Saturday morning we drove to Fremont to eat at Beth's Cafe. It's been featured on the Travel Channel, the Food Network, The Learning Channel and was even voted "Best Place to Cure a Hangover" by Seattle Magazine. I'm all for award winning places!
So pulling up I was a tad confused. But hey, dives are sometimes the best places, I told myself!
They are known for their 6 or 12 egg omelettes. Trav pounded the six and I helped. ;)
Glancing around was not really in your best interest. I honestly wondered how it passed health inspections.
Trav had to tell me who the guy on the bucket was.
Ice T.
For the iced tea...
I had to go to the bathroom but hepatitis was not exactly on my to-do list for this trip.
The food was fine, but I really think this is your place if you're just looking to pig out.
We had a three hour drive to Portland and it was the only time during our whole trip that it consistently rained. Such great timing! We listened to General Conference the whole way and enjoyed the green scenery.
Entering Portland!
It wasn't time to check into our hotel yet so we found some parking and moseyed on over to the popular Saturday Market. Yay! Another market! Again with Travis's everlasting patience. He seriously gets husband of the year! It was right on the waterfront and had rows and rows of displays of homemade goods. The caramel guy was smart and handed out samples. We took two bags! :)
This cat shop though! I KNEW I was missing a creepy cat necklace on yarn in my life! The best is that the sign had to clarify "for humans".
We passed a caricature booth and I was intrigued. For the next few minutes I debated in my head whether to reallllly push my luck here and ask Trav to do one with me. There wasn't anything else I wanted to buy and I thought it would be a fun memory. When I finally got up the courage to ask him he hesitated ever so slightly then said we could do whatever I wanted. Oh my goodness! He didn't even make me beg! Honestly, how did I score such an amazing man?! No guilt trip or anything! He's a keeper.
It was a little awkward sitting there while people passed and looked over the artist's shoulder, looked at us, then back at the sketch. Some would make jokes, but finally one lady told us it looked really good. Then another group stopped to get their own done after seeing what a good job the lady was doing. We probably sat for about 20 minutes before she showed it to us. Ahhhhh! I couldn't help but giggle in happiness! I LOVED it!!!!! Yay!! I'm so glad we got it done. This baby is getting framed. I could have kissed Travis's face off!
There were lots of food vendors of every nationality but what did I end up with?! A pretzel. Ha! We also both got some homemade ice cream.
There were also these "elephant ears" that were supposedly a local favorite that I decided to try. After tasting it I realized we refer to them as, fry bread. ;)
From there, we drove over to the Sky Tram. It's just a gondola that takes you from sea level I guess... up the side of a mountain to where their OHSU campus is. It travels over 3,000 feet, rising 500 feet.
There's a lookout point at the top. I actually was more interested in checking out the university, but we just rode it back down instead.
I wasn't really sure what to do after that but visiting Washington Park was high on all the to-see lists for Portland. We drove about 20 minutes up into a mountain and got super lucky with a parking spot. Things were going our way!! Until we walked over to the famous rose gardens. Bah! Butchered! Nothing but thorny nubs. I guess it's not rose season! So pathetic that I was actually trying to visualize what it would have looked like in bloom. I felt like Clark's mother comforting him in front of his house at Christmas time when none of his house lights would turn on. "Clark, I can see it in my mind, and it's beautiful!" *eye roll*
There were a string of tiles like this for each year. We're guessing there is some sort of Rose Queen named each year? If only it was 1983 it would have been perfect!
Well, not to worry, up from the roses was the famous Portland Japanese Garden! These beautiful trees were giving us hope that the garden would make up for the roses.
NOPE!!
It was CLOSED!!
They flippin' closed it for some grand re-opening party that started tomorrow. Only members were allowed in. Boo hiss!
I was at a loss. We still had a couple of hours until we were meeting the Smith's for dinner so I shrugged my shoulders and said we could continue driving up the mountain and check out the Hoyt Arboretum. That's fancy for tree park. We were going to fit in our nature quota if it killed us. ;) We chose a path and walked about a mile admiring the pretty trees. It felt a little like being at Muir Woods in San Fran.
These moss covered ones were pretty so at one point I started to reach my hand up to touch one. Right as I was about to touch it, Travis pulled a Sharon and SNORTED! I jumped a MILE!!!! And mid jump I just fell apart laughing.
Then I punched him.
And laughed some more. Oh my gosh. I'm STILL falling for the snort! Some things never change. :)
Such a generous tree, growing sideways just to give me a little rest!
Now that we were pretty far up the mountain, it was just 10 more minutes to a place called Pittock Mansion.
Why not?
I realized, though, as we were driving, that we would be pulling up just minutes after the inside tours closed for the day. Man! Washington Park, why do you hate us??!!
I guess this house was built in 1914 for one of Portland's most influential families. It's full of history and stories.. none of which we got to see. :(
But there was a cool view from the yard.
After that we were able to drive back to downtown and check into our hotel just in time to walk the 1/4 mile to the restaurant we were meeting Ryan and Katie at.
McCormick and Schmidt's.
We were right on the harbor and had a nice view of the water. We met Ryan and Katie in dental school but haven't seen them since. It was a lot of fun catching up and reminiscing on old times. Great great people. And the food was delish too! Small, expensive portions. Probably the best thing for our waistlines at this point. ;)
That night we went to an improv show that was mildly funny. Perhaps some larger clothing might have helped with the distraction factor. We didn't know we were going to get to see everything this poor gentleman had to offer.
