Our "go to" place

Over the years our "go to" place has shifted from Vancouver or San Francisco to Portland. We love the fact we can be down there in a couple hours, enjoy a tax free experience and some of the best food we have ever eaten. We can consistently find good deals on hotels and Portland is a very walkable city. We headed down to Portland after Christmas once we decided not to venture up to Vancouver or down to Salt Lake City. Random I know.

We love Portland

We planned our trip to Portland in conjunction with the long holiday weekend to do some tax free baby shopping, stay at our favorite hotel and enjoy the many sights and sounds of the city. Where else do you find such cute graffiti or the opportunity to eat grilled cheese in a double decker bus?

Toro Bravo

A restaurant in a quiet neighborhood, virtually next to nothing fills up almost entirely by 5:30pm.  Having just opened its doors a mere thirty minutes prior the pans start to stack up as quickly as dishes constantly keep flowing from the kitchen. I have read about the ridiculously long waits here, (1-2 hours) how they do not accept reservations and it was the best meal some people have ever eaten. While we were in Portland, I was both curious and excited to give it a try. When we pulled up to Toro Bravo at 4:30pm we sat in our car all stalker like until it opened at 5pm. Without a person in sight I began to wonder what was all the hype. Word to the wise: eat at five and if you like paella and empanadas this is the place to go.

Quirk and style

Portland is the perfect blend of hipster meets weirdo with a who cares anyways attitude on the side. It has colorful streets, colorful food and even more colorful people.

Any place with a constant line outside its front door beckons me to come in. Por que No is amongst one of our favorites. The tamales are out of sight......

 and the decor is no less inspiring.

 "Personality plus" is what I think Portland has and Seattle sometimes lacks.

Another quintessential stop of the food tour: Ruby Jewels for Honey Lavendar ice cream. We keep suggesting our own flavor creations, but have yet to convince them to give them a whirl.

The hotels in Portland rarely disappoint...well aside from that one time we stayed at a hotel for a mere 30 minutes and then found it so offensive to even sit on the bed we promptly checked out.

The Westin Portland had a great hotel lobby/lounge where we tried the most delicious key lime pie I have eaten since our trip to South Carolina.

I have plans of stringing rows of lights across our back deck for long summer nights.

If you like garlic than you will love Pizzacata Pizza. I would recommend the Puttanesca pizza while Cameron would recommend the Pepperoni.

What would be a trip to Portland without a heavy rainstorm? Unprepared having left my umbrella in the car I quickly turned my infinity scarf into a slouchy hat. I never said it looked pretty, but it did the job.

If you are looking for a weekend getaway, Portland is a great place to head.

Portland on Dwellable

And the eating continues.....

We really had no intention of going to VooDoo Doughnuts this time, but somehow found ourselves waiting in line and walking away with a boxful. Blame it on hunger, blame it on impulse, blame it on the remodel. Since we walked past Cameron's, I could not help myself but snap a few photos.

Biggest apple fritter EVER.

New sign, new storefront, same doughnuts.

To combat all the sugar from the morning, we had tamales and fresh watermelon juice from Por Que No. Tamales are my absolute favorite mexican treat.

This florist is just brimming with clever ideas.

Then we escaped the city and stopped at Multnomah Falls.

Columbia River

We love you Portland and we will be back soon!

Turning the tables

Life as the perpetual subject of photos is hard, so for my birthday the tables were briefly turned as he snapped a few of me instead. However, I did seem to manage to sneak in a photo or two or three of him.

Outside Lizard Lounge, one of our favorite boutiques to check out when we are there.

Only hints of Fall have arrived in Portland so far.

Enjoying hot chocolate for breakfast.

Outside Cargo where I fell in love with this gigantic orange pinata. I really thought I needed it, but I would have settled for the cute little small one to the left.

Contemplating all the money he is going to save by shopping tax free at REI.

A tired and hungry subject is not a good thing. Models must be fed regularly.

We enjoyed lunch at Andina, a Peruvian restaurant in the Pearl District.

Even scraps of paper on a phone pole can be beautiful.

After lunch and a chocolate peanut butter milkshake from Moonstruck our model seemed to bounce back.

Walking, shopping, taking photos and eating. I would call that one productive day.