I felt Portland’s weirdness: A 3-Day Guide through Foodie Finds, Majestic Waterfalls, and Rose Gardens

This trip to Portland was not even my idea.

One day, my lover randomly said, “Babe, we should go to Portland,” I said, “Bet.” But then, I began to wonder what was in Portland. I heard donuts, food, roses, and waterfalls, and I packed my bags!

We hopped on an Alaska Airlines flight from Chicago and checked into our Hoxton hotel by 11 in the morning. Our hotel was in Chinatown, and driving into the city. one of the most noticeable things was the housing crisis. It was jarring.

Day 1:

• After resting briefly, we headed out to eat at Proud Mary's. Everything was incredible. Hot chocolate, oranges, we had something called an immune boost, which I had ginger and stuff in it. If you ever go, I highly recommend that.

• One thing about me: whatever place I travel to, I'm getting into a library or a bookstore. I would happily live the rest of my life if they let me hide in a bookstore. So we went to Powell's bookstore. It was even more remarkable than I thought. It is the City of Books. Going to Portland isn't complete if you're not popping by Powell's.

• Portland is famous for its food trucks. We passed by a few, but we ended up at Trap Kitchen. I knew my lover was going to love that. We had trap lemonades and mac and cheese with some delicious chicken. Oh, it was so good. The only thing that would take me back to Portland is to eat Trap Kitchen’s mac and cheese. That shit was that good. I promise.

• To walk off all the carbs we had eaten, we walked up Burnside Bridge to see the Portland Stag sign. We would have loved to see it at nighttime, but along that sidewalk to the bridge, there were many homeless people around that area, and our Uber driver warned us. 

• On our first night out for dinner, we went to this Peruvian place called Andina. The chicken was delicious, but the potatoes lacked seasoning. But my passion fruit cocktail and my chicken were incredible! And there was also really excellent customer service as well. Also, the interior was beautiful. It was pretty close to where I was staying, so we just walked back. It was so quiet, and I just walked back to our hotel, and that was it for the night.

 Day 2:

Day two started strong. Today was the day to visit the International Rose Test Garden.

But first, we walked about 25 minutes to the other side of town to this brunch spot called HunnyMilk. 

• Oh yeah, it was the right decision to go to HunnyMilk. Uh, If you are ever going, brunches start from 8 to 2. And their service is interesting. So when you walk into HunnyMilk, you go to the counter, they give you a menu, and they tell you what you can order. And their stuff is like a package deal. So you choose what you want, you pay, and then you get seated, it was interesting. Anyway, no regrets there. The food was incredible. Um, they have card games on the table, so while we were waiting for our food, we played UNO. I had some French toast dipped in, like, a habanero jam with some syrup and then diced pieces of smoked ham; it was excellent. But, after a few bites, the habanero sauce was overwhelming. I had a churro apple pie as dessert, and whoever thought about that was so freaking genius. Oh, it was so good. 

• Then we walked another, maybe 20-something minutes up a steep hill and ended up in the forest, which was beautiful. I didn't know at the time that to get to the International Rose Test Garden; we would have to climb up a hill because I was wearing a dress, an off-white dress. So yeah, the hem of my clothing was dirty, but it was worth it. And just being in nature, it was beautiful just seeing how tall the trees were. It felt unreal. It felt like I was walking through something in the Lord of the Rings. It was beautiful.

• The Rose Test garden is free, and It was so beautiful. Being surrounded by roses of different colors, shapes, and sizes was a dream. And what was the most beautiful experience was the fact that the roses naturally have their own sweet, lovely fragrance, none of that perfume shit when you buy roses from your store. I could spend the whole day here. I mean, we eventually left because I was hungry. But it was beautiful. It was beautiful. I can't stop gushing about that place. 

• And then the other side of the Rose Garden is the Japanese Garden. Oh, and that's what we did on day three, but it was equally beautiful. There's lots to see in Washington State Park. Another thing to know about Washington State Park that we didn't realize then, so we just hiked all the way, is that there is a shuttle bus. So if you want to avoid hiking up (even though I highly recommend it because there's a lot of beauty in walking through a forest.), there's a shuttle that you can take to and fro. What we did do is when we were leaving, we took the shuttle back down. And it's free.

**Back to day two**

• When we finally got back to land, which was Portland’s downtown area, we did some window shopping and discovered Muji. It's a Japanese store that has everything. Again, how am I just learning about Muji??? I bought so much stuff to take back home to Chicago. Now that I know they exist, they have a customer in me. 

