Over Memorial Day weekend, Dale and I took our first road trip together to the wonderful land of hipsters aka Portland. We headed out from the Tri-Cities Saturday morning armed with large sodas from McDonald's (Diet Dr. Pepper with no ice for him, Diet Coke with lemon for me), sourpatch kids, and goldfish--all topped off with a mix CD I made for the drive.
We spent a few days in Portlandia exploring the Pearl District and the Kenton Station neighborhood. Minus me catching a nasty cold halfway through our trip, it couldn't have been a more perfect mini vacation for us.
Portland Saturday Market
Our first stop was the
Portland Saturday Market. We arrived a little after 10am and spent the rest of the morning exploring the area before we headed to
Mi Mero Mole for lunch. I wish I'd taken a picture of the burritos we got. They were AMAZING. Dale did an excellent job picking out this place. After lunch we headed towards the heart of the Pearl District for a little book browsing at
Powell's.
Kenton Station
For our two-night stay in Portland, we decided to try out
Airbnb and stayed at a
great little two-bedroom studio in the Kenton Station neighborhood. It was perfect for us and was much more reasonably priced than a hotel. For anyone who hasn't used Airbnb before, I would definitely recommend it. It took putting in for a few places before we got this one but it all worked out quite well in the end.
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| airbnb kenton station studio |
Kenton Station was a cute little neighborhood on the north side of town. Only a few blocks from where we stayed was a quaint little corridor filled with shops and restaurants. Saturday night we ate dinner at the
Kenton Station Restaurant & Pub and it did not disappoint. The sandwiches were so big we saved half for lunch the next day.
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| his and hers hot cocoa at cup & saucer cafe |
We ate a lot of good food on our trip but my favorite place was definitely the
Cup & Saucer Cafe. Just a few blocks from our Airbnb, we walked down for breakfast two days in a row--it was that good. From dense blueberry biscuits to delish egg scrambles filled with bacon, Tillamook cheddar cheese, and jalapenos, this place knew what it was doing. The staff was also incredibly friendly and welcoming, which in my opinion always adds to a pleasurable dining experience.
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hanging out with paul bunyan
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Washington Park
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| international rose test garden |
On Sunday we headed to
Washington Park, home to the
International Rose Test Garden,
Oregon Zoo, and
Portland Children's Museum among many other attractions. It was a busy day at the park. The rose garden was filled with tourists snapping pictures and admiring the bountiful blooms, so naturally we joined in on the fun. After we'd had our fair share of roses, we hopped on the very convenient shuttle and headed to the
Oregon Zoo.
The zoo was packed with families and couples but we still enjoyed spending the afternoon walking through the exhibits. By this time my cold was starting to take over, so we only made it through about half of the zoo before heading back to our little studio so I could take a nap. After some much needed rest, we ventured out for dinner. I still wasn't feeling too good so we stopped at the grocery store for medicine and juice. Then we spent the rest of the night relaxing, eating sorbet, and watching Netflix together.
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| posing with the roses |
Multnomah Falls
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| multnomah falls |
Monday morning we took a little scenic detour to see
Multnomah Falls before heading back to the Tri-Cities. When we drove out of Portland a reader board indicated the parking lot for the falls was full but we didn't let that deter us. Armed with determination and patience, Dale was able to snag us a great parking spot. The falls are over 600 feet tall and there's a lovely bridge you can access to get a closer look.
Our first road trip was an absolute blast. We're looking forward to many more fun adventures together!
