It’s been a couple years since I have wanted to go Portland… I booked everything in 2015 and then had to cancel our trip last minute! Why? Well, the forecast showed that it was raining three out of four days we were planning to be there! And me and rain are not the best friends, although lately, I have gotten used to showers on our vacations. It’s like this Debbie downer friend who always wants to tag along!
Talking about a friend, my Portland trip this time couldn’t have gone better, with my two besties and with almost perfect weather! We ate, drank and shopped and repeated all this for three days…what could be better than that? I say nothing…
As soon as we got out of the Uber, I knew that my sickness, was a mare glitch! Yes, I wasn’t feeling the best, but I couldn’t have canceled my trip this time …I didn’t WANT to..
The hotel rooms very expensive, but we scored on plane tickets. September was still expensive, but the weather was worth the price we paid for our room! We stayed at The Duniway Hilton. It was quite a nice area because of lots of shopping areas nearby.
We dropped our bags and headed right away to have lunch at Pok Pok Thai place. We had heard a lot about it wanted to try this place for sure. The food was kind of Thai street food, and it was amazing… everything we tired! I wish I could eat there again and again. We walked around and found an Indian restaurant Bollywood Theater! It looked good, and we were craving to have Indian Masala chai! We had a lot of food, and the only way to settle in the food is to have a cup of Chai, so says all Indians! At least, the ones I know …
Division St. had some of the best restaurants, and we could wait to try others restaurants here. We walked around the Division St. for some time and checked out some small boutique shops. It’s a beautiful hip part of the town and must visit for all foodies!
Next up was Powell’s bookstore! I wish I were a reading kind of person, but I have no time with two brats and their activities. “Someday…I will be lazing around and catching up on some good books”… And that’s what I say to myself! Back to the bookstore, it’s enormous with an infinite amount of sections. All of us wanted to be good mommies and wanted to buy something for our kids! Well, last time I bought books for my kids without them, they suggested I should read them, as it’s not what they want to read. And I was more than happy not to make unnecessary decisions and free my cluttered brain.
We walked around quite a bit, and were lost more than a couple times already! It took us an extra 15 minutes to find the right way every single time, which was hilarious. But, we got to see beautiful murals in Downtown buildings. We ordered doughnuts at Blue Star, as we stumbled upon that place while walking, and the doughnut was delicious! Blueberry, passion fruit, the flavors were creative and fun!
Lastly, we walked to Nordstrom and tired on all the makeup we could. We had all the time as no one had to run back home to take care of kids…not that we don’t enjoy doing that…
We head back to our hotel for some R & R time! Our friend had booked a restaurant, and we all got dressed to go there until she found out that the reservations were for another day. This happened again … but by then we were used to making last-minute decisions as to what to do next. We must have met up ample times to go over the itinerary and drink wine Of course while doing that! We even had a spreadsheet. But… it’s no fun if you don’t mess up! We went to this impromptu dinner place called Noble Rot, which turned out good and then decided to go to Curious Comedy Theater.
By now, we must have met and made friends with half the Uber drivers in Portland. The Uber lady dropped us on the wrong side of the road for the comedy club, and of course, we were lost for another ten minutes with google maps! On the side note, most Uber drivers in Portland dropped us around the area we wanted to go, but never to the exact place.
Finally, after paying ten dollars, we got in the comedy club. There were five people as the audience! Thinking back, we were laughing more outside being lost than inside! After an hour, we decided to leave as it was not even making sense by now …
We all agreed that the next day would be more planned and exciting! And it was…
It was a cold morning, I had told my friends to pack a jacket, but of course, I forgot to do so. After couple layers, we left early morning to go for the Forest Park hike! It was a beautiful day, and the hike was one of the best things we did in Portland. The greenery was delightful compared to almost brown San Diego! We did a gentle two-mile hike. And walked around the neighborhood right next to the park, after that. We all wanted to buy these beautiful craft houses with lovely front porches surrounded by flowers.
