PDX

We finally made it to Portland!! I've been wanting to visit Portland for a couple of years now. We spent an extended weekend there eating, shopping, taking in the beautiful lushness around, and just enjoying everything PDX had to offer.

Got some great ideas for our bedroom from the elegant and glamorous interiors at
Hotel Deluxe, where we had a wonderful stay.

We walked all around downtown Portland on Friday evening and Saturday. Tried out a few of the restaurants. We were starving by the time we got to this Thai food cart. There were so many of them docked at various parking lots around downtown. Too bad we were there for the weekend mostly, and didn't get to try all the other yummy looking carts.

The other places we've tried were:

The Original. I actually like the Beef Jerky Bloody Mary with my breakfast and I don't usually like Bloody Mary.


Mother's Bistro. I enjoyed a very delicious cocktail called Lavender Silk, which is basically a lemon drop made with lavender vodka. Got to give this recipe a try sometime!

Deschutes Brewery was surprisingly good for a Brewery restaurant, especially the braised pork belly on the sampler appetizer.

Kenny and Zuke's Deli next to the Ace Hotel made me love Eggs Benedict.

The Waffle Window had the most crispy and yummy waffles I've ever had, and Ella didn't want to share at all. Good thing they had free samples at the counter.

Petite Provence had the most beautiful pastries, but I think the lemon tart is still better at Tartines :)


Pine State Biscuits was where Daddy fell in love and here's why... Can YOU resist this??


We definitely ate well on this trip, but there were more to just eating. We visited the Saturday Market, where I had a lot of high hopes of finding awesome crafts made by hand. Unfortunately my expectations were not met, it's kind of like any other street fair or even flea market. Ella found it utterly boring and slept through pretty much all of it.


I did manage to find one unique item from an old man. He takes coins from all over the world and meticulous cuts out the background. This British coin I got is from the late 50s. It has the rose of England, thistle of Scotland, clover of Ireland, and the leek of Wales. I had no idea that Wales is represented by the Leek.

It took him about 3 hours to cut out the background on this coin, which is about the size of a thumb nail.

There were also some photography booths that had images from around Portland. We were especially intrigued by this photo. Initially, I thought it was a cathedral in the area, but it's actually the support for St. John's Bridge, one of the many bridges connecting Old Town to the other side of the Williamette River. Tim was too cheap to buy the photo so we went to the bridge and copycat the shot. Good call Daddy!


Here's Ella pretending to take of picture of Mommy taking a picture of her in Cathedral Park right underneath the bridge.

I also got to go to a couple of cool fabric stores. Bolt Fabric Boutique and Josephine's Dry Goods. Found some amazing prints. We really need more places like these in the City!

I also wanted to check out Fabric Depot, but sort of ran out of steam. Instead, we just drove around cause it started to rain. Checked out a few of the neighborhoods: Hollywood, Belmont and Hawthorne, Mississippi, and Nob Hill. We just fell in love with all the blooms and gorgeous Arts and Crafts houses around.

On our last day it was pouring rain, so we had to change plans from going to the zoo to visiting the Pittock Mansion . Have to thank Daddy for this last minute great discovery!

This mansion belonged to Henry Pittock who was the second owner of the Oregonian, a large newspaper back in the days. Although it's not as lavish as Hearst Castle, but it's beautifully decorated and the he really put a lot of thought into the floor plans, which I had to get a copy of, and the location of each room. Here are a few of my favorites.

The Grand Staircase. Ella sat in and posed as soon as she saw me point the camera there. She's fast becoming her Daddy, trying to get into every picture!!!

The Turkish Smoking Room. Great colors.

The Sewing Room. So envious!

One of the bedrooms. Love the wallpaper.

Finally on our way out of Oregon, Ella saw her first double rainbow. What a beautiful ending to a wonderful road trip!

It might have been the longest blog entry ever! Can you tell we loved Portland? We'll have to visit again and stay at another cute little boutique hotel or a B&B soon!