The dream of the ’90s is alive in Portland.
+ Seattle.
Our next grand adventure was in May 2015 to Portland and Seattle with our good friends Matt and Jessica + their dog, Lola, and our (then) puppy, Scout. Our other good friends had moved there earlier that year, so we went to visit them and a few other friends who also recently moved there (Portland is where it’s at).
Lucky for us, Ben’s hometown is right on the way to Portland, so we stopped in Twin Falls, Idaho, for the night and stayed with Ben’s family. We stopped at the Buffalo for breakfast (a must) and Shoshone Falls on our way out of town.
Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho.
Lola’s face, Scout’s body, and all of our squinty flash-eyes.
After a long day of driving, listening to podcasts, and asking each other lots of personal questions, we arrived at our campsite on the Oregon coast (Cape Lookout State Park), where we met Michael and Tessa and their dog, Blue. It was drizzly most of the day, but the dogs ran and played on the beach, we ate dinner, and then talked (boyz around the fire, girlz in the tent).
Scout’s favorite spot in the car.
“Can you see okay if I stand here?”
Scout was a little wary of the beach.
On our way out the next morning, we stopped at Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City . . .
. . . and then the Tillamook factory, where we took a CHEESY group photo . . .
. . . and then the Nike employee store, which the guys went to and attempted to fill our lengthy orders, but apparently it was crazy inside and there weren’t many options. Still got some good stuff, though!
Then we made it to Portland! We stayed at a cute, pet-friendly Airbnb not far from where Michael and Tessa lived. Our host was super nice and loved both of the dogs.
On Sunday we stopped at Voodoo before heading to church.
Scout was v popular in the Voodoo line.
One of my favorite things was finding places like this that show up in the Portlandia opening credits.
Weirdos.
Unfortunately this is the only photo I have of Khao Man Gai. Matt and Ben have this thing where they like to feed each other sensually. Idk.
The rest of the day we spent walking/shopping around Mississippi Ave. The Meadow, which sells specialty salts and chocolates, was probably my favorite store of the whole trip.
We ended the day with Salt & Straw, now my number-one favorite ice cream store. Every month they have different flavors, and May’s were all flower-related, so we sampled things like Wildflower Honey with Ricotta Walnut Lace Cookies + their classic flavors, like Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper.
This girl reminded me so much of a brunette Cerie from 30 Rock that I creepily snapped a pic of her.
Monday morning we met some of our other good friends at Pine State Biscuit for breakfast (biscuits and gravy, homemade pop-tarts, and cornmeal pancakes were all winners).
Lula and Opal at Pine State.
Then we made our way to Multnomah Falls. It was Memorial Day, so there were tons of people and we had to hike a bit from our car to the falls. Worth it though (and the walk was beautiful, too).
We drove back into town and did some more eating/walking/shopping (duh), then got ramen for dinner.
Ramen at Mirakutei, mmmmm.
Wieden+Kennedy.
THE BASKET, as seen in Portlandia.
W+K rooftop view.
It’s all about the Portlandia credits.
We woke up the next a.m. to head up to Seattle, stopping at Schoolhouse Electric on the way out (now one of my favorite stores, though I didn’t know it existed before this trip).
Heart eyes for everything in Schoolhouse Electric.
SEATTLE
We dropped our things at a family friend’s house in Bellevue where we were staying, got some super yummy Cuban sandwiches at Paseo, and met our friends Alyssa and Cameron near Alki beach where they live.
HIGHLY recommend renting one of these contraptions!
She fit so perfectly inside the basket.
Friends on da beach!
Tried to go on this but it was closed for the night 🙁
The next morning, we made a quick detour/stop at Snoqualmie Falls, which was beauuuuutiful.
Next, Pike Place Market.
MN at the gum wall!
Disgusting and beautiful all at once.
Ben and I then spent way too much time in and money at the flagship REI store.
Next, we headed to Ballard (district? neighborhood? Idk the lingo), where we met one of Matt’s friends and ate outside at a restaurant called Stoneburner—which was sooo good—and then went to Hot Cakes for dessert.
Everything we ordered at Stoneburner was delish.
Molten lava cakes mmmm.
The next day (our last full day), we headed to Bainbridge Island, where we rented a canoe on the most beautiful, perfect, sunny day.
Taking the ferry over to Bainbridge.
We headed back to Portland, where we had a final supper with all our friends at Clyde Common.
This popcorn will forever be inGRAINed in my memory. It had butter, honey, and togarashi (a Japanese spice).
We crashed at our friends, the Brownings’, house for the night before driving Matt and Jessica to the airport (flying to SFO for a friend’s wedding). Ben and I had an uneventful drive back in which the pups slept the ENTIRE 12-hour drive!
Tuckered out from a looooong week.
Up next is NYC (getting so close to real-time blog posts!)!
Leave a Reply