My friends even kept checking prices with the Zillow app. Well, they were reasonable compared to San Diego but then again can we survive the long cloudy, rainy months? We finally decided the sun was more important…. or was it just me who said that? My memory fades…
By now we were starving, none of us had a good breakfast… maybe a coffee I think. We decided we need to change again to go to the famous Farmer’s Market for some food! It took us another hour and a half to get ready and leave.
It was one of the best decisions, and I couldn’t thank my friend enough for adding that to the itinerary. We tired the first thing we saw, and it was just the best… Pikes Biscuits with gravy! Why is the food so good in Portland? We tried lots of different jams and jelly’s, The flowers were pretty, mushrooms looked, and the whole ambiance was just lovely. We spent a couple of hours there just enjoying the vibe there.
After shopping again for jackets, shoes, more and the third change of clothes, we headed out to see the Japanese Gardens! By now it was drizzling and more chilly, which we all enjoyed minus the drizzling part for me.
The Japanese Gardens was a nice relaxed walk and beautiful to explore. We also went to the Rose garden below which was free to visit. It’s a must see place to enjoy some quiet time and beautiful varieties of roses.
Dinner just like the last day was not planned, and we choose to eat at our hotel at Jack Rabbit. This was probably the least favorite meal of my in Portland.
We still had not decided what to do for the last day! We had canceled the wine tasting tour as it was coming up to quite expensive and none of us wanted to drink and drive. We were thinking of hiking, doing a picnic…
We eventually, stop by the hotel concierge and she gave us some references for tours and suggested one which didn’t break our budget. We quickly jumped on the opportunity and decided on three wineries to visit. It was quite a lot of back and forth of texting about places and lunch spot between, but she was terrific and made it happen for us!
The next day a town car picked us up, and our driver was charming! I wish he knew more about wines of Oregon but, someone to drive us around while we drink was not bad at all!
The day started with Dusky Goose, which was my favorite out of all three. The place was magical, and the limited production Pinot wines were absolutely amazing. We had the whole area to ourselves as we were there around eleven am and the hostess was gracious enough to do wine tasting with us without reservations. We got lucky as it wasn’t a busy morning or maybe people don’t start drinking at eleven am…
We tasted 6 wines – 2013 Oregon Chardonnay, and 5 Pinot Noirs from 2010, 2011, and 2012…
They had a very knowledgeable Sommelier and incredibly lovely hostess that showed us around and brushed our rusty little knowledge for Pinot Noir, which we all love. We enjoyed a pleasant hour or so admiring the place, enjoying our tasting and learning about Pinots. It’s a must go if you like Pinot or Chardonnay wines or just to see this quaint little gem!
We did buy some expensive bottles of Pinot from there and headed for lunch before we got smashed!
We stopped for a quick bit at Red Hill Market, as we wanted to spend more time at the wineries. This place is a farmhouse style, comfortable eating spot for quick sandwiches, soup, and salads! We all enjoyed our sandwiches and soups here!
After, that it was time for the next winery. Domaine Drouhin, in Dundee Hills, was our next stop. The Pinots were easy drinking and fabulous.
I enjoyed their Chardonnay more than their Pinots or did I set the bar really high after Dusky Goose? It rained again before we reached the winery and by this time the sky’s were beautiful with clouds, and everything looked fresh and green!
I was looking forward to our next winery, Domaine Serene Winery. It was a beautiful winery set up in a hill, which reminded me of Tuscany! It’s was a gorgeous winery, and I sure did take lots of pictures here. We enjoyed the wine tasting and had some cheese platter with it. Wines were good, but my heart and taste were still with Dusky Goose. I couldn’t get over the wines there. And now thinking about it, I should have got their Chardonnay too as that’s an amazing one too.
We slept back on our way back, 5/6 hours passed by so quickly. This day will be with me for a long, long time as it was one of my favorite places not just because of the great wine and beautiful surroundings but also because of two extraordinary people I shared this day with!
The last night we headed to Ava Gene, a lovely Italian restaurant with great food on Division St… Book this one ahead.
Before we knew it it was time to land in sunny San Diego. Portland was a perfect get away for three days with my girl friends…
One Foot Out the Door 