Monday, July 13, 2026
Today we were up and out of the Port Orchard Guest House by 7:00 a.m. We cannot praise this rental enough and hope to use it again on a planned return to Bellissima Arts Escapes.
We had breakfast at a place with the coolest name: The Devoted Kiss. It is a café with a view of the cove outside of the restaurant, full of kayaks and boats.
The original plan for the day went out the window when Denice and I made a left turn and went to the Mount Saint Helens area to explore.
Our day began on the road into the mountain complex, stopping first at the Washington State Parks Mt. St. Helens (Lawilatta) Visitor Center.
Then we went up the road to the federal buildings, turnouts, and overviews to see all that these parks have to offer.
We even took a short walk into the prairie with remnants still from the 1980 explosion.
This stump still had remnants of volcanic dust
Then we got this crazy notion to circumnavigate the mountain on a series of roads. Our first mistake was we did not realize it would take a half hour of southern driving just to get to the turnoff we wanted. Once on that turnoff, we had a fairly good time until we turned north. The road turned evil and our GPS cutoff so for awhile, we had no idea where we were. Finally after four and one-half hours of torturous driving, we made it to a decent highway so we could turn for what would be our home for the night.
The only photo from the nightmare car ride through the mountains
We are staying at The Peak at Centralia Square, an 1920 Elk Club building now remodeled into a hotel. It is unique, I will give it that.
Dinner tonight was at a funky restaurant called The Juice Box Public House where I got some good Korean food.
Mileage Port Orchard (4 Days): 369
Total Miles for the Trip: 956
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
This morning we decided to support the café located in the hotel where we slept called Berry Fields Café. This place is really trying to be special and I think they are succeeding. The food had a twist and was excellent.
Before leaving town we made a stop at UPS for a big ass box to house all my projects and finds that we intend to ship back to Milwaukee. We also hit a grocery story for some supplies.
With our luggage on board we headed south in the rental to Oregon and the Oswald West State Park, about a 2 and one-half hour drive. We got within a mile of the entrance to the Short Sand Beach where we wanted to walk when traffic came to a halt. After twenty minutes of not moving, we decided to reverse our course and head back north to some other beach access parks we had passed on the way.
Our first stop was Arcadia Beach access trail where we hiked down to the ocean.
Because we felt enough time had passed we headed south again to the Short Sand Beach access point. Traffic had cleared when we got to where it had stopped. Just short of the parking lot on the beach side we saw the remnants of a massive tree that had fallen across the highway. We did not see any mangled cars so hopefully no one was hurt. The forestry crews were still there but everything was off the highway.
We were a little confused by the fact that the Short Sand Beach parking lot was across the street from the ocean so we took an access point to the temperate rainforests on the ocean side. We walked the Necarney Creek Trail and the Old Growth Forest Trails but never ventured back to the beach at this sight.
We decided to head to Portland on the backwoods highway rather than head back to the Federal highway. Everything was going swimmingly until I decided to follow a “Wildlife Viewing” sign. We drove a half-hour up a road then had to backtrack to the entry point in order to find our way to Portland.
We got to Portland around 5:30 p.m. Our hotel for the next three nights is the EVEN Hotel Portland – Beaverton located in a toney part of Portland.
Just across the street from the hotel is a series of business one of which was our restaurant for tonight, Blu Olive Mediterranean Bistro.
Mileage Port Orchard (4 Days): 244
Total Miles for the Trip: 1,200
Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Today we decided to eat breakfast in our hotel lobby as they have an actual restaurant conveniently called Kitchen and Bar.
Today is public garden day in Portland for us. First up was the International Rose Test Garden.
Just across the street from the rose garden in the Portland Japanese Garden.
Next we went for a short ride downtown to the Chinatown area of Portland to go to the Lan Su Chinese Garden.
We did walk around Chinatown so I could photograph wall art.
Last stop on tour today was The Peculiarium, a quirky museum with unusual exhibits.
We went back to our hotel to get ready for our evening event: dinner with my art buddy Robyn Lee Williams at Kaizen in downtown Portland. It turns out the restaurant is right outside the gate of Chinatown so we knew how to find it. Let’s say conversation did not lag at the table tonight.
