My PNW Dreams Came True!
I have entertained a dream of visiting the pacific northwest for a while... to live out my Twilight dreams and to breathe fresh mountain air! It finally came true as me and my best friend Megan visited the great city of Portland, OR as a lil post-graduation trip x besties honeymoon (ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ)♡ Here's what we got up to:
Day 1: BWI to ORD to PDX
We flew out of Baltimore on May 28th! Rolled out of bed at 3:45am in order to be first in line at the Aunty Anne's. I've never seen such mountainy mountains out of the plane window before! Shoutout us for packing only one big suitcase to share.
Day 2: Puffins?
We drove to Cannon Beach with a Trader Joe's picnic in tow and with hopes of seeing puffins! No puffins were found, much to our chagrin, but we did see lots of common murres and wonderful flowers on our walk around town.
We went on a mini-hike to a cliff where we saw more wildflowers, ocean waves, and sheer rock cliffs that made both of our palms sweat.
After driving back, we embarked on a journey to find Last Thursday, an alleged food-and-music festival that had a mysterious location hidden from us. Lots of walking but we ended up at a food truck called Mole Mole. We also found an outdoor cat that literally loved us.
Day 3: Roses! Dance Party!
We met up with Megan's cousin Jazz and sniffed the largest, fluffiest, most fragrant roses at the Portland Rose Gardens!
We hit up the thrift (Goodwill), ate sushi burritos at Hawthorne Asylum food trucks, and went back to the hostel for a mini beer and cider tasting. Then we dolled ourselves up for a Y2K dance party on the East Side! This day i was very grumpy.
a girl at the party gave us each a little butterfly hairclip! I love being a girl. Day 4: Souvenir shopping, big-ah donuts, improv, Pride-eve!
Visited the Portland Saturday Market! Such a fun crafts-and-jewelry market that was on the banks of the river. Picked up some souvenirs for my loved ones as well as these amazing funky pants that spark Joy in me! Had to pick up some Voodoo doughnuts on the way back of course (after much deliberation we chose, bacon and maple, hibiscus, mango, and churro cheesecake).
In the evening we set out to the East side for an improv show (of course) at Kickstand comedy and then grabbed a drink and watched a mini drag show at the Big Gay Summer party. Winded up at McMenamin's tavern for a quick game of pool.
Day 5: Do go chasing waterfalls! and support the arts!
I woke up early to attend a yoga class at a nearby studio, which was actually in an old chapel complete with stained glass windows! I nearly fainted during the class and I don't know why, but it felt so good to have a practice and move around my travel-wearied body.
For lunch we got sandwiches at Jojo's, which we agreed were in the top 5 of meals we had had so far. Took a bus out to Multnomah falls, where we hiked to the top of the Multnomah waterfall and also to see a second waterfall. We got to feel the water (i even took off my shoes and socks because I just had to feel the water rushing over my feet obv)
We cleaned up at the hostel and then dolled up to see a showing of The Importance of Being Earnest, a more modern adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play. It was a preview showing, so we got tickets through Pay What You Will! And it was really good, entertaining and funny. I should probably mention that we Lime Scootered there.
Day 6: JADE RABBITTTTT
Jazz picked us up to tour around the Fruit Loop area, where we visited a few fruit stands, did some vintage antique shopping, and got to admire Mt. Hood in all her snowy beauty. Rainier cherries and goats.
In the afternoon we walked through the Portland Japanese Gardens! Did you know that Portland has a partnership with Sapporo, Japan? It was such a beautiful park, filling me instantly with the desire to slow down, be mindful, and shut my yapper.
We shelled out the big bucks to go to the Jade Rabbit for dinner, an all-vegan dim sum restaurant that I had scoped out back at home! It was SO WORTH IT and we were licking our plates by the end.
For dessert we finally tried Salt and Straw ice cream (meg got pear & gorgonzola !! and I got cherry pie with almond crust) and of course we ended back at McMenamin's for a drink.
Day 7: risked it all for the hand-pulled noodles
On our last day, we revisited some of our favorite spots: Buffalo Exchange for the thrift, Powell's bookstore for the bathrooms, and Midtown Beer Garden for the food trucks. We got birria tacos at Papi Chulo's and scootered our way across the river to check out another by-the-pound thrift store. With minutes to spare, we risked it all and ordered some hand-pulled noodles at the food trucks because we agreed that we wanted to try more asian food in Portland before leaving. We grabbed our bags at the hostel, and jumped on the bus to the airport.
Little did we know, it was freaking "Fleet Week" in Portland, meaning the bridges were pulled up and public transport was all wacky! We transferred to a different bus, waited in traffic for ages, and eventually ended up running through the airport in order to catch our 6:40pm flight home.
My reflections:
- We had such a great trip!! We know Portland backwards and forwards now - with the exception of maybe the hot springs, we checked off every thing on our list!
- Portland gave us her nicest weather and her most beautiful views
- Portland has obviously amazing food, but also such pretty and interesting flowers and plants and areas in nature
- Shoutout McMenamin's Tavern, the Portland Haircut, and the public transportation system
Comments
Post a Comment