Kool little coffee shop in Seattle, Washington

Discovered this super kool little espresso, coffee shop on the outskirts of Seattle, Washington. We made use of many of these little coffee shops on our road trip, and took pics of many of them as some were decorated or themed or not and seemed worthy a pic.

These coffee shops seem to be a way of life in the North West, not so in Florida, so I was intrigued with them and frequented in support of local life and getting my coffee fix.

One of these shops stood out from all the rest. stiletticoffee@gmail.com . We found Stiletti Coffee early in the morning, before 6am. Nothing gets you motivated like staying in a questionable portion of town in a cheap motel, but that's another post. Just before getting back onto the freeway to continue to Vancouver we noticed this espresso stand, we parked and rubbing our eyes, stumbled up to the window. First it was the aroma of the coffee that seemed to start the world to come into focus and I hear a melodic, female voice say " Good Morning, would you like some coffee?" I looked through the window saw the sexiest airline pilot suit that I've ever seen. Skirt, belly button revealing pilot top, sassy pilot cap on an approximate 23, 24 year old, long blond hair beauty! She was very bouncy, I'm guessing a couple of 16 oz espressos or just down right energetic. Behind her very patriotic shop was a small deck with tiki torches and a couple thatch umbrella tables, perfect place to go to in the evening, I presume. I wonder what kind of costume shows up then?

I wanted to get a better picture but the vehicles were lined up and I didn't want to distract business from this trophy worthy example of American entrepreneurship at its finest. Definitely stop by if you can and check out stiletticoffee@gmail.com

Oregon Coast

We found ourselves in a cozy hotel room right on the Pacific Ocean beach at the Sunset Surf Oceanfront Motel in Manzanita, Oregon. We drove for about 9 very leisurely hours today beginning from Sisters, Oregon. Almost the entire drive was visually stimulating to say the least coming from some one who has lived in central Florida for the last 20 years.

If you're traveling west from Sisters, Oregon area and traveling on some kind of budget or looking for a place to stay with a little charm, journey a touch more westward to Detroit, Oregon. It's a very small village on some water with some hot springs near by. A kool village with some affordable looking beds. We stopped and was captured by a fresh baked cinnamon roll aroma. You can just follow your nose or look for KC's, KC's Espresso/Deli

for huge, fresh baked cinnamon rolls topped with sour cream sin for only $2.50

Refueled in Salem with inexpensive gasoline comparatively speaking, lunch at Safeway soup deli. Something I hadn't ever seen before was bottle recycle machines outside of Safeway. Many people showed up in the short time that we were there inserting aluminum cans, glass bottles into these machines. When they were done the machine would spit them out a ticket that I guess they would go inside the store and redeem for cash. Awesome!

As we crossed some mountain terrain toward the coast, it began to rain and hasn't stopped yet. My long desired sightings and pictures of the Oregon coast had been achieved but barely visible, partially hidden by magical looking mist and general gloominess. The pacific ocean sounds ferocious, like a monster. Our picture taking stops were quick and limited, but we got them. The rain kept our stops quick, therefore we clipped along northward at a faster pace than anticipated. We did stop at Nehalem Bay Winery. nehalembaywinery.com We enjoyed meeting Frank and 1/2 bottle outside.

We got our room and then had one of the best seafood dinners ever at the Sea Shack www.seashack-wheeler.com in Wheeler, Oregon. I had the Seafood platter that consisted of dungenous crab, clams, prawns, halibut, scallops and I might be missing a couple things. $38 and change. I'm glad that I didn't hear the waitress say that it was big enough for 2, because I enjoyed every succulent bite! Wife had salmon and enjoyed it as well. Completely satisfied we're back to the hotel room, breaking into another bottle of wine, next to warm fireplace in front of the monstrous pacific ocean watching the rain fall.