Here we go!

The first order of business for me when we go on a trip is the food, ofcourse. Well I guess we have to find places to stay first and then find the best food in those areas. I'll do a trip breakdown and then highlight each of the places we visited.

Day 1- Drove to Boise and stayed the night

Day 2- Drove to Portland and stayed two nights.

Day 4- Drove to the Oregon Coast (Manzanita) and stayed for 4 nights.

Day 8- Drove back to Boise, spent the night and drove home the next morning.

BOISE: Who knew that we would find such a gem of a place in Boise. We kept hearing that Boise was pretty hip and we now have to say for ourselves that it defintely is a very cool little town.

Stayed at: The Modern Hotel, this place reminded me of an old fashioned motel I'm sure we have all stayed at a time or two when we were kids on a road trip with our parents. The difference is that this old roadside motel was updated with midcentury modern appeal.

This was a truly hip joint where all the locals hung out on a Friday night for a drink at their on-site bar/restaurant in the courtyard of the hotel. On our way back the night we stayed here again and on that night the Bike Coalition of Boise was having a fundraiser in the parking lot with live music and events, it was a great time.

We ate at: The night we got there I had found a local pizza hangout, and trust me when I say I don't have to twist my husbands arm to have great pizza! The name of the joint was called The Front Door, the veggie pizza was awesome, not to mention the excellent draft beer selection and our server was super friendly and gave us great recommendations for breakfast the next morning.

The next morning we went to Goldy's, everyone suggested this place even one of my clients from Salt Lake. Well it was a hit, even if we had to stand in the rain for a half hour to get in. The staff was so friendly and the food was great. I had a veggie scramble and one egg on the side and Billy had a breakfast burrito that was so big we had to take half of it to go. When you eat at the local places you get a unique experience and usually the best food in town..

On our way back through town at the end of our trip we wanted something different for breakfast, so I did search on my phone and found a place that was within walking distance of the Modern Hotel, a little joint called Big City Coffee.

This place was awesome, I ordered steamed eggs that came with avocado and salsa, steamed eggs? Yummy! And Billy ordered 'the usual' which was a bagel with cream cheese and tomatoes and the secret seasoning (delish!) with some fruit on the side. Also they have this huge desert case with mountains of scones, rice crispy treats, brownies and the like. Usually I have no problem resisting these kinds of temptations, but it was the end of our trip and I wanted to soak up every last bit, so I ordered a peanut butter bar and this scrumptious butterfinger brownie... there are no words that could accurately describe just how good that brownie was, absolutely amazing. We had seen that they were recently in Sunset Magazine which after having eaten there I can see that it was a well deserved mention.

Up next Portland.