Portland

I just got back from a little over a week trip with two friends in the Pacific Northwest. Back in the fall, my friend Luca and I started discussing taking a trip to celebrate our birthdays together. Luca was my roommate when I lived in Germany the first time. Originally from Italy, he currently lives in London, so the last time I saw him was when I visited him in London while I was living in Freiburg last year. Luca’s friend from home, Francesco, whom I had met when I visited Luca in Ravenna, agreed to join us, too.

As I tend to be a bit verbose when it comes to blogging about trips (partially for my personal benefit—it's amazing how much you forget if you don’t write about your trips as well as take pictures), I’ve decided to write about my trip in a series of blog posts. Portland is up first!

My flight to Portland was out of Lansing with a connection at O’Hare, which a) allowed me to work a full day and b) was oddly cheaper than flying out of Detroit. While I was waiting in the line (the line that contained all of two passengers) to check-in, I heard someone speaking German. I turned around to hear the elderly women in line ahead of me speaking in what I guessed was Bavarian or Austrian German. I learned that the two women were sisters, one living in Munich and one in the Lansing area. The woman living in Munich didn’t speak English and her sister wasn’t allowed to go through security with her because she didn’t have a picture ID. My heart broke when the sisters waved to each other after the German woman and I went through security, knowing that that might be the last time they ever see each other.

My flight to O’Hare was delayed, so I spent the hour or so waiting with the woman from Munich, checking on our connecting flights and making small talk. I wished that I could have seen her to her next flight; but due to the delay, I literally had to sprint Home Alone style through O’Hare and made it to my gate with seconds to spare.

I landed in Portland around 11pm PDT, and Luca and Francesco picked me up from the airport. It was so good to see them both! We headed back to the apartment we had rented in Sellwood, a cute residential neighborhood in Southeast Portland. We spent a couple hours catching up and discussing what we wanted to do the next day before heading to bed.

We decided to spend Friday morning hiking in the Columbia River Gorge, which I had heard was absolutely breathtaking. After stopping for a quick coffee at Heart Coffee Roasters (more on that later), we got on I-84 and drove a mere thirty minutes out of the city to Multnomah Falls. It amazes me how quickly one can get to nature from Portland. The city did an exceptional job relative to other U.S. cities of discouraging suburban sprawl. It rained on the drive to the falls, but had pretty much stopped by the time we arrived.

Multnomah Falls are breathtaking and an easy trip if you’re short on time and/or energy. They’re literally right next to the highway, so you could park, walk the two minutes to the “main” scenic viewpoint, take a few pictures, and head back to your car. We decided to hike up to the top of the falls, which was also an easy “hike.”

Multnomah Falls

GoPros make for easier selfies.

After we got to the bottom of the falls, we headed back to the car to drive to Wahclella Falls. Unfortunately our phones were being stupid, and neither one of us was able to get Google Maps to load. Thankfully, the trailhead for Wahclella Falls is also near I-84, and I remembered that the directions had said to exit the highway at the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery. Unfortunately, Luca got his headache of the day en route to Wahclella Falls, so he told Francesco and I to go while he waited in the car. This trail wasn’t touristy like the one that goes to Multnomah Falls, and that was a nice change. Everything was covered and moss and so green, including the snake that slithered across the path just in front of us (I didn’t even scream!). Wahclella Falls are not as massive or tall as Multnomah Falls, but they’re still impressive in their own right.

The hike to Wahclella Falls. So green!

Wahclella Falls

By the time Francesco and I got back to the car, the three of us were starving. We headed back to Portland and began searching for the famous  food carts. We walked to the first one we found on Google Maps (Luca’s phone had started working, mine was still being dumb). After a quick survey of the options, I settled on chana masala from an Indian food cart and Luca and Francesco got some egg burger thing.  While we were eating, we overheard two guys talking frantically to someone on the phone about water. Portland has (rightfully) earned its reputation for being home to interesting people, and we assumed that they were probably freaking out about nothing. We were slightly wrong...

After we finished eating, we headed in search of Powell’s Books. It is hands down the coolest bookstore I have ever been in, and we spent an hour or two walking through the various aisles and sections. They even have a rare book room! But we kept noticing signs forbidding the use of drinking fountains. After remembering what I thought was a crazy conversation we had overheard while eating, I decided to ask one of the employees if they knew what was going on. Apparently they had detected E-Coli in the water, and there was a 24-hour tap water ban. Gross!!

Powell's Books

I found the German Lit section (obviously)

After browsing the books and a quick walk along the riverfront, we headed back to our apartment in Sellwood. We stopped at a grocery store to pick up bottled water on the way back, but there was literally no water on the shelves. We ended up getting a pack of Lipton Iced Tea, which was fine but definitely not water. Later that night, we went to Hopworks UrbanBrewery. They had a really yummy kale salad and a good list of beers and ciders. #beerissaferthanwater.

Luca and I went on a run the next morning before heading downtown for the Portland Saturday Market. It is supposed to be the oldest continuously operated outdoor market in the US, and there are a lot of unique arts and crafts stalls to check out. We spent a lot of our time at a stall that sold cement faces with exaggerated expressions. Luca decided to get a set for his flat, and we had a lot of fun arranging the expressions. 

After we finished browsing the market, we grabbed a quick lunch at one of the food vendors and headed back to Powells (what can I say, we're book nerds). We did a bit more shopping downtown and then headed to the riverfront to rent bikes for the remainder of the afternoon. We had a lot of fun biking up and down the Willamette, and got to see different parts of Portland than we would have in a car or by foot.

We grabbed dinner at another food cart in the Hawthorne neighborhood before making the drive up to Pittock Mansion. The mansion is up in the West Hills and offers spectacular views of the city and Mount Hood. We spent some time exploring the grounds and taking pictures before heading back downtown for another photo opportunity: the White Stag sign. We had to dodge oncoming traffic to get a good picture, but it was totally worth it. :]

Portland and Mt Hood

Next up: Cannon Beach and the road trip to Olympic National Park!