Portland was my first time in the Pacific Northwest and I freaking LOVED IT!!!! My drunk plane self loved it too, considering I told the Uber drive the same thing all the way from the airport to the hotel and then quickly hopped on my phone to let social media know my feels as well. Let it be known, I am quite a good time.
Downtown Portland was super interesting to me. Gabe and I both kept saying that something was different but not overtly different that you could call it out. Basically what we decided was that it was suburbia, residential housing, greenery and quiet one way streets all in the middle of downtown. It was so cute and quaint but alive and happening all at the same time.
I received a TON of recommendations on where to eat and drink in Portland and although we hit a LOTTA spots, it was impossible to make it to all of them. In recap, our days in Portland were spent eating, drinking, walking, shopping (hello no sales tax) and hiking. SO MUCH FUN. For brevity sake, I’ll list the main places we went and keep the deets short and sweet for your researching purposes!
Chinatown: Don’t.
Coffee:
Case Study was cute, charming, with the nicest barista. He was old school and so legit. A great place to sit and just enjoy the moment, honestly, one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Stump town–this place was so vibey and I was in love with the cute hotel attached on the left (one of the main reasons I went back because the sitting area looked so cozy). When they say it’s hard to find a bad cup of coffee in Portland, they mean it. No complaints out of me!
Sweets:
We had Voodoo Doughnuts in Austin and were instant fans, but we wanted to give their competitor Blue Star a try. We went with the Buttermilk Old Fashioned and the Blueberry Bourbon Basil. The basil one was super fresh and they absolutely perfected the cake donut. Keeping it real though, if you made me pick then I’m going to Voodoo and snaggin’ the Old Dirty Bastard. It’s lights out, seriously. Gabe said it best, if you want the best classic donut then Blue Star takes it, but for everything else we’re Voodoo fans. Salt and Straw for ice cream is a no brainer. I’ve had it in LA but Gabe needed to taste the goodness for himself. Highly recommend the Cinnamon Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Gooey Brownie.
Da Sights:
Powell’s Book Store is a must-largest one in the world! 
Dude, it was massive. Floors upon floors with so many aisles–any book you could want like legit had to be there haha.
Pittock Mansion: We ubered up here for the view, snapped some pics, and then walked down the back way to the main drag. The view was beautiful and we could still see the mountain even though it was a bit cloudy this day. We didn’t buy tickets to tour the mansion which I held zero raaagrats about.
Nike World Headquarters: K, soooo, this was a private campus, but we got dropped off and walked around for an hour without anyone saying anything? It was pretty neat though, talk about a place with it’s own freaking zip code. We eventually got asked to leave but we did see some cool Tiger, Michael, and Lebron stuff so we were satisfied.
Forest Park was great for a nearby hike. A lot of the ones that were recommended were a fair distance out of the city. We entered at the Macleay entrance and then walked two miles to the Witch’s Castle. We also attempted the Rose Garden, but nothing was in bloom nor was there a bud in sight. Per many sites it said the best time to go was April to October–I’d push that back to late May/June.
Brunch: My top TWO favorite brunch spots that we hit up–Brunch Box and Mother’s. Brunch Box was a walk up and order, take your number type of place so no bougie brunching here, but best burger in town for sure. As you can see, there was NO time to take a pic after that first bite–SO GOOD.
Featured: Breakfast nachos, salmon hash, biscuits and gravy.
Mother’s was all about the boujiness and let me recommend to you the breakfast nachos. *moment of silence please*. Seriously, one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Other good brunch spots that we sampled at were Tasty and Alder and Jam on Hawthorne.
Breweries:
Just like coffee shops, I felt like the recommendations for breweries were never ending. Our first stop was at 10 Barrel Brewery. 
It was 75 and sunny so we parked ourselves on the rooftop and enjoyed the unfamiliar warm weather (we be Clevelanders). We also hit up Rock Bottom Brewery to hide from the hour of rain, perfect spot to sit and grab a quick drink. 
Deschutes was our stop to sample some goodness before dinner.
It had a homey vibe with wood beams throughout the entire restaurant.
Shopping:
I freaking loved NW 23rd street! So many cute boutiques, restaurants, coffee shops etc. I snagged a little something from a place called Pinky’s and then stopped in Urban Outfitters because let me say it again–Portland has no sales tax! Another great street we meandered through was Hawthorne. 60 blocks where you can find food trucks, restaurants, shopping, etc. I preferred 23rd street, but still had fun on this side of town. We walked the Hawthorne Bridge to get there and I’d say the fun started around 12th street, picked up around 23rd street, and then had some breaks in between. We walked as far as 47th street for some Por Que No happy hour shiz.
Other food stops:
There weren’t any specific places we stopped for dinner but some other good spots worth sharing. Portland City Grill is a great spot to grab a drink and see the city with its floor to ceiling windows. We headed up there for sunset and plopped ourselves near a window. Por Que No was recommended quite a few times and it seemed to be Portland’s Barrio for all you Clevelanders who understand. The first night we grabbed tacos and the second day we stopped at another location for some margarita happy hours. I wouldn’t say the food was overly amazing but for sure worth the Portland experience. The drinks were nice and strong though and they let you sample their many margaritas while waiting in line to order :).
We did stop in Pok Pok a highly highly recommended Thai restaurant but Gabe couldn’t handle the authenticity so we bounced and went somewhere else. The menu was family style and if the restaurant’s busy, you can go park yourself across the street at the Whiskey Soda Lounge. We also snagged a bite at Sizzle Pie, 
which seemed to be a vegan pizza restaurant. We each got ‘cuts’ (aka smaller than a slice) to give it a try. They were yummy, nothing overly amazing….except that goat cheese was pretty bomb.
Murals:
I didn’t make the murals too much of a priority in Portland but we did stop by a few on the way to other adventures: The Rhino, Keep Portland Weird, and Portland Oregon light up sign.
Overall, Portland was amazing. I hope to go back and do more hiking, that would be first on my list. Gabe kindly keeps track of all the places we go and the order we do them in, so attached below is a snap shot of our two days if you need an idea how to structure your trip! I hope you use this for all of your Portlandia adventures 🙂
Till next time friends!
-Lauren
