Coastward bound

Howdy, y'all!

Greetings from Portland. We're setting off again now after a great stay with Suzanne's aunt Tissa - it's been a sweet mix of backyard dinners, real beds and taco stands. I even got my first taste of tango. Tissa is set to open up her bakery, Tabor Bread, less than two months from now, meaning we've not only got to check out her ginormous brick oven (newly fired) but also got to fortify ourselves on hearty prototype bread from her head baker Cory.

From here we'll gain the coast in two days and then head in the direction of cheapening avocadoes (i.e. south). No idea when we'll see Internet again; here are a few photos to tide you over.

Hasta luego,
Jordan

Fort Spokane, WA.  Suzanne held out here for three days eating chocolate. 

I'd never seen a tumbleweed in real life before. A momentous occasion.

Creston, WA.  Jordan and Opius (a mastiff), the biggest dog I've ever seen.

Coulee City, WA.  Gary here and his wife Louise fed us the best spaghetti dinner I've had in ages, proposed to us from the window of Gary's sedan. One of the highlights of our trip.

Dry Falls Interpretive Center, Grand Coulee, WA.  Suzanne tried to overtake this basalt column. Geology was having nothing of it.

Soap Lake, WA.  The window read "Russki Magazin", and a Ukrainian flag hung in the entrance. The place made me very happy: thirty kinds of sausage, eight kinds of smoked fish, and innumerable jars of pickled mushrooms.

Eltopia, WA.  Free melons from the blemish pile. We ate three in one day.

middle of nowhere, WA.  Suzanne feels a powerful urge to pick up felines.

Train ride, Pasco WA to Portland OR.  It turns out bicycles are not that fast after all. This train saved us a week of headwinds. We feel no remorse.