Portland Part 1

Thursday started extremely early with a 4:45am wakeup call. I had to drop Evelyn off with my mom since my husband had to work and Henry had school. We beat all the Atlanta traffic and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. After catching up with the girls and a few cocktails, we set out for our Portland weekend on the 9:00am flight. One of the best things about traveling to the West Coast is that you gain 3 hours. We arrived at 11:30am PST and basically had the whole day to enjoy. The drive from the airport to our Airbnb rental was quick and the location of the home was ideal. Located in a residential area of the NW/Nob Hill district, the house was perfect for 4 girls. There wasn’t any street noise, traffic or random people walking by at all hours. If you are traveling with a small group (4 and under) I highly recommend this listing. Besides, having an entire house to yourself and splitting the cost with friends is way cheaper than a hotel.

Portland has an incredible food truck scene (over 500!) and there are trucks everywhere you look (view map here). We headed to SW Washington since we were starving and it took forever for us to decide. I wanted a sampling from every cart. The smell was so amazing and since I was basically ready to pass out, I could have devoured everything. I chose Mac & Trees since I love all things carbs and dairy and got the Blue Cheese Please: blue cheese crumbles, bacon, spinach, carmelized onions, breadcrumbs and a balsamic glaze. No joke, it is now in my top five favorites of all time (a close second to the truffle mac and cheese in Malibu last Fall).

After putting ourselves in a food coma we walked to the Ace Hotel to take pictures in the photo booth (I do this wherever I go and must have over 1,000 strips by now) and for a pick me up at Stumptown Coffee. Most of my friends know that I drink iced coffee year round so even though it was a tad chilly and rainy out, I still had their classic brew over ice. We wandered over to Powell’s Bookstore, their flagship location with over 1 million books, and got lost in the aroma of old paperbacks. I am a huge fan of bookstores and still enjoy reading a real book. Of course I spent most of my time in the children’s section and was amazed at all the kids books I had never heard of. I bought a few for the kids and scored some amazing vintage Easter books for their baskets. We did some more wandering and shopping around the Pearl District and the weather ended up being pretty decent so we were able to do a lot of walking. After working up an appetite (i.e., craving a beer) we stopped into Deschutes Brewery for some cold beers before dinner. I split a flight with one of the girls which had six different 4 ounce beers. My favorite was the Theory of Sourtivity, since it tasted a bit like champagne. No brainer. buy fluoxetine online https://bethanyhealthcare.org/wp-content/languages/new/fluoxetine.html no prescription

For Thursday dinner we kept it low key at Mother’s Bistro & Bar. We were exhausted from being up before dawn and this home cooked inspired restaurant was perfect. It’s no shocker that I ordered the Chicken Fried Chicken: crispy buttermilk & spice-marinated chicken breast topped with country gravy and served with mashed potatoes. I chose broccoli as my side and it was the freshest broccoli I have ever tasted, even being from the South! The lighting was really dark so I couldn’t get any good pictures of my dinner, but use your imagination to figure out what fried chicken and mashed potatoes look like 🙂 buy lipitor online https://bethanyhealthcare.org/wp-content/languages/new/lipitor.html no prescription

Friday morning we all woke up at 5:30am being that we were still on East Coast time (this was 8:30 for me and I felt so refreshed since all my days at home usually start by 5am). We threw on some hiking clothes and headed to Voodoo Donuts in Old Town Chinatown to pump ourselves full of sweet before the car ride to Multonomah Falls (smart right?) There was no line at Voodoo when we got there which was shocking since every picture I have seen shows the line around the block. This was another fortunate part of our trip … we never hit any lines or had a wait time except twice. These donuts were so fun to eat and the Homer Simpson (pink) and Rice Krispy, Chocolate + Peanut Butter were my favorites. They also made a mean maple too! buy valtrex online https://bethanyhealthcare.org/wp-content/languages/new/valtrex.html no prescription

After coming home to rest and freshen up, we went to get our burger on at Tilt. All the food is hand crafted and the gourmet burgers live up to their prices. Of course I chose the The Big Tilt: two chuck patties, bacon, egg, American cheese, pickles, tomato, onion and lettuce on a three layer bun. Yes, you read all that correctly. I am going on record here to say this was the best burger I’ve ever had. Paired with a cold beer and the handcrafted cheddar tots, we were all in Heaven.

We did a little shopping in Sunnyside, which reminded me of Little 5 Points in Atlanta, before going home for some R&R. Nap time definitely happened and it was nice to relax without having a baby monitor on my nightstand table or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse blaring from the TV. We had a late dinner at The Matador, one of the two times we had a wait because we didn’t make reservations and came at 8:15. Fortunately we found some seats at the bar and ordered a few margaritas which were some of the best I’ve ever had, not to mention strong, which was perfect for a Friday evening without kids. We all split the Queso Fundido and I ordered the Mushroom & Goat Cheese Quesadilla with Shrimp and it was the bomb. I’m a sucker for Mexican food and could eat it everyday, so it was such a relief to find some good Mexican while I was in Portland. The staff at the Matador were so friendly and the service was very speedy. This definitely stood out as the nicest staffed restaurant I visited on this trip.

We definitely packed a ton of food and fun into our first two days on the trip and now I am starving looking at all those yummy pictures. They get even better with part two of our travels coming later this week. Yay for Wednesday and warm Atlanta weather! xo, friends!