Each year Virgin America has a 2 for 1 flight giveaway at a San Francisco Giants game. Eric and I try to get the voucher each year so we can take two vacations together for the price of one. 2013 was Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas.
For short trips, we always try to stay in an Airbnb. We managed to find a place within a few blocks of 23rd and N. Burnside, which was a great beginning spot for each day.
A word of advice: Normally we would start the day with coffee, but we began our first day with Washington Park, which includes the Japanese Garden and Rose Garden. The gardens don’t allow outside drinks other than water, so caffeine would have to wait.
We spent about an hour and a half wandering the gardens and taking in all of the beautiful scenery. The leaves were changing, and the weather was PERFECT (the Saints were playing that weekend, so you’ll notice I’m wearing whodat attire in every photo).
A word of advice: If you go during the late fall like we did, the Japanese Garden and the leaves will be incredible, but the Rose Garden will be pretty bare. A bit of a bummer, but NOTHING beats the beautiful colors of fall that we don’t get in San Francisco.
After the garden, we satisfied our morning fix with Sunny Day Coffee at the beginning of 23rd Street. This is the CUTEST little coffee shop. When we travel, we really try to find local spots that have a lot of character. This fits that bill PERFECTLY. They have an earl grey latte that was to die for – as soon as I finished it I wished I had another.
In my opinion, nothing goes better with coffee than books, so we headed over to Powell’s to explore the largest bookstore in the United States. Y’all, this bookstore is so large, that they give you a map when you enter so you can find your way around (and get back to the front when you inevitably get lost). They call it the “City of Books.” They have both new and used books, which is awesome. I spent over an hour wandering the shelves, and came out with so many books that we almost needed to buy another suitcase.
Afterwards we stopped at Jake’s Famous Crawfish across the street for a decadent lunch. Being from New Orleans, I’m always looking for great seafood. Get the crab and artichoke appetizer – I promise you won’t regret it.
We purposefully ate a lighter lunch, because we knew we wanted to check out Voodoo Doughnuts. Now y’all, I am the LAST person to stand in line for something. I HATE waiting in line. There is little food that is worth an hour long wait to me (unless I can sit at a bar and have some drinks while I wait). This was worth it.
A word of advice: We went around 2 pm and the wait was only a little over an hour. It helped that it was sprinkling a little bit and people didn’t want to stand in the rain.
We ended the day watching the LSU game at Huber’s with a Spanish Coffee. Full transparency, we went only because my best friend’s last name is Huber, and I thought it would be funny to check in and tag her on facebook. We didn’t know at all what to expect, and we were SO impressed. The Spanish Coffee is a mix of Kahlua, Bacardi 151, Bols triple sec and coffee topped with fresh whipped cream and nutmeg. It’s set on fire before it’s ready to drink, and the show of making it is almost as great as the drink itself.
Day Two
We began our day again with Sunny Day Coffee. We couldn’t get enough of the delicious brews and amazing friendly staff.
We spent the first part of our morning walking up and down 23rd Street. There are a ton of shops and restaurants – perfect for a quick stroll while we enjoyed our coffee.
As it was Sunday, we needed to find a place to watch football. We decided to head over to Deschutes Brewery for some food and the game. The brewery has flights you can purchase to try all of the different beers on tap.
After the game, we took the MAX, which is the Portland light rail train, downtown to visit some of the shops. We strolled the main mall, and also hit up the Nike store, which was a huge deal for Eric. After Nike, we took a walk along the Willamette River to the Hawthorne bridge. The bridge was built in 1910, and you can walk across to get a great view of the city and the river.
After the bridge, we continued walking along the river to the Portland Aerial Tram. I am TERRIFIED of heights, but decided to do this anyways. It’s about a 4 minute ride each way, and offers AMAZING views of the city. The wait was only a few minutes, and it was way worth being afraid for a few minutes.
For dinner we decided to head over to Departure Bar and Restaurant. It’s located on the top floor of an office building downtown and is rated one of Nokia’s best views in the world. We had some great Asian fusion cuisine, some delicious martinis, and enjoyed the sunset. We also managed to snap this amazing photo of Eric that continues to be his Facebook profile picture to this day.
As our last stop before turning in, we hit up Ground Kontrol, an arcade bar with a ton of vintage video games and pinball machines. We had a few pbr’s as I kicked Eric’s ass at Pacman.
In just two days we were able to see a TON of the city. We had an amazing time, and can’t wait to go back. Let us know what your favorite places are in Portland so we can add them to our next itinerary!
