perfect, perfect portland

On Monday August 28th, I got on the Amtrak train superrrrr early in Vancouver to head to Portland. The train ride was very pretty but very very long. I do not think I'd do it again just because it felt like I wasted a few hours at least. Once I got into Portland I grabbed a much needed shower in the beautiful Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront. Great hotel & would absolutely recommend. It's a smidge pricey so I used my points but if you can splurge or have the points as well I would definitely suggest! I then headed to Cascade Brewing to grab some brews and grub with my good friend & fellow ADPi Kelly from GT. It was so great seeing her as it'd be about 3 years! We just randomly were both in Portland at the exact same time. I also got to meet her boyfriend for the first time. Afterwards, we went to Portland City Grill to see some views of Portland at night. It's the highest viewpoint in Portland and literally only 30 floors. Kind of funny after having been to places like NYC and Chicago! It was very nice to spend some time with a familiar face after being alone for a few days.

the best brewery ever... e-v-e-r

some night views of Portland!

kelly & me!

On Tuesday, I woke up and took in the sunrise from my room. Then headed to Mother's Bistro for brunch. YUMMY! I got migas and a House Coffee and both were very good. This place is highly rated and rightly so. My parents and my good friend Ellie had recommended it personally as well. You 200% have to check this out if you are in Portland. After I finished my awesome meal, I went to Powell's. I roamed around for about an hour there because I was blown away by the number of books in this store. It's the largest independent bookstore and it will rock your world. You can easily spend even longer here though and I personally had to cut it a little short strictly because I wanted to go on a tour at 11am. I met up with this awesome tour called Secrets of Portlandia. HIGHLY recommend. The tour guide is named Eric and it is honestly one of the best tours I've been on {and I have been on like 30+ walking tours!}. He showed us all the weird & funky parts of Portland (inclusive of Benson bubblers, Voodoo Doughnut, and the smallest park in the world). After the tour I got some awesome empanadas from a Colombian food truck and a doughnut from Voodoo Doughnuts. Sorry to crush everyone's dreams but I just got a vanilla with sprinkles, I know I am so lame. Then I headed to Deschutes Brewery for a brew! This is a very famous brewery in Portland. It's okay.... nothing special. Honestly, I was so blown away by Cascades I probably was not going to be very impressed with anything else, haha. I then headed to the Japanese Gardens. You do have to pay $14...which I was pretty EH about but I also know that right next door was the Rose Gardens which you did not have to pay for that so I think it balanced out. The Japanese Gardens were very peaceful and pretty. I loved the fish and all the rock formations. The Rose Garden was also absolutely beautiful! So many flowers it's hard to believe it. I then dropped by Hair of a Dog Brewing (what a fab name!). So I had heard really good things about this one but honestly they had like zero beers that sounded that interesting to me. I tried one but it was blehhhhh so I decided to leave. I walked over to The Commons Brewery which I'd been told was phenomenal for sours. Yes, phenomenal. Not Cascades but as close as I'd seen thus far. I would definitely recommend heading to that brewery. They also have fondue... and who does not like fondue...

migas!

neverending books

so.many.ticket.to.ride.things

my tan line from Canada... thanks..

a bensen bubbler - aka water fountain!

statue of Portlandia - Portland's greatest secret

the smallest park in the world!

voodoo doughnut!

the columbian foodtruck! empanadas galore

my voodoo doughnut

fried zucchini for the win

so many bonsai trees

them fishies

japanese garden so peaceful

rose garden

On Wednesday I woke up and had a weird craving for crepes. So thank god for Google, cause I quickly found one called Kat's Crepes. Got a strawberry, banana and Nutella + a coffee....life was good. I walked around the waterfront for about an hour just checking out the scenery. Then, my new best friend Sergio picked me up for my Oregon wine tour. Yes, it was just me & Sergio! Super nice 71 year old guy who is a tour guide and owns his own company called Endless Oregon Tours. We went to three wineries and he gave me a ton of tidbits of information. I would definitely recommend this tour. It is CHEAPER than others and much more personal. I also got this absolutely spectacular cheese plate at the second winery.  The three wineries we went to were: Apolloni Vineyards, SOMETHING I CANNOT REMEMBER :( and Elk Cove. It is quite unfortunate I do not remember the second one because that's where I got the amazing cheese plate and it was the best one. They gave me some port. Maybe I'll remember one day; guess I could ask my pal Sergio! After I wrapped up the tour I got an awesome Italian meal at a place called Piazza Italia. Unfortunately I was so hungry I forgot the picture (embarrassing). Sorry. I had some weird craving so I asked my tour guide and he recommended it... it also has great reviews. After I walked to 10 Barrel Brewing. I planned to try a few places (1 brew at each place) but I lovedddd 10 Barrel so I ended up staying there. I also randomly struck up a conversation with this Australian guy that was at the bar. He had been hiking in Glacier National Park which is a place I want to go now after going to Canada so we exchanged some stories and it was a good convo. 

my yummy crepe

so many to taste!

so many good cheeses

gorgeous scenery (the fields not me..)

awesome brewery!

My last day in Portland was spent in the Gorge and Mount Hood. Instead of renting a car I decided to book a tour since I only had time to spend 1 day there anyways. I booked the tour through Wildwood Tours. I thought the tour was awesome and I would definitely recommend. Jessie was my tour guide and it was a small group of 5... actually 3 solo ladies + a couple. We spent the first few hours getting to the Gorge and seeing multiple waterfalls. The Multnomah Falls was the most famous and I just loved exploring the area and capturing some amazing snapshots of it. After, we went to Hood River for a bite to eat. I ended up at Full Sail Brewery. Um... YES. The beer was good (got a great flight that looked so amazing, check out my pic below!) and also got the salmon fish 'n chips. Apparently that is a thing! It was so good. Anyone that knows me knows I am not the biggest fan of seafood but I had to make an exception since I heard from a few people that this was the THING to eat. I'm glad I ended up getting it. Once we wrapped up here, we went to a lookout for Mount Hood to take some gorgeous pictures. Then we checked out this AWESOME fruit stand + cider place. They had like 20+ types of cider and I tasted the Pear one. Very cool & interesting concept. The amount of fruit was insane. Then we headed up to Timberline Lodge (fyi this is where some parts of The Shining were shot). We explored some more and checked out the peak of Mount Hood. This concluded the tour so I took a nice nap on the way back to Portland. Once I got back to the Marriott, I walked around some more and checked out some more food trucks. Don't worry... I did not eat anymore just took in the scenery. Then it was time to head to the airport for my red eye flight to ATL!

just cheesing in front of waterfalls <3

multnomah falls!

well this is spectacular!

salmon fish 'n chips + beer flight!

you rocking mt hood

cutest little cider glass!

just me accidentally taking pictures, my best activity

the tip of mt hood!

timberline lodge!

never ending line of food trucks

I would definitely recommend Portland to any & everyone. I want to check out the coast next time I go and spend another day in wine country. Cannot wait for the next trip!