We Went to Portland!
While we were ideating on how to appropriately celebrate our second wedding anniversary (2 for 2 in COVID-times, woo!), our wonderful friend Lauren suggested that we take a weekend trip to Portland. Given we had not come up with any ideas ourselves, we decided to follow Lauren's advice!
We would be completely remise if we did not mention the BEAUTY of the the drive to Portland. Google blessed us with different routes to Portland and from Portland, but the trip to Portland was breathtaking.
Mountain Driving!
Pictures of view never fully represent how great the view truly is, but we hope this picture gives you all some idea!
Mount Washington
After close to three hours of driving we arrived safely in Portland, checked in, and officially started our adventures by finding some late dinner!
Where We Stayed
Before we talk about our weekend, we must gush about our hotel. We stayed at The Moxy in Downtown Portland. We somehow don't have any pictures of the room, so we will have to describe it instead. Because of our short trip, we opted for "The Cozy" room. It was only as big as the king-sized bed in which was found in the room, but the décor and vibe were perfect for us. The room was clean, modern, and had the amenities we needed. The hotel was kind enough to provide a comped drink for the two of us. We both decided to take the special from the bar and it perfectly captures the spirit of the hotel: sweet, loud, and funky.
What We Did
Generally, we explored! Because of our prime location in Downtown Portland, we were primed for adventure. Upon arriving late Friday night, we quickly set out to find dinner. An Indian restaurant was just a block away so we sauntered over.
Friday Night
We walked into an empty restaurant and were greeted by a host who was surprised to see us and quickly let us know that the kitchen was closing in 20 minutes. Naturally, we stuck with what we knew. I ordered Lamb Vindaloo and Cecilia ordered Lamb Korma. We split Garlic Naan, of course.
(The chutney was the best we've had!)
The food was superb overall and we crashed pretty quickly after returning to our hotel room. We both recommend India House!
Saturday
Saturday was our only full day in Portland so we got an early start to maximize our time in the city. This was our journey in a snap shot.
(Thanks for stalking our every move, Google!)
A quick walk on a chilly morning led us to
Cheryl's on 12th which was open for brunch. The food was pretty tasty and we will happily return one day when we find ourselves in Portland again. A breakfast burrito, egg scramble, mimosa, and two cups of coffee later we set out to see the local attractions.
The first place we happened upon was the Powell's City of Books. This place is truly magical. It's a full city block in area, two-stories, and packed to the brim with books, both new and old. We stood in line for 15-some-minutes (and were regaled with some street tunes) in order to gain access. We ambled about the massive store perusing nerdy books and vintage advertisements. After what felt like only 10 minutes, we were forced to retreat to our hotel because of the combination of the lack of public bathrooms in the bookstore and the aforementioned two cups of coffee and a mimosa.
After a quick regroup, we headed out to the only planned outing of the weekend: The Portland Japanese Garden. A 10-minute drive to the west brought us to a beautiful park in which the Japanese Garden resided. We purchased our tickets and decided to remain in the park for the hour-and-a-half between the time we had purchased tickets and the time for which the tickets were; the proprietors of the garden were wisely metering access to the garden for health and safety reasons.
The natural beauty of the park more than made up for the long wait into the garden. While the International Rose Test Garden was not in bloom, there were many early-blooming spring flowers littered around the area to entertain us. We took many, many pictures and you can see them all in our picture dump at the bottom of this post!
There were two highlights of this park: the wonderful view of downtown Portland and the amphitheater. I will share the picture of the former in the moment, but I must comment on how cool the amphitheater was! Flanked on all sides by an assortment of trees, it was simultaneously private yet open. Many people had chosen this location for a lunch-time picnic, one group even taking theirs on the stage itself!
(The view, Mount Hood pictured)
The Japanese Garden was simply wonderful. The first thing that anybody would notice upon entering it was its serenity. Once you step past the threshold separating the garden from the park, one is taken aback by the quietness of the area. Just a moment ago, you were standing in a bustling park; people were playing tennis and cars were driving through. This sense of serenity persists for the all-too-short journey through the garden.
The garden features a few beautiful structures in the traditional style, a massive koi pond, many walking trails, and plenty of places to sit and be at peace. We both highly, highly recommend everybody seek out the Japanese Garden if you find yourself in Portland.
After our trek through the Japanese Garden, we stopped for some tea in uptown and made our way back to the hotel where we would recharge our batteries for a bit.
Feeling refreshed, I chose our cuisine for the night (sushi!) and walked to a restaurant I had chosen. The half-mile journey led us through the Pearl District which was industrial and bustling with people and restaurants. Luckily, the restaurant we had chosen was empty when we arrived and we had the place to ourselves for nearly the whole time! Cecilia and I split some roles and nigiri and were thoroughly satisfied. Real crab makes a huge difference!
The day was nearly over, but we still had one more plan for it (I lied about only having one plan earlier...). We needed to find Voodoo Doughnuts. So we did!
We drove a few blocks east, waited in line for about 30 minutes (which I have since been told that that amount of time was small), picked out our treats-of-choice, and excitedly made our way back to the hotel. We popped open the famous, pink box and bite into the first of five we had selected.
Our initial impression was... meh? (please don't hurt us, Portland stans) The rest were good, but not the Nirvana-inducing-experience that had been promised by many. I think we'll find ourselves in a Voodoo Doughnuts again in the future, but with more-even expectations.
Of the five, our ranking is as follows:
- Guava Colada
- Portland Cream
- The Homer
- Lemon Sunshine
- Maple Blazer Blunt
We would close the night off by quietly playing some cards and enjoying the comped drink from the hotel.
Sunday
Sunday would be a shortened day as we had planned to leave the city sometime between noon and one as to get back to Bend in a timely manner. We started the day off by sauntering around in a different part of Downtown and by stopping into the appropriately named Good Coffee.
After finishing our coffees, we made our way back to the massive bookstore just off Burnside. This time, we were prepared for the lack of bathrooms. We got to explore the entirety of the building and even picked out a book on simple Indian cooking! I am looking forward to getting settled in our home and taking a crack at the recipes.
We stocked up our car with the remaining doughnuts and a sandwich from Whole Foods and hit the road! This time, Google took us east.
This trip was beautiful, but as I mentioned before, not as pretty as our trip to Portland. It was neat driving through the town of Mount Hood when we had just been admiring it in the distance the day before.
Overall our quick weekend in Portland was wonderful! It was great to celebrate our second anniversary in a "more normal" way, explore a new city, take in the natural beauty of Oregon, and just get away. We are both eager to make our way back to the city, so feel free to recommend your favorite parts of Portland.
As promised, here are all of our pictures from the weekend:
link.
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