Portlandia is Cooler than Seattle. We Hate That.

Heads up! Our travels to Portland, meals, stays, activities and such, were covered by Travel Portland. “We like to make fun of you in Seattle,” I told our indulgent guide. We were standing outside one of Portland’s food card pods eating Bosnian burek, a spinach and feta stuffed pastry. “See, you’re cooler than we are. …


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Penguin Spotting

Everything that you imagine about seeing penguins, free range penguins, is true. You are, perhaps, unaware that you smell penguins before you see them, but everything else you know — that they are the perfect combination of adorable and hilarious — is completely accurate. There was a lot of yelling on our first day of …


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All Ice in Wonderland

We tied up early this morning in port, the seas had been almost mirror flat for 48 hours, no joke. Thing is we’d expected to be hurled all over the place, there was an epic storm in the channel the day before and another vessel turned back, or at least that’s what the crew was …


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Alki in Fog

I am very fond of rough beaches in less than ideal weather, of gray sand and salt spray, of decaying giant trees and screaming gulls and beach communities in the off season. This morning I joined my friend Knox for coffee at Alki Beach. The air was thick with fog, the beach was almost empty, …


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