Portland, Oregon impressed me as a progressive, aesthetic-centered city: quality over quantity, lush amounts of greenery juxtaposed against the perfect amount of gritty, and a simple, lively city that honors all things craft. Definitely a city that though far away from home and what's familiar and true to us, we could see ourselves in. Perhaps. What's more, for a girl that has kind of a thing for roses, exploring the north- and south east segments of the city, as well as a couple of must-see's in the downtown area (including the Rose Gardens), was a dream. I mean, fields and fields of garden roses of every variety you ever did see and could dream up. Roses the size of my face.
The north- and southeast parts of Portland were my favorite. Tree-top homes and lush green neighborhoods, and always, always, a handful of neighborhood gems. Pictured in this post are some highlights from our time spent in southeast pdx where we stayed, and a few strays while visiting some of the downtown area. I'll follow-up with the northeast pdx part of our trip in a separate post, eventually. The northeast was a little brunch and shopping dream come true.
Of the southeast portion of Portland, we found we most enjoyed exploring neighborhoods between SE Burnside and SE Division. Lots of strolling, and always a good coffee to be enjoyed while exploring via foot, basking in the sun (yes, pdx was nothing but sunshine for us!), and stopping here and there for a bite to eat. We found both residential homes to swoon over as well as a substantial amount of local coffee shops, gardens, parks, eateries, food truck pods, bars and breweries, vintage shops, and just about whatever your heart could desire. We ate, drank, and were made merry beyond what all our planning could have done up. Our only qualm with SE pdx when all was said and done was running out of time.
As mentioned, we stayed in the southeast segment of the city and were made feel at home in no time. Our favorite neighborhood spots during our trip were hands down Cheese & Crack Snack Shop, Crema (our corner cafe), and a food cart pod around the corner featuring a craft-beer cart and a Mexican-inspired truck called Guero. I mean, we had delicious, cold apricot IPAs on draught, and mexi bowls and tortas to boot at our disposal. Ugh and the dreamy cheeses (i.e., creme brule brie, country cheddar), homemade jams, local honey varieties, toasties, and pickled goodness at Cheese & Crack? It would be both my best dreams and nightmares come true to live around the corner from such a gem. So incredibly well curated and delicious. We also loved our strolls down Hawthorne for the $4 movies and vintage shops, and SE Division for all the delicious restaurants + bars available.
Downtown portland was short-lived for us as other than some of the food trucks found, the rose gardens (which I will spare you with the insane amount of rose images I collected while there), and some of the breweries, we enjoyed ourselves much more east of the river. We spent an afternoon exploring downtown. Nong's Khao Man Gai, a simple Thai chicken and rice with aromatics dish, was a dreamy little package we unwrapped on a park bench for a late lunch. To describe its simplicity would be to butcher it, so I won't. I will say though that it was unlike any Thai food dish I've ever tasted: perfectly tender whole chicken, cooked to perfection and smothered with as much of that secret Nong's sauce as you could wish for. So good. Pints to wash it down and flights to enjoy over talks about the prospects of life, our plans, dreams, and absolutely-nots were also had. Because after all, what better way than to exchange a perfect string of comfortable silences, laughs, and necessary words over some cold ones? It was another afternoon turned into evening inattentive to the clock to add to the memory book.
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