More Stress in the Car in Portland

It is natural in travel to encounter stressful situations, it’s what makes travel interesting and memorable, even if in that moment you’re wondering how on earth you even got yourself into the situation. Relatively, what happened during our short trip to Portland wasn’t really all that stressful (albeit probably more stressful for Pran) but it’s still fun to recount it.

Part 1: All We Wanted Were Some Chicken Wings.

I’ll start with the night we came back from our climb up to Pittock Mansion. Like I said before, it was already dark when we returned to the car. All we wanted at that point was to get some food, so I suggested Pok Pok’s, as it wasn’t too far away and I had heard about their famous Vietnamese Fish Sauce Chicken Wings (“21 Must-Try Restaurants in Portland!”). We drove up to the restaurant, happy to see it was open.

From outside, the restaurant looked pretty quiet. It was located on a quiet street, and not too many people were around. Things were looking promising.

We walked in. It didn’t seem like too many people were waiting.

The hostess kindly greeted us. We told her there were three of us.
“It’s going to be about an hour wait,” she said apologetically.

Pran, Bee, and I looked at each other. It was clear we were all thinking the same thing: No way were we waiting an hour.

“Can we get takeout?” Pran asked the hostess.

“Of course!” she replied happily.

Twenty minutes later, with Pok Pok’s famous chicken wings sitting on my lap and the smell of fish sauce engulfing us in the car, we were off and headed back to the hotel…
… Until we were stopped behind a railroad crossing. We watched unimpressed as the stop sign turned on, indicating that the train was to come through. At first, we laughed it off.

“You know sometimes these trains take so long you’re sitting there for, like, twenty minutes,” Bee commented from the backseat as the train slowly ambled past. We all laughed, considering the possibility but not really thinking that it would really take twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes later, we were still in the exact same position behind the railroad crossing.

“I really hope the chicken wings don’t get soggy.”
“Did you make sure they can breathe in the box?”
“I’m soooo hungry! I just want my chicken!”

Suddenly, the light was green again. We were finally off again, Pran’s GPS navigating our route.

Now I don’t really remember exactly how the next part happened, but somehow Pran took a wrong turn and all of a sudden we were crossing the bridge in the opposite direction, away from the hotel.

“Aww nooooooo!” Pran’s stress was palpable in the car. Bee and I knew that now was not the time to make jokes, but instead to assure Pran that it was ok, and to just keep following the GPS. I am certain this has happened to many people who drive, like when you accidentally take the wrong exit or accidentally turn onto the highway. It’s frustrating because it’s not an easy turnaround.

Ahead of us, we could see the large green highway sign indicating that we were heading in Seattle’s direction.

“We’re going to Seattle, kids!” We couldn’t help but still joke amid Pran’s distress.

After much concentration, we made it back to the hotel, and got to eat our chicken wings, though it turned out to be quite the unexpected mission. Oh, and yes, the chicken wings were very tasty.

Pok Pok's famous chicken wings, having survived the madness.

Part 2: Not Quite Coasting to the Oregon Coast.

It seems these situations always happen while we’re driving. On Saturday morning, with the sun finally showing its face and a lovely 18 degrees Celsius outside, we headed out to Cannon Beach, out on the Oregon Coast.

En route to Cannon Beach.

I guess Pran must have tried to take a bit of a risk and not fill up on gas, because halfway there he said to us, “If any of you see a gas station, can you let me know?”

Of course, it’s when you need it most that you can’t seem to find it. For the longest time, we didn’t see a single gas station on the highway.

“It’s running out fast, I really don’t want to be stranded here in the middle of the highway.” Less than 24 hours after the Heading-to-Seattle-with-Pok-Pok’s Incident, Pran was faced with stress again in his car.

A large building came into view.

“Is that a gas sta—no, shoot. It’s just a store.” Disappointment filled the car. Pran shook his head.

“Wait!” I exclaimed. “Those look like two pumps!”

“Pran, I think you should turn around now,” Bee told Pran. He made a quick turnaround on the side and headed back.

Luckily, my eyes didn’t deceive me. Gas pumps they were.

Two gas pumps, in Elsie, Oregon.

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In the next post, we finally meet the mysterious Bryan in Portland.

Stay tuned for more stories as well as VLOGS on Portland, Oregon!

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