Oregon Adventures | Portland and More

I spent a few weeks with my family in the state of Oregon and my brother who lives in Portland showed us around his new home. Portland certainly lives up to expectations. It is a really diverse city and has many different districts. Many people think that Portland is full of hugely individual people but I was nearly disappointed because almost everyone seemed to be 'alt' which made it a norm to be weird. I guess it's where the minority go to feel like part of the masses. Nonetheless, there were some pretty cool people knocking about. People who certainly keep to the city motto.

Portland's different districts means that it really has something for everyone. You can go to Downtown Portland and find yourself in the Pearl District which would be the richer area of the city. You will find yourself surrounded by gorgeous vintage shops, designer shops alike and sky-risers. Take a step into the Alberta Arts District and it's a whole other story. You are surrounded by gorgeous cafés, quirky shops, and of course, art. Everywhere. Street corners, sides of shops, telephone poles.

As a gal who is used to Dublin as her idea of a city. and of course NYC in my dreams, I was expecting the big city of Portland to be bustling with energy and creativity. But Portland sleeps early. You don't have the lads on the street at two or three in the morning. Most places close up about midnight, or not much later. And by day, the atmosphere is just as relaxed. It isn't very densely populated so it's pretty spread out and you don't find yourself bumping shoulders with anyone. It suits the hippy-type stereotype I guess. 

The food scene in Portland was so impressive. Whether you went to a really laid back restaurant or a fancy cafe, or even a food cart on the street (food carts are huge in Portland) you would find amazing food that is super fresh and delicious and at a really reasonable price. I remember being really surprised by the food carts and how good the grub was. When you think of a food cart here in Ireland you think of a chip van. This is not the case in Portland. There are parking lots full of them from all over the world. The choice is huge and the satisfaction? Immense.

Portlandians seem to be the champions of brunch. There are so many places to eat brunch that would have queues out the doors. That's another thing. They love their food and they will wait and they will queue for it. Don't think they wont. The biggest queue I saw was probably the one for VooDoo Doughnuts. Yes, I had some. Were they amazing? ..meh. They were creative and appealing, but I love me a standard jam doughnut. Although, Blue Star Donuts accompanied by a Stumptown cold brew coffee was perfection. A must have!

If you're big on coffee (me): Stumptown. If you're big on donuts: Blue Star Donuts (in my opinion). If you're big on ice cream: Salt and Straw. Salt and Straw are big on flavour and have some of the most confusing and delicious flavours I have ever had. And what's great is they let you try them first before buying a tub or cone (score!). Who would put blue cheese into an ice cream? And then match it with pear? These guys. (Tried that one:an experience). My personal favourite was the sea salt with caramel ribbons..my mouth is watering thinking about it. Check out their website for some flavour inspiration!

http://saltandstraw.com/flavors/#portland

So the city is full of art and fantastic food. What else? (What more could you need?) Vintage shopping! (Obv). Portland is a vintage gold mine. It's like I died and went to vintage heaven. Not to mention the market fairs that are on regularly throughout the city. If you don't dig that, there are massive outlet malls in the state for big brand bargains. Also, Nike anyone? Oregon is the home of Nike and the outlets are in huge supply. A personal favourite attraction of mine is Powell's Books. This place took up an entire block! A block filled with books and a coffee shop to top it all off: bliss. I bought a few books but not many (weight restrictions when flying is a bummer) but I could have stayed there for the day, as I'm sure many people do.

Attractions around Oregon

As well as all of the above, there is still loads to do in this state. I surprisingly really enjoyed the Portland Timbers soccer game we went to in the city one night. Fantastic atmosphere with really dedicated, chanting fans with mascots and cheerleaders to match. They even have a crazy tradition that they present the winners (or man of the match - I forget) with a piece of timber which is chain-sawed from a massive log of timber in front of the spectators as a sort of spectacle. Trust me, the crowd loved it!

Hiking in Oregon was the highlight of the trip for me. Even above vintage shopping! The hiking trails were so beautiful and really enjoyable. If you look back on my blog posts you will find photos from a lot of the hikes we did such as Ramona Falls, 10 Fall hike and soon, some from the trail around Trillium Lake. The views of Mount Hood were really something special. We spent some time in a log cabin in the woods where we got to really kick back away from the city with smores on the open fire and relax with a beer in the hot tub after a long hike. We even visited Timberline Lodge which was stunning, of course. 

We also spent a couple of days in a beach house in Lincoln City. It was a stone throw from the water, which we took bikes to and cycled along the eerie shore. I have pictures on my blog of this location too. It was the strangest beach I have ever been to. It was rather captivating. This was probably the most relaxed part of our trip.

Oregon has many scenic spots with its waterfalls and forestry. We drove to quite a few waterfalls throughout the state, all beautiful. We also drove to a couple of viewpoints too. Vista House had a fantastic view over Columbia Gorge. Pittock Mansion was another one which was only 20/30 minutes drive from Downtown Portland and had beautiful views and the mansion itself was equally beautiful. 

Not to forget Washington Park. This had a Zoo which we gave a miss, a rose garden and Japanese gardens. We visited the gardens on separate days but luckily got to the Japanese gardens the day before it was closed for months of renovations. The rose garden was underwhelming due to adverse weather conditions blowing a lot of the flowers away. But the Japanese gardens are just as I expected:gorgeous. I have posted pictures of them on here too. 

Safe to say I had a really great time in Oregon for the couple of weeks that we had there. Really relaxing whilst packing our days full of activity. I hope you enjoyed reading about my time there, and maybe even inspiring you to plan a trip! I know I will be going back ASAP. 

Thanks for reading!