Depoe Bay

 

Depoe Bay is a small town along the central Oregon coast.  It is about 10 minutes South of Lincoln City and about 2.5 hours from Portland.  Depoe Bay is known to be a great place to watch whale migration during the migration season.  There is a small whale watching center along the main street of the town.  Depoe Bay also houses the smallest harbour in the entire world!

We left Portland around 10AM in the morning and headed towards Depoe Bay.  It was a very foggy morning in the Portland area but we decided to go anyway.  Instead of taking Highway 26 to the coast first, we decided to take the smaller route through McMinnville to get to Lincoln City first.  It was extremely foggy all the way to Lincoln City.  However, once we got to Lincoln City, the fog disappeared and it was sunny weather.  We were really enjoying the sunny weather along the coast.

We then headed South to Depoe Bay to get to the whale watching center.  There was a lot of parking space along the street for people to park the car.  The watch watching center was not big, but there were about 15 people there with 3 other volunteers going over how whales migrate.  Everyone was holding a binocular trying to spot a whale.  There were 2 buoys out there in the ocean.  The first buoy was about 3 miles out and the second buoy about 5 miles out.  We were able to see whale splashing water about 8 miles out, which was quite far.

There was a second floor at the whale watching center but not much was up there.  It was probably meant to have more space for people to watch whales.  The space downstairs was just for restroom.

After whale watching a bit, we took a walk outside and saw the smallest harbour in the world.  The way for going in and out of the harbour was small and narrow with waves splashing along the rocky cliffside.  There were several gift shops along the street as well but not many tourists in the shop unfortunately.

Depoe Bay is a popoular whale watching place, but we felt that there is little to do in the town.  The shops along the street aren't too exciting either unfortunately.  Hopefully one day the down will be more lively in the future.

Philly Spot

 

Philly Spot is a food truck stall located at the Hillsboro food cart site, the Station.  It is one of the 20+ amazing food truck stalls at the side.  Philly Spot specializes in Philly steak sandwiches, but also offer other dishes such as burgers, hotdogs, and corndogs.  The Philly Spot food truck is located on the East side of the Station food cart site and it is right outside of the indoor seating area.

When we got to the Station, it was around 12PM and many food truck stall just opened.  We did see a few food truck stalls closed due to the day being a Monday.  We strode around to see what was available to try and came stumble upon Philly Spot.  The smell coming out of the food truck stall was so aromatic and made us even more hungry.

We then saw a lady picking up her order from Philly Spot and it was a giant box. This was when we decided to try Philly Spot for lunch.  We ordered a Philly Steak sandwich since we figured that it is the signature dish.  The cost of this was $16, so it was not cheap either.

After about 10 minutes, the order was ready.  It was indeed in a large box and it was so hot and fresh.  Other than just the Philly Steak sandwich, it also came with a large portion of fries.  The fries were the thick cut fries, which are the ones we really enjoy.  It also came with a small serving of sauce.  The taste of the sauce was similar to the sauce used in Big Mac burger at McDonald's.  The Philly Steak sandwich had a lot of meat in it, but we thought there were going to be more bell peppers in the sandwich based on what we saw on the picture, but there was very little bell peppers in there, which was a bit disappointing.

Overall, it was an average experience having the food from Philly Spot.  It is definitely a place to try but we will probably try a different food truck next time when we visit the Station food truck site.

Jonsrud Point

 

Jonsrud Viewpoint is a scenic lookout point at Sandy, Oregon.  The viewpoint looks out East towards Mount Hood and the river ravine below.  During the cold morning, thick fog form within the ravine beneath and the sunrise over the ravine simply looks gorgeous.  Thus this place has been a popular spot for photography enthusiasts for taking sunrise photo around Mount Hood.

We got to Jonsrud Viewpoint around 7AM in the morning.  It was still dark outside because the sunrise is at 7:45AM.  The parking area for this viewpoint is along a pull out South of the viewpoint.  There were only about 9 parking spaces and quite limited.

When we got out of the car, it was freezing.  We could see the frost on the grass and on the fence.  As we set up the camera, there were more people arriving to wait for the sunrise.  The parking lot was full.  Everyone was wearing gloves and hats because it was freezing cold.  We saw a dog walker placing a card board on the ground for his dog to stand on to protect the dog's paw.

Around 7:50AM, the sun rose above the mountain and the sun rays over the fog was simply beautiful.  The orange colour of the fog was too beautiful to dismiss.  The sun also made an orange grow on Mount Hood, it was quite amazing.