Right up the street from the comedy show was the popular ice cream joint, Salt N Straw! Perfect.
EXCEPT for the hour+ line wrapping itself around the building. We waited maybe 15 minutes when we heard some girls say that if you're just buying the pre-made pints, you can cut ahead and pay for them right away. Thank GOODNESS!! Travis requested the Petunia's Raspberry Cookies and Cream, but I wanted to be adventurous! So I grabbed the Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper. They are known for their crazy flavors so hey... when in Rome!
This Marriot was the nicest hotel yet! And look! We get to pretend we're married and sleep in the same bed again. ;)
We flipped on Saturday Night Live and dove into our pints. I actually thought mine was pretty good! Sweet with a kick. Trav tasted it and made a face. Apparently, ice cream isn't supposed to taste like vinegar, haha! I would disagree, except that in the middle of the night I woke up with throw up in my mouth. Apparently, my stomach was on Travis's side!
It was finally Sunday morning! Our last day, sniff sniff. Our flight was out of Seattle at 4:20pm, so we knew we only had until 11am to enjoy Portland. We had seen bikes all around that you could rent, so we walked up the street to the first rental rack and got ourselves a couple of beach cruisers! The weather was AHHHHH-MAZING!! You couldn't have asked for a crisper, more beautiful morning! We rode along the waterfront then across the bridge, taking in the cherry blossoms and serene river. I love LOVED it.
After circling back around we headed up into the city to get us some Voodoo Donuts for breakfast! Oh wait, another line. Harumpf.
Quite the eclectic place. It's kind of like donuts for the raunchy. If you're into pastries shaped like body parts, Voodoo is the place. I had to use the restroom here and it was by FAR the nastiest bathroom I have EVER stepped foot in. That joke about Hepatitis yesterday?? That actually applies better here. You know, I wasn't looking to know what syphilis and marijuana smelled like before.... but thanks to Voodoo, I can check that off the list.
With all that said, I must admit, they were good donuts. I wouldn't have put frosting on a fritter, but that hibiscus donut?? Yummers.
Just a few blocks away was a place called Powell's City of Books. The largest, independent bookstore in the da WORLD!!! It covers a whole city block. Need I say stoked??
It was beautiful inside. A palace, really. Gosh, I love book stores. Probably more than libraries. I mean, tomayto-tomau-to.
Travis found a chair by the entrance. I perused the best sellers, then headed to memoirs. I don't own The Glass Castle, so I figured that was an easy buy. Then I settled on A Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time. I've been curious (meh heh) about that one for a long time. Ahhh, my soul has been so happy on this trip!!
I had to take a picture of a sign in the doorway. This sign encapsulated Portland AND Seattle for me. What I gathered from this neck of the country is:
It is beautiful.
It is racy.
If you are liberal, you get a thumbs up.
If you are gay, you get two thumbs up.
If you are both.. well you should run for mayor.
They are proud of their recreational cannabis.
Nature is treasured.
There are a LOT of homeless people. (Although, that could be an unfair statement since we spent the majority of our time in downtown cities.)
Tattoos, dreadlocks, Seahawks clothing and facial hair are the way to go.
My advice is, if you're not feeling welcomed in whatever community you live in... move to one of these cities. Um, maybe unless you're a white, straight, conservative male. Kidding/not kidding. ;)
Word on the street was that while Voodoo had more notoriety, Blue Star actually had the superior donuts.
Well, it was just a few more blocks! We had to try it!
If Voodoo made you feel like you needed to take a shower, Blue Star gave you the impression you could eat off their floors. They tout a classic brioche recipe originated in the south of France. The dough takes 18 hours to make and is made by hand every day; starting with a high quality bread flour, cage-free eggs, whole hormone-free milk, and European-style butter.
There was a line, but not nearly as long as Voodoos.
How to decide??!!
I got the Maple Bacon, Creme Brulee (filled with vanilla custard and topped with a torch-fired sugar crust. And that little pipette?? It's filled with Cointreau syrup - made with vanilla bean and orange zest.), The Orxata Glaze (horchata) and Meyer Lemon with Key Lime Curd. I'm still kicking myself for not getting the Blueberry Basil!
They were delicate and fluffy... gourmet, but not prissy. My thighs are grateful they aren't in Phoenix but my mouth will never forgive them.
I had to stash them in my bike basket because we had just enough time to ride back to the hotel and checkout. It worked out perfectly to listen to conference on the drive back to Seattle and I must say, it was probably the best weekend of conference we'd even had! No kid distractions!
We made it to the airport in plenty of time and luckily had another direct flight home. Going on trips is always so fun until the flight home. Then I just want outta there! We watched Collateral Beauty and I cried my eyes out. We got home just after 8pm to welcome home signs made by Collin and happy, well taken care of kids! Soooo good to be away... soooo good to be home! I can't say enough how much I loved every second with my hunny. He really is the bees knees when it comes to husbands. I owe this trip to him, his easy going nature, happy attitude about everything andddd his bank account. Just being with him is my FAVORITE place to be. You might even say it's the icing on my brioche donut. :)
