Portland!

I had a great time in Portland. My friend Lexy and her family were gracious and kind hosts. If we're Facebook friends you probably defriended or unsubscribed from me due to my copious check-ins. They got a little bananas, but I'm not even a little bit sorry.

I made a list of everything we did, and as is my habit, it ended up kind of being a food tour. For instance, when my sister Sara and I went to Paris, she brought this lovely book and we basically toured Paris by patisserie. We had no regrets, and our hair was so glossy after eating all that butter.

I made a list of everything we did in Portland for my own satisfaction, but here's some highlights in no particular order.

1. Voodoo Donuts was, like, the number one place people demanded I visit in Portland. It's pretty much a landmark. I had a Zesty Mango and two French crullers (I do what I want) and they were all delicious! Also it was 97 degrees that day. Not cool, Portland. Not cool.

2. The Portland Japanese Garden was so quiet, cool, and serene. They even ask you to turn off your cell phone while visiting the garden. We didn't plan very well, so we were too late/early for a tour, but it was lovely just walking around on our own. And right below the gardens is The City of Roses. Hundreds of them.

Giant, gnarled Japanese maple.

Small falls and pool.

3. We did a random search for a teahouse in Portland, and we lucked out with a real winner in Jade Bistro. Not only do they serve the best tea I've had to date, but they also served delicious Vietnamese food and French pastries that I feel emboldened to say rivaled many of the pastries I had in France.

This cream puff means business.

4. I could have spent days in Powell's bookstore, but then I would've spent hundreds of dollars. I'm a sucker for the smell and feel of books, and Powell's is 5 floors and covers a whole city block. I can't believe I didn't take even one picture while I was there. I suppose I was too busy falling in love.

5. The Montage is a restaurant located under a slightly sketchy bridge. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit ill when we visited, so I didn't try the proffered alligator, yet I still managed to enjoy my vegetable linguini with pesto. Fun bonus, leftovers are wrapped in an array of tinfoil animals. We got a giraffe, a squirrel, and a cat! (I named my giraffe Frankincense, "'cause he smelled so sweet." [Name the movie!])

Lexy with our foil animals.

6. Salt & Straw. Their blue cheese and pear ice cream was the best ice cream I've ever had. (I mean, we went there three times.) They had all sorts of unique flavors like horchata sorbet, chevre with marionberry and habenero jam, honey lavender, and sea salt ice cream with caramel ribbons. The genius of Salt is Straw (besides the 17% butter fat) is that their flavor balance is just right. The blue cheese ice cream wasn't in-your-face blue cheese, it was subtle enough that I ate a whole scoop and could've eaten two. They will also let you sample all the flavors before you commit.

I try all the ginger sodas and ginger beers that I can find.

7. Just the nature parts of Oregon in general are so beautiful, and this is coming from a girl who feels pretty much "meh" about nature. If you want to stay close to Portland, just go mosey around Reed College. They have this ravine river thingy with a trail around it that's just lovely. But we also took a few hours one day and drove out to Brial Veil Falls and Multnomah Falls. You don't actually have to hike to see either--Bridal Veil was more like a 15 minute walk, and you can see Multnomah from the road--but both were delicious to the eye.

The runoff at Bridal Veil

The lower pool at Multnomah, or Rivendell. Whichever.

The upper pool at Multnomah.