After spending the 4th in Seattle, we headed to Portland to attend the World Domination Summit (more on that tomorrow).
I hadn’t been to Portland since I was pretty little – sub 10 years old. My most recent Portland memories involve annoyance with the traffic. We ALWAYS hit Portland rush hour traffic on our way to Seattle for Christmas. Never fail. And it sucks. We’ve already been in the car for 10+ hrs and now stupid Portland has to come along. Nick and I have the opposite of “fond memories” of Portland. But this time around, we weren’t going to be the ones driving, so we had high hopes.
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decided to take the bus. The Bolt Bus to be exact. It’s basically the “trendy” version of Greyhound. I say “trendy” because all of the extra amenities they offer were unavailable on our trip. Bolt Bus offers free wifi and power outlets for all its riders, but both of these were broken for us. Still not a big deal, since the tickets were $13 per person (one-way, Seattle to Portland). Added bonus for having a way nicer pick-up location than a Greyhound station. Bolt Bus is still a win in my book.
Now on to Portlandia.
Do you watch the show? The stereotypes are true! But it’s still a pretty cool town that I look forward to visiting again.
Top 10 reasons why Portland is super cool
10. They have a Nordstrom’s and a Zoo with giraffes. I’m an easy girl to please.
9. The hotel rooms have trash bins AND recycle bins.
8. Even the homeless people are super friendly
7. They have a halal cart. They have more food carts than you could ever think possible. Nick is addicted to the NYC halal carts and was super pumped to find one in the sea of food carts. I had a very Portlandia food cart experience at “the whole bowl, it’s like eating a hug” (you can’t make this stuff up!). They only serve 1 thing. And it comes in 2 sizes.
6. Portland is also home to the lesser known brother of the Caesar Salad. The Cesar Salad! And at only $5, it’s a total steal.
5. They really love their bikes. This is a sculpture of bikes. We were told that once a week (or month or some amount of time) the people who own these bikes come and get them and ride them from the zoo back down to this spot. Then they chain them back up and go on their merry way.
4. These folks are weird. But that’s ok. They embrace it and they don’t want it to change.
3. We went to dinner and they actually told us where the fish was from – which body of water it was caught in and a few other details that currently escape me. I giggled. But OMG my duck was amazing (Nick had the happy fish)!
2. Donut mecca! I actually compared 2 donut shops in town, and will likely blog about the “results” later this week 🙂
1. Jay walking is super easy! This is probably the only law I tend to break on a regular basis. If there aren’t cars coming, I like to cross the street. Sure, I feel a little guilty about it, but the need for efficiency typically overtakes the guilt and I cross. Almost all the streets in downtown Portland are one-way and not more than 2 lanes wide. PERFECT for jay-walking.
One reply on “A weekend in Portland”
Jaywalking! I remember my trip to Chipotle with the Lander RAs and how horrified you guys were by my East Coast jaywalking! I think it was you who explained to me that Seattle was not a place to jaywalk.
Loving all of your entries!