A weekend in Portland, Oregon
If it’s not already very clear, I’m a big believer in weekend trips: not only do I work full-time and thus have to be very particular about how I spend my precious PTO days, but I think that you can get so much rejuvenation from just a few days in a new place. That’s why I’m honestly always up to work with Hampton by Hilton on their Seekender initiative: it’s all about taking advantage of weekends (and affordable accommodation) to indulge your travel whims.
Portland 2016 from Christine Amorose on Vimeo.
We’ve been talking about going to Portland for ages: my boyfriend has a great childhood friend who lives out there with his wife and baby, I grew up visiting family in Portland, and we’ve both heard amazing things about the incredible food scene and general similarities to all the things that we love in Brooklyn. We flew out on Thursday night and took the red-eye back on Sunday: even though we only had three full days to explore, we made the most of it! Good food, lots of greenery, a super laid-back vibe: what’s not to love?
Unsurprisingly, our first priority in Portland: coffee! We landed around 3am East Coast time, and we both had to be up to work remotely at 7am PST. We took a break mid-morning for a coffee break at Stumptown Coffee at Ace Hotel in downtown Portland. I had a very delicious cappuccino, and my boyfriend gives two thumbs up to the pourover. My only regret is not buying beans to take home! 
And my second priority: Powell’s City of Books! It’s right around the corner from Stumptown, and I just wish I had more time to really explore. It’s insane! There are floors of books, and color-coded rooms of books, and rows and rows of books. It’s a bibliophile’s dream. 
In my non-blog-work life (aka my role at Vimeo), I had a meeting at the Nike campus in Beaverton. It feels like a perfectly immaculate college campus: groomed lawns, a tree-lined jogging trail, beach volleyball courts and modern office buildings interspersed with parking lots. The above photo was actually snapped by my boyfriend: he took a run around the campus while I was in my meeting! 
My boyfriend hadn’t been to Portland since he was a kid, and I was so excited to show him the food cart scene! We went to The Dump Truck for dumplings, and they were absolutely delicious (and cheap!). 
I believe pretty strongly that touristy things are touristy for a reason: most of the time, it’s crowded and I don’t want to spend a ton of time there. But! They’re usually interesting and/or beautiful and/or worth seeing. Multnomah Falls is totally one of those things: it’s such a when-in-Portland Instagram cliche at this point, BUT I am so glad that I went to see it!
We only spent a few minutes watching the water rush by, and then opted to do a bit of a waterfall crawl on the Columbia Royal Gorge before going back to downtown Portland instead of a full day of (crowded) hiking. I especially loved Horsetail Falls: we had the whole falls to ourself, and it was right off the road. So gorgeous! 
One of the great parts of staying at the Hampton by Hilton Portland East was that it was only 20 minutes outside of Multnomah Falls: we hopped on the freeway right after our waffles to see the view before it got too crazy. Another bonus of staying at a Hampton by Hilton: free coffee, free waffles (with fresh berries!) and free local newspapers. Such a nice start to any morning, especially before a full day of sightseeing. 
Also, a full packing post coming soon BUT I wore so much Bridge & Burn on this trip! They’re a Portland-based brand that I’ve worked with for a couple of years, and it was really fun to get to visit the actual brick-and-mortar in person (they even have a keg on Friday afternoon). All of their pieces were so perfect for Portland weather and vibes! 
The last time I was in Portland was for the World Domination Summit right here: it feels like so much has happened since that trip in 2012, but it was nice to see that this facade has remained exactly the same. 
We met up with some friends at the farmers market on the Portland State campus (I think I’ll do a whole post on what we ate in Portland, or else this post would never end), and then we took a wander through downtown Portland and along the Willamette River waterfront. We got so lucky with the weather : 70 degrees and sunny. Absolutely perfect for this sort of morning! 
I discovered Salt & Straw on my last trip to Portland: I loved it so much that I even ducked out of conference seminars to get ice cream instead. I insisted on going back this trip, and it didn’t disappoint. I sampled honey lavender and beet-tastic, but end up going for my favorite flavor from before: strawberry balsamic with cracked pepper (and I convinced my boyfriend to get snickerdoodle, my second favorite flavor). SO GOOD. 
While my boyfriend waited in line (what a gem!), I took a quick stroll around the neighborhood: these houses! Can’t get enough. 
AND THEN I DIED AND WENT TO HEAVEN, otherwise known as Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. Rows and rows of colorful tulips! Blue and sunny skies! Fairly empty fields since I arrived five minutes before it officially opened! It was simply fantastic. 
Also, we took a trick from Cup of Jo: despite his general wonderfulness, my boyfriend was not interested in frolicking around tulip farms at 8am on a Sunday morning. Where is Jillian when you need her?! So he slept in and then discovered Coava Coffee (so cool!) while I blasted country music with the windows down and then geeked out over fields of blooms. 
Portland is a very dedicated doughnut city, and I must admit: out of all the sweets, doughnuts are not at the top of my list. That said, we opted to try Pip’s Doughnuts for an afternoon sugar fix and I was pleasantly surprised. I liked the tiny donut sizes–you can try more flavors, like Nutella or lemon curd!–and I especially loved the fancy chai that they’re famous for. And the neighborhood is super hip and fun to walk around! Have you ever been to Portland? What would you be most excited to experience? What are you interested in reading more about?
Special thanks to Hampton by Hilton for sponsoring our weekend in Portland. As always, all opinions are my own!
