2012 Northwest Paper Chase--Day 1

The Northwest Paper Chase has become a yearly tradition that I love taking part in!  It started on March 2nd, and runs through March 18th.  To take part in the Paper Chase, you purchase a "Passport" from any participating store, and take it to get stamped at each store you visit.  You also get a lapel pin and 20% off at every store.  This year's theme is "Let's Eat!", and each store has a layout for a recipe of their theme! 
While I love hitting the chase with the girls, everyone seemed busy, so I rooked my husband into riding along with me! (With the promise of VooDoo Doughnuts and Otto's in Portland, Oregon at the finish! He he he!) 
We ended up getting a little later start than planned, due to a super late night the evening before, but we were in Lacey at Sharin' Memories by the time it opened.  The laughs started right off the bat!  We were greeted with "Hello, ladies!", and I looked back at my husband and laughed! The owner laughed and quickly added "gentleman". LOL!  Of course that was all it took for my husband to start bantering with them as I shopped.  I swear he flirted with all the ladies throughout the chase! 

Once back on the road, we headed towards Centralia to Cindy's Simple Stuff and Scrappy Stamper, both stores I enjoy travelling south for!  At Cindy's, my husband was lured in with the promise of their yummy pumpkin bread, and sat at the table to "guard" the remainder of the pieces for all.  Soon the store was incredibly packed, and all he had to do was say "Honey", and about 20 women all stopped and stared at him in response.  Of course he let that go to his head, and then he joked that the picture opportunity only cost $1 for each to sit on his lap!  Well, one of the shop ladies just kept going with it and actually offering to take pictures of other women on his lap for $1!!! It was completely hilarious!  He said he was pimping himself out for lunch money, since I wouldn't feed him.  Lol!

After visiting Centralia, we ventured on to Scappoose, Oregon, to visit the newest (and farthest!) store on the hop.  It was quite the drive, but we finally made it.  Not sure that I'd venture there again...it really was quite small, and not much selection, but the owner seemed nice. 

At that point, we were done with our plan of stores for the day, so we trekked to Portland.  This was my second time, ever, to Portland, and this time we were able to find parking and hit VooDoo Doughnuts.  I swear that I had THE BEST bacon MAPLE BAR, EVER!!!  We also bought a few others to try, as well as a couple of requests from friends.  Rounding out the Portland places we had to visit, we went to Otto's and bought some yummy sausage, horseradish, a pastrami on rye sandwich, and other assorted yummies to enjoy at home. 

All in all, we had a great (and very tiring!) day, and drove around 300 miles of paper chasing fun!  I can't wait for the next weekend!  :o)  ~Hoppy Crafting!