• After walking around for 900 hours, we were hungry again, so we went to the popular Voodoo Donuts. I researched what to do in Portland, and  Voodoo Donuts popped up on every list.  More often than not, there will be a line at Voodoo Donuts, and that's because it's one of a few places that opens early and closes late. We did notice that a lot of places closed up relatively early in the day. Anyway, it was worth it and decently priced, too.

• For dinner, we went to this place called BAES; it was pretty close to our hotel. We had chicken mashed potatoes, sweet corn, Texas toast, and lemonade. It was decent.

• Because we were staying at the Hoxton, we took advantage of their gorgeous rooftop bar and ended the night there. It was a decent night.

Day 3: 

• Day three started with a fabulous breakfast at a southern place called Screen Door. Oh, it was tens across the board. I had French toast, orange juice, sausages, and tea. The food was excellent. If you go to Portland, you need to go to Screen Door. 

• After having enough of city life, we went back into the secluded beauty of nature at the Japanese Tea Garden. And it costs about 30-something dollars per person to go in. The visit for me felt therapeutic because usually, I'm trying to drown out my thoughts. I need for my mind to be shut off; I need quiet. But this time around, being here actually quieted my mind. I don't even know how to explain that. It was so serene and beautiful here. I sometimes battle with anxiety, but I found that the Japanese Garden calmed me. It was so beautiful; nature is so beautiful. We spent a good chunk of time here just because. There was no rush, no city life, no buses. The people were quiet, well behaved. We weren't seeing any people who were homeless and also struggling with drug abuse. Look, let me tell you. We saw someone the other day doing straight crack! Like pipes and needles, it was just overwhelming. It was just good to be out in nature, where all I felt was awe and quiet. 

• We'd been in Portland for two days now; it was time to figure out how to take their transportation system,  So we found their underground train station, left on a train, and took it to the other side of town where OHSU is, which I believe is their medical university, college, hospital something. We went there mainly because of the list of stuff that I wanted us to do in Portland; riding the Aerial Tram was one of the must-do activities. A one-way ride from the Aerial Tram is about $7, but if you're looking for a rundown of all the costs of this trip, they are linked here.

• The view from the Aerial Tram was stunning, but the Aerial Tram doesn't really take you anywhere. It takes you from one side of the hospital to the other side of the hospital. And when you get on the other side, there ain't shit to do. It's a hospital. So it makes sense for the doctors and students who work there because they don't have to drive. They can just hop on the Aerial Tram and then can move them from point A to point B. But the view was worth it!

Day Four - final day

Today was another nature day. Like, that is my favorite thing about this Portland trip. On all my travels, I always do a little nature exploration, but I loved this trip because I got to do it back-to-back for three days. So, in usual me fashion, supporting the local businesses, I chose to do an Airbnb experience, which was a tour to to explore the Columbia River  Gorge scenic route. 

• But first, we powered up at Mother's Bistro and Bar across the street from our hotel. The food was great! We were a bit bummed out we didn't discover it earlier.  

• On the tour, our guide Anna was phenomenal!!! Her being Native American added to the experience because she shared a lot of insight and history about how white people treated Native Americans horribly and kicked them off their land.

• I saw some of the most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen. I felt like I was living in a J.R.R. Tolkien book. The waterfalls were stunning, beautiful, oh so beautiful (I feel like I’ve used the word beautiful at least 900 times now, but the trip had me saying, “Omg, this is so beautiful” at just about everything). In total, we saw Multnomah Falls, Latourell Falls, and Wahkeena Falls.

• On our last night after an underwhelming dinner, we had too many underwhelming dinners in Portland, but all our breakfast-brunch experiences were excellent. We went to Salt and Straw, which the streets said is the best ice cream joint in Portland. Let me tell you, the line was out the door at about 9.30 pm. I'm like, oh, this shit better be good. There were some really interesting ice cream flavors like honey fried chicken and strawberry honey balsamic with pepper. I ended up playing safe and had a peanut butter caramel fudge. It was incredible. 

Our flight home was at noon, so we caught breakfast on the way to the airport at Grand Central Bakery and Coffee. I wish we could have eaten a full meal there, but we only had a little time to spare. Our hot beverages, croissants, and a sandwich were delicious, plus the vibe was nice. I recommend going to Grand Central as well.

Afterward, we figured our way to the airport. The express trains that went to the airport were out of service, so we took a free bus shuttle to the airport, which was super convenient. 

Portland’s airport is tiny. I did a little airport shopping, and then we hopped on our flight back to Chicago.

I’ve made it easy for ya’ll by hyperlinking all the important spots. If you want some more juicy deets on my Portland trip, click here. Until I book another flight somewhere… who knows where, follow me on Instagram and TikTok for more travel stories, tips, itineraries and gist. 
xxx
- Summer