The Orange Ninja and Friends: One Eyed Willy and the Truffle Shuffle

Portland, Or to Cape Lookout, Or
6 a.m. came early this morning for most of us except for Mike who was like a child on Christmas morning..or I guess Chanukah in this case…ready to go skate Burnside without any crowds. After an hour of skating, we needed some breakfast and headed over the bridge to the legendary Voodoo doughnuts. Even early in the morning the line was out the door, but it was well worth the wait. Nikki got the “Old Dirty Bastard” a sugary confection covered in Oreos and peanut butter, while Brionna got the “Portland crème” a classic crème doughnut, I got the “Captain my Captain, a donut submerged in Captain Crunch cereal, and Mickael got the Technicolor creation “Miami Viceberry which upon eating instantly caused a minor seizure. One thing we noticed while waiting in line though was that the amount of bicyclists here in Portland is amazing. It seems like everyone around here partakes in some type of riding whether it be on their road, mountain, bmx, city, or track bike. After our doughnuts, we were thirsty and what goes great with doughnuts?...coffee! We headed over to a locally run coffee shop, Fine Grind, recommended by some friends in Santa Barbara run by artist Joe Shay and his wife Keiko. They have done a great job with the space turning it also into a gallery feature works by local and national artists as well as some pieces by Joe himself. After talking to Joe and Keiko for a while, we got back on the road and headed toward the coast. Our first stop was Seaside, a small touristy town that still had its roots deep in supporting the local fishermen. The beach was a great welcome committee to the coast with the cool fog covering everything creating a very intimate yet eerie feeling. We drove down the coast ducking in and out of the fog continually playing a game of hide and seek with the ocean. We emerged through the fog at Ecola State Park to catch a glimpse of haystack rock where they filmed the movie Goonies, and almost everywhere we turned seemed to have been a location of the movie. Further down the coast was Tillamook home to Tillamook cheese where we were going to stop until we pulled into the parking lot only to realize that the creamery was like the “South of the Border” of Oregon. We headed down to the more local institution Blue Heron French Cheese complete with petting zoo and great Brie. We camped out for the night at Cape Lookout State Park with a campsite 100 yards from the ocean nestled in the woods. Nikki and Brionna made a great fire and after eating we all passed out after a long day of traveling.