Every day for the past year I have walked by this cute restaurant called Jacob’s Pickles on my way to my office. It’s only a block away from work, but I don’t tend to stick around the area after hours much.

It wasn’t until one of my co-workers started talking about their biscuits and beer that I got intrigued and decided to check out the menu. It only took about 30 seconds for me and another one of our co-workers looking at the menu to decide we needed to make that trip happen ASAP!

The restaurant is super cute inside. Southern charm, mason jars and all!

Something that jumped off the menu to me was their Warm Apple Pie cocktail, made with a spiced blend of ole smoky moonshine & pressed apples. I’d never had moonshine before, but I’ve been talked into watching too many episodes of the show Moonshiners not to give it a try. Of course, as I sipped on my warmed apple blend I couldn’t hold back on my Jim Tom impersonations, it felt necessary. If anything, I entertained my friends for a little bit ;-). I must say, my drink was pretty fantastic! It was served in a small glass inside a mason jar that had hot water in it. At first I was surprised by how small the drink was at about half full, but I soon learned why. That moonshine is strong! 

Along with our drinks, we also ordered up some good old-fashioned fried pickles while we were waiting for the grand finale….

These guys!!!

When I first looked at the menu I was immediately drawn to their biscuits. There’s a place in Portland that is my favoriteeeee called Pine State Biscuits and the items on the menu seemed very Pine State-ish. I ordered their Honey, Chicken & Pickles which was a buttermilk biscuit with fried chicken, hot sours and clover honey. The bottom biscuit was one of my friend’s, the Southern BLT which was a buttermilk biscuit, fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, bacon, and pickle slaw. There is no skimping on the portion sizes here either.. all the biscuits also came with a heaping portion of cheddar grits! Both were mmm, mmm good too! We had a wonderful evening and I must say it’s nice to have my own little NY version of Pine State now!

On Saturday morning, Mama Duck and I headed further west to McMinneville to meet up with the Hardersens! Little Duck had her first college tour at Linfield College and I was so happy that we got to be there for the journey!

Linfield is a private, liberal-arts school with over 47 major options through three different programs and has been named “Best in the West” last year by the Princeton Review. Their motto is “The Power of a Small College” and after taking a campus tour, you can really feel the power of that statement.

With about 1,700 students total, it’s definitely a small college against some of the other options in the state, including my alam mater, University of Oregon. The campus is beautiful and although it is a small school, the campus is surprisingly pretty large. The campus grounds were well maintained and you really got a sense that the school was well taken care of, both the buildings and the students. We learned a lot about some of the different programs and history throughout the tour and left with a lot for Little Duck to consider over the next year!

Looking at colleges and prepping for the next chapter of your life was such an exciting time for me and I hope it will be for her too. Although I will say.. I hope she doesn’t drive herself too insane with planning classes for the next four years in high school like I did. At least not alone ;-) That’s what Big Ducks are for, right?! 

After the college tour we headed back to their campsite for the afternoon to cook up some lunch before our next destination. I hadn’t seen the whole family since August, so it was really nice catching up with everybody. Once we had some food in our stomachs, the girls were off to another great part of McMinneville.. Wine country! A bonus for any visitors if Little Duck does end up going to Linfield!

I had been to wine country in the area once before with Kathy for my 21st Birthday and was excited to get back! Our first stop was at a winery we visited on our last trip that has a beautiful vine called Cana’s Feast.

We started out our tastings with different varieties of red wines, sitting outside amongst the green scenery, under the warm spring sunshine. Sitting at the table talking amongst old and new friends, it was so nice to appreciate the moment and just relax!

As if I didn’t think we could spend the afternoon at a more beautiful winery.. then we arrived at Anne Amie.

At the top of a long paved driveway, you stand on top of a hill overlooking the vineyards, followed by trees, and the rolling hills in the background. Truly so beautiful.

The views weren’t the only thing that were wonderful at Anne Amie either, we were pleasantly surprised by their wine choices! This time around, we were tasting whites, some of which have become a few of my favorites I’ve ever tasted.

After a few more tastings, and a bottle of wine for the other girls, I was playing chauffeur and driving us back to the campground for a good old fashioned fish-fry! We ended the night with some light-hearted conversation, laughs, and delicious food before Mama Duck and I had to head back up North to Wilkeson! 

For Mother’s Day, we headed to the races! It’s become a family tradition for awhile (although I’m not sure of the number of years). Sadly I’ve missed out the last 3 years, but I was happy to be there for this one!    Living 2,500 miles away, really puts into perspective how much family really means and I’m so thankful for every minute I get to spend with them.

Such a fun-filled day with family and a great way to close my quick trip home. Looking forward to being back in July for another quick trip for a friend’s wedding! See you again soon NW :)

What a WONDERFUL trip back to the northwest! Of course the trip wasn’t long enough (it never is) but I feel so blessed for the memories I made! My trip started very early flight out west, ending with this beautiful view of the mountain!

My first day back, I spent some quality time with Mama Duck in Enumclaw.

In the evening we went downtown to a newer restaurant called Rendezvous Wine & Brew. They just re-did the kitchen and expanded the menu just in time for summer. The location is super cute and has open panels that open all of the way. Once I saw the monte cristo sandwich on the menu I knew that’s what I wanted to order. I must say I was quite impressed too! Enumclaw is stepping up its game in the foodie scene. 

In the evening, I visited Little Duck and we headed for another “first” for me.. Enumclaw’s froyo, Avalanche Delite. Froyo has been blowing up over the last few years all over the city and it seems to be doing the same on the west coast! I will say it was definitely the place to be in Enumclaw too. In the amount of time I was there I saw quite a few people I knew. Props to their topping bar too! I’ve been to my fair share of froyo places, but I’ve never seen quite the selection that they had! I’ll admit I went a little crazy (mine is the one on the right) but I couldn’t help myself. Fresh fruit, honey, marshmallows, bobo balls and wait for it…  pop rocks! Oh yeah, they had pop rocks and it was awesome.

On Friday, my mom and I were off for a little road trip south to Portland! Little Duck was touring her first college on Saturday in McMinneville (about an hour from Portland) so we decided to head to Oregon and visit my old neighborhood and stay the night before going to McMinneville the next day.

We couldn’t have lucked out more on the weather. It was absolutely perfect! Low 80’s, slight breeze, and sunny. A nice change after getting 3 inches of rain the day in New York before my trip!

We stopped for some Happy Hour grub at McMenamins and I couldn’t have been happier. $3 Cajun tots and a pint of Ruby beer was one of my favorite Portland past times, so I was very happy we had time to go there on our short trip.

After spending some time in NW Portland we headed towards the waterfront to our hotel. Not a bad view from our room either huh? ;-)

We were thinking of adventuring to some local watering holes downtown, but our hotel had a pretty nice bar, complete with a live band so we decided to stick around. My mom’s friend and my friend Amanda were able to come by so we had a really fun visit with both of them.

My friend Jacob and Martha were able to stop by really quick too with a special surprise too… Their hedgehog! I’ve had a hedgehog obsession since living in Portland and they recently just got one so I was pretty excited to get to meet little Olive! Even if she didn’t want to come out for my picture!

We had such a great time in Portland and I’m really happy we decided to stay for the night before heading to McMinneville!