On the river down at the ravine, we also saw several fisherman there doing some early morning fishing.  It must be extremely cold down there on the river.

We stayed there for 30 minutes when the sun was well above the horizon and went back the car.  We were the last few people to leave but we really enjoyed this.  We would recommend to come here as early as possible to secure a parking space.

Crepe Neptune

 

Crepe Neptune is a famous bakery store specializing in crepe located in Cannon Beach, Oregon.  Crepe Neptune is located at the Northeast corner of downtown Cannon Beach.  It is right across from the tennis court.  Crepe Neptune offers various crepes in savory flavour and sweet flavours.

We got to Cannon Beach around noon on a beautiful sunny Saturday.  Before we went for a walk along the beach, we decided to get ourselves some treats to regain some strength from the workout in the morning.

We went to Crepe Neptune and saw 2 kiosks on both sides of the store front.  It was very convenient for its customers to order.  We ordered a Cape Lookout Crepe and a Smuggler's Cove Crepe.  This allowed us to taste both savory and sweet flavours.  After we placed the order, a text was sent to us with an order number.

After about 10 minutes, we got another text indicating that our order was ready.  The nice little girl gave us the crepe from a box.  Both crepe was so warm and very aromatic.  We took the crepe and walked to the Cannon Beach lookout just down the street to enjoy the crepe under the sun.

As we started eating the crepe, we just realized that the sleeve carrying the crepe had indications showing where to tear off the top of the sleeve.  There were 2 parts that can be teared off.  This really made crepe eating super convenient.

Cape Lookup Crepe had egg, ham and cheese in it.  It was very fresh and warm.  It was like eating an omelet but in the crepe.  Smuggler's Cove Crepe was the classic with nutella, banana, strawberry, and whip cream.  It was soft and sweet in a warm crepe.  We probably liked it the most.

We definitely would visit Crepe Neptune again to enjoy the crepe.  Next time we will try a different crepe.

Spirit Falls

 

Spirit Falls is a magical place in Pacific Northwest. The waterfall has huge volume of water with beautiful turquoise colour.  It is located near Cook, Washington state.  However, Spirit Falls is actually located on a private land owned by the lumber company and there is not an official trail to get to the fall.  The unofficial trail passes skirts around the privately owned land and hikers should make sure they don't trespass into the privately owned land.  Since the trail is unofficial, it is not maintained and hikers are using it at their own risk.  The trail is only 0.4 miles long to get to the falls but the trail is extremely steep.

We got to the trail head around 8AM and parked the car on the shoulder of the road right before the privately owned land.  Then we walked towards to the open area and the trail head is located at the Southeast corner of the open area.  The trail started off with a steep slope going downwards and we had to go very slowly due to large rocks on the trail.

Once we got down the first portion, we saw a path heading up the ridge and thought that was the trail, we went up the ridge and found that there was no where else to go.  We had to come back down the ridge, which was a bit scary due to the drop off on both sides.  When we got down the ridge, we found that the trail actually did a sharp left turn and continued downwards.

While heading down the slope, we were constantly checking our location on our phone to ensure we weren't crossing into privately owned land.  After about 25 minutes, we finally got to the waterfall.  The last part of the trail was very slippery due to the water flowing across the trail.

When we got to the waterfall, we were amazed by its beautiful turquoise coloured water.  Also, due to the thick foliage above the waterfall, there wasn't any sun light at the waterfall and it was just beautiful.  On the right side of the waterfall, there was a small narrow path heading down to the water level.  We carefully climbed down there and it was amazing there.  Note that getting down there is extremely dangerous due to the slippery rock and narrow path.  Do not attempt to do this if you are alone by yourself.

As we heading back, the climb up on the trail was tiring but it was easier than heading down.  The distance was also short so we were able to get back in 15 minutes.

This Spirit Falls was an amazing experience.  The water level is a bit low at this time of the year, we would probably try again in the future during an earlier time of the year.

Lady M

 

Lady M is a bakery store that specializes in Crepe Cake.  The Crepe Cake is a type of cake that is stacked with multiple layers of crepe with flavored creme filled between each layer of crepe.  Lady M originated from New York and has expanded across the entire country of US with many stores.  It has became one of the most popular cake store among the people.