Mileage For the Day: 49
Total Miles for the Trip: 1,249
Thursday, July 16, 2026
Today we were up early and out of the hotel for our drive to the Columbia River Gorge area. We decided to reserve our breakfast selection to spontaneity and ended up at an Elmer’s, evidently a chain in this area. However, it proved nice.
We organized the day by driving to our farthest destination before turning around and heading back. So we took Highway 84 east to Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale. This three-story, steel-and-poured-concrete Beaux-Arts building is perched on a bluff 800 feet above the Columbia River. It was originally constructed with the thought of being the home of industrialist Sam Hill, but what the Sam Hill? The guy never lived in it and it became a donation to the area as an art museum.
Truly in the middle of nowhere, it is surprisingly elegant and the exhibitions proved interesting. They included American Classical Realism paintings (my favorite); Russian Icons; New Mexican Bultos and Retablos; Contemporary Indigenous Art; Romanian Embroidery; Illuminated Manuscripts; the 1946 Lelong Dance Dress, a Théâtre de la Mode assemblage from post WWII France; and Stan Peterson – Horse Play carvings.
After we left the museum we went three more miles east because one of the crazy things Sam Hill did was build a replica of the complete Stonehenge. It is cool to see, made completely from the same concrete he used to build the museum but it has no useful astronomical purpose as it aligns with nothing. Weird.
We turned back west to Portland made a few stops. First was at Horsethief Lake where it was extremely windy as we viewed the petroglyphs.
I could not resist an antique shop I saw in Lyle. I had to put somethings back as they were too expensive for my needs but a few things were bought to go into the suitcase now that we shipped a box home.
Out next stop was in Stevenson for the surprising Asian fusion restaurant, K’Nyaw Paw. If you are ever in the area (I know that is a ridiculous statement), you should eat here. Then we completed the trip back to Portland arriving at the hotel around 6:00 p.m. Another 12 hours of fun with the Niebuhrs.
Mileage For the Day: 242
Total Miles for the Trip: 1,491
Friday, July 17, 2026
Today is our last day of vacation fun stuff. We ate breakfast in the hotel before checking out to save all the time we could for our fun day.
We went to the Pittock Mansion in Portland. The mansion is gorgeous and sits on a hill overlooking the city. Denice and I visit many mansions wherever we go and most of them have a sad history. This is true here. Pittock was the owner of The Oregonian (although at one point he lost control of that) and that is how he made his money. Most of his life he lived in a modest house in Portland but when he got to be an old man he spent today’s equivalent of between $5 to $8 million building this place. His wife (a powerful and influential woman in Portland) had a stroke before they moved there and then died four years after they moved in. Pittock died four years later. Some remnants of the family lived there until 1958. Unable to sell the house, it was a victim of the 1962 storm that hit Portland and did so much damage.
Fortunately, to save it from housing developers who would have knocked it down, the community saved it by repairing the damage, the mold and the lack of an furnishing to now have a jewel like this to visit.
Next on our agenda was the Portland Art Museum. Wow. The current exhibitions include Rick Bartow, Mary Henry, Mark Rothko and a portrait exhibition with great photographers’ works represented. There also was a section with assemblages by John Outterbridge, Robert Rauschenberg and Louise Nevelson.
Then we went to the Portland Art Museum. This is a magnificent multi-story with great exhibits including David Hockney: Works from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, Abstraction Since Mark Rothko, Rick Bartow: Storyteller and Mary Henry: A Long Unbroken Line.
In the cafe I had the Rothko cake
The Hockney exhibit was even more meaningful since his recent death
The Cirque du Soliel like sculpture is made out of styrofoam
It was time for us to start our 3 hour drive to Seattle where we are staying for the night before tomorrow’s early flight. For dinner Denice and I stopped in Tacoma at an excellent Filipino restaurant called Lechon Loco. We both had pancit, our favorite Filipino dish.
Tonight we are at the Best Western Seattle Airport Hotel because we are going to be up at 3:30 a.m. to get our rental returned and be in place for our flight out.
Mileage For the Day: 169
Final Total Miles for the Trip: 1,660
Saturday, July 18, 2026
The rental got turned in at 5:30 a.m. this morning so we could make our 8:00 a.m. flight back to Milwaukee.
We arrived in Milwaukee at 2:00 p.m. CST and we got a ride home from Denice's sister Marijeanne.
Pretty much everything on this trip worked great. The Bellissima Art Escape was wonderful for me. We were pleased.
