The Great West Coast Road Trip: Day 1 - Portland

Why do we always do this to ourselves?  The 6 am flight out to Oregon meant waking up at 3 am -- after an evening spent at a winery and a Depeche Mode concert for Dawn and a Battlestar Galactica marathon for John --  and hauling our un-caffeinated butts to BWI.  Once we got to PDX, though, we were energized by how beautiful the view from the airplane was and how very "Portland" things were (water bottle refilling stations, even special toilet handles to conserve water).

Welcome to Portland, Home of the Beavers

Arrived at Hotel Modera, a very hip boutique hotel right in the heart of downtown.  Mentioned that it was our anniversary when we were booking, and they set us up in a top-floor room with a nice view.

They even gave us a little hand-written welcome card with some chocolate covered hazelnuts and a bottle of prosecco.

But of course, our first real stop in Portland had to be lunch at the Veggie Grill for some vegan buffalo wings.  Ever since John first had them in Seattle, as I'm sure many of you are well aware, he would not shut up about those damn buffalo wings.  We even had to make sure that our hotel was within walking distance of the Veggie Grill before we booked it.  I must say, it was pretty good, though!

Buffalo Wings

American Stack

Kale Caesar Salad

After a little power nap back at the hotel, we headed to the Pearl District.  Checked out the world's largest independently owned bookstore, Powell's Books.  That place is so huge, you could easily get lost.  Their "sections" were actually large rooms, devoted to whatever topic you were into.  It actually overwhelmed us, so we booked it (hardy har, see what I did there?) and headed to Trader Vic's for a tiki drink.

Made friends with the bartender. Bought a skull tiki mug for my collection.  

Then on to Jefferson Square Park to soak our feet in the cool little water fountain.  Just to give you an idea of how good that felt, it was a 95 degree day and that water was ice cold.  Tons of little kids running around.

Last stop, VooDoo Doughnuts for dinner.  Yes, donuts for dinner!

This was my #1 on my list of things to do, and it did not disappoint.  I wish I could have had a bite of all of them.  They were just too cute.

John got the vegan basic glazed (booooring), I couldn't decide so I got 2:  the Old Dirty Bastard (chocolate frosting, Oreos, and peanut butter) and the No Name (chocolate frosting, Rice Crispies, and peanut butter).  They not only sold them by the box, they sold them by the coffin.  Who buys that?  And why aren't I friends with them?

 

Walking to this downtown location of VooDoo, you definitely notice the large population of homeless people, many of them teenagers and young adults.   It was relatively safe; they don't really disturb you, but I wouldn't be walking by myself at night there.  People watching is really a fun sport in this city.  Lots of cool-looking young people, plenty of "crunchy" people (lots bikes and Suburus!), and the motto "Keep Portland Weird" definitely applies!  I do think we'd fit in nicely.