Lady M has opened a stored a Bellevue Square and it was our first time visiting a Lady M store.  The store is very classy and has a dine in area as well.  The store is basically painted with only white colour with classy decoration along the walls.  The seat, the table, the plates and everything are all pure white.  Lady M has made its store a very high-end dining place.

Lady M offered variety of flavours for its crepe cake.  We ordered a tiramisu, matcha, and a purple yam flavour.  The 3 cakes were carefully placed in a purple Lady M box and we were given plastic silver utensils.  The cake was expensive however.  Each piece of cake was over $10, which was extremely pricy.

We sat down at a table at the food court to try out the cake.  The matcha crepe cake had strong matcha flavour as expected, but it was not very different from other matcha flavoured cake.  Similarly, the tiramisu cake was good but not very different from other tiramisu cake.  The purple yam cake was extraordinary.  Its flavour was out of this world.  It had a super strong yam taste similar to taro taste.  Among the 3 cake, we liked the purple yam crepe cake the most.

Overall, Lady M makes amazing crepe cake like no others.  The purple yam cake was the best cake we have had.  The only downside was that the cake was extremely pricy and we probably won't try this often.

Monga Cafe

 

Monga Cafe is a restaurant specializing in Taiwanese Cuisine.  The restaurant is located in a plaza in Bellevue.  The plaza is one of several available restaurants in the plaza.  Compared to a well known Taiwanese Restaurant Facing East, Monga Cafe is not as crowded and thus also more accessible to people to have lunch or dinner here.

We got to the plaza where Monga Cafe is located around 1PM.  The parking at this plaza was a nightmare.  There were just so many cars circling around looking for an available parking space.  We have not had to wait for a parking space for a long time.  After 15 minutes of circling around the parking lot, we finally found an available parking space beside the dumpster.

We got into Monga Cafe and the interior decoration of the restaurant was quite simplistic and clean.  We told the owner that we wanted to order take out and the owner was quite enthusiastic and came to help us right away.

We ordered a Sauteed Green Cabbage, Pork Trotters Lunch Box, Black Bean Paste Noodle, and an Appetizer Trio.  The order was ready within 15 minutes.  The Sauteed Green Cabbage was okay and fresh.  Pork Trotters Lunch Box was the best dish we ordered.  It came within a huge circular bowl container.  There were 2 trotters in there and cooked very thoroughly.  It also came with pickled cabbage and sauteed cabbage.  We loved it quite a lot.  The Black Bean Paste was amazing too.  The sauce was sweet and salty at the same time.  The Appetizer Trio was ordered with braised egg, bean curd, and seaweed.

We were very satisfied with the food from Monga Cafe.  The taste of the food has surpassed our expectation and the price was very reasonable as well.  The only issue we had was the plaza was way too busy and difficult to find parking space.  We probably have to find a time that is less crowded to come here next time.

Rainier Fremont Fire Lookout

 

Fremont Fire Lookout trail is one of the most popular trails within Mount Rainier National Park.  The trail is located North of Mount Rainier and it starts at Sunrise Visitor Center.  The trail is about 6 miles in roundtrip distance and goes through the meadows of Mount Rainier.  At the end of the trail, there is a fire lookout cabin that overlooks the beautiful forest down below.  Mount Rainier can also be seen very clearly from the overlook.

We got to Sunrise Visitor Center around 7AM in the morning and the parking lot was half full.  The sun has just rose above the mountain and the weather was getting warmer.  From the parking lot, we could see the beautiful Mount Rainier right above us.

The trail first took us to hike across a small ridge where we could see the meadows down below.  Then we got to Frozen Lake, which is the water source for Sunrise.  The Frozen Lake has shrunk significantly compared to the size that was shown on the map.

As we got to the intersection point where the trail breaks off into 5 different directions, we took the Northern trail to go to Fremont Fire Lookout.  The path to Fremont Fire Lookout took us onto another ridge and the trail was extremely rocky.  Although it was rocky, the trail was not difficult with little elevation gain.  After about 30 minutes, we got to Fremont Fire Lookout.

When we got there, we saw a married couple take wedding photos.  They even got a portable dress room established trying on various dresses, it was pretty cool.  There were people sitting by Fremont Fire Lookout and enjoying the view.  We saw a couple using the gas tank and made instant cup noodles.  It really made us really hungry.

Overall, we really enjoyed the hike to Fremont Fire Lookout.  It was very different than the Skyline trail at the South of Rainier.  The trail on the North side had more meadows and was a lot more dry.  Next time we could come back here before the sunrise to get a more beautiful view.