was marginal but the price was the best to be found in town. But the breakfast in Salem at Word of Mouth was phenomenal (both in calories and taste!)

Free taster before our breakfast arrived: Cinnamon roll pancake.

Hers: "Plate O' Love" poached eggs, veggie rich hash with tons of veg, including zucchini, broccoli, etc, and the kicker: creme brulee french toast - wow.

His: "The Flying Biscuit" home fries - a 7 inch tall biscuit sandwich with sausage gravy all over it. The biscuit sandwich had multiple layers of fried egg, cheese, bacon, and fried chicken. As our eight year old niece would say, "I love fried chicken."

Day 4 - Chez Clark/Ricci in Seattle

On Saturday morning, I woke after a bit of a tumultuous night. During the night, Wilson had to save me from ejecting myself off the bed as I screamed from a dream of a monster eating my hand. Something had been on my hand but it was not a monster. It was the dog of our generous and wonderful hosts, Cam Clark, Julie Riccio, and three month old adorable baby girl: Sophia Rose. Their dog, Ted, is a sweetheart with some boxer and pit in him. That night, Ted slept between me and Wilson and somehow I lodged my hand in Ted's mouth. Thus the monster dream...and almost falling off the bed.

Thankfully, no one else heard my screams and after a good night's sleep for everyone (even me), Wilson prepared a deluxe breakfast from the Clark's homegrown onions and tomatoes, fried eggs, avocado, and a Columbia loaf from Essential Bakery. Who knew that homegrown onions are so delicious?

Day 5 - Chez Barnes/Bedient in Seattle

Saturday night, Ted slept with us again but no screams that night. Wilson and I woke up and headed to Eltana for some wood fire cooked bagels and a spread. After deliberating over the long list of cool spreads such as white bean and feta, we decided on the red pepper walnut spread. But then I worried about a nut allergy. Wilson assured me that there was no allergy and the woman working the counter over me overheard us and gave us some samples of fava bean mint spread for FREE, just in case. Seattle-Ites are nice...

We arrived at Kate Bedient and Chris Barnes' very cool home and admired their great views and interior painting choices- three different colors in the living area. We caught up over bagels, spreads, delicious produce from the Barnes' farm share, and some home made lattes. And then the conversation turned to our backpacking trip in the Cascades starting a few hours after breakfast. Next thing we know, Chris has supplied a sassy Cascades guidebook and Kate has pulled out a tupperware full of maps and trail descriptions. After 20 minutes of discussing the pros and cons of dozens of different trails that Kate and Chris have hiked through the Cascades, they settled on the Pilot Ridge/White Pass 30 mile backpacking trip. The hike sounded excellent (and it was) we left armed with 4 maps, a trail description, and the guide.

Onward.

 

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