Marion County

Today involved driving, shopping and finger licking buffalo winging. A good day.

At our motel in Coos Bay we missed the breakfast that finished unusually early and so we decided to get a cheeky McDonald's breakfast and bring it back to the motel to eat in bed. The drive thru was a comedy routine in mis-communication and 'lost in accents' but the important thing here is we returned with bags full of our daily allowances for sugar, salt and fat and boy did we enjoy it.

Today's trip was 'just' four hours. It's amazing how quickly you get used to driving long hours. Now we are further inland we are becoming a bit more inventive with our listening habits as the roads are no longer bendy and fun. Podcasts such as 'Football Weekly' and 'My Dad Wrote A Porno' are seamlessly blending in with the usual music. We're enjoying listening to compilations and having a number of NOW! albums from throughout the years are reminding us of past classics and atrocious one-hit wonders whilst we're also discovering unknown gems. It's been noticed that Disc 2 from the late 90s onwards is where all those techno-euro-dance songs are collated. Maybe with the hope that people would give up by the end of Disc 1 or hopefully lose Disc 2 under the car seat. Or those with a liking for DJ Sammy, Vengaboys and Aqua had a disc for all their needs. Either or.

About thirty minutes outside of Portland there is a large outlet mall called Woodburn. Oregan is also a no sales tax state. You see where this is going? Alice and I wondered around various branded stores and the prices were cheaper than the UK with most things but not amazingly so, even when compared with pre-Brexit rates. That said, we still left the mall with bags containing tops, shoes and a hoodie.

With just a touch of traffic on the way in, we had reached Portland. It's been a few days since we've been in a city and it's nice to have a break from driving for a few days and a chance to use our legs. It was already dusk when we arrived at our motel and so after a quick bit of googling Alice found a Buffalo Wing diner just 10 minutes walk away.

What a find! We ordered twenty-four wings and were able to have up to four sauces. With local IPA's ordered, I & IPA, we tucked into the wings and sweet potato fries. We rated the wings as thus:

Alice:
1. Peanut (soon to be famous) (those first brackets added by them)
2. Buffalo
3. Lime & Coriander
4. Bourbon and Chipotle

Ashley:
1. Lime & Coriander
2. Buffalo
3. Peanut (soon to be famous)
4. Bourbon and Chipotle

We actually thought the bourbon wings would be a dark horse before we tried the first one but wow were they hot. And we like hot food. Lip tingling, tongue numbing hot. The ranch sauce and celery helped here. It was a great dining experience all round. A good start to our brief time here in Portland.

Song of the Day:
Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing (a painting of Jimi worshipping a buffalo wing in the diner)Read more