I’ve actually never watched the show Portlandia, but it seemed like an apropos title.
We arrived late at night on Dec. 27th and settled into our Airbnb in the Ladd’s Edition area of Portland, Oregon. We woke to a normal, cloudy Portland, day and walked around this adorable neighborhood on our way to a yummy breakfast at Junior’s Cafe. Ladd’s Edition is made up of four quadrants, each anchored by a beautiful rose garden. We were wondering who takes care of all those roses?? We were so happy to get some cold, rainy weather…wearing gloves & jackets.. and loved strolling by the charming area homes.
One of the first things the waitress at Junior’s told us, after we said we were visiting from California, was (I’m paraphrasing) ‘say you’re from Idaho, Portland people are not happy with all the Californians that are coming and changing our way of life.’ It was kind of funny, but we heard the same throughout our trip from Uber drivers, etc…but everyone was super nice, and I think, happy, that we weren’t planning on moving there.
Our trip can be described as shopping and eating…neither disappointed!! Here’s a rundown, with pictures of all the areas & restaurants we visited…
Pearl District…Powell’s books, Deschutes Brewery (shared a crab roll with fries), Doc Martens…
On the recommendation of my friend/neighbor, Breanna, we made reservations at a cool place called Beast. There are only two sittings of a six course prix fixe menu, served on long communal tables. I didn’t want to be totally obnoxious, so only took a couple of pics of the amazing food. I would highly recommend!!
Day 2 was NW 23rd St shopping & more eating…we agreed this was the cutest street and reminded us of Union St. in SF. Made a stop in at Kell’s pub to watch the Notre Dame game (disappointing), then Afuri for dumplings & ramen on the recommendation of Val’s cousin…(I think we did over 20,000 steps this day)
Day 3…Jan visited with her cousin, who lives locally, while Val and I hit the store Urbanite, which had a cool vibe and was an eclectic mix of all things for the home, then on to Mississippi St for some strolling (not as charming as NW 23rd) We met up with Jan on Hawthorne St. for more strolling, shopping, a stop in a pub for more football…before finishing off the day with yet another amazing meal at Trifecta , also recommended by Val’s cousin….
….time to rest up for our last day, where we drive out to witness the beauty of the Columbia River Gorge…stay tuned!!
