It seems that everywhere I look lately, I read something about how awesome Portland is. Despite my childhood obsession with Oregon (the name sounded so poetic to my eight-year-old ears), I've never been. For that matter, I've never been anywhere in the Pacific Northwest--though I hope that will change fairly soon. In the meantime, I am keeping a folder of ideas for places to go and things to do when I do eventually make it to Portland. Here is my fantasy itinerary:
Day 1:
1.
3. 
4. 
1) Check into the über-hip Ace Hotel.
2) Head to Little Red Bike Cafe for lunch. Unable to decide between bacon corn chowder and the summer fried egg sandwich with bacon, feta cheese, strawberry-balsamic black pepper jam, and greens on ciabatta--order both.
3) With a (very) full belly, make my way over to the Portland Art Museum to check out the M.C. Escher exhibit. Stock up on postcards and note cards in the gift shop.
4) Still pretty full from lunch, but needing something for my sweet tooth, stroll over to Saint Cupcake for a vanilla-toffee cupcake with chocolate buttercream.
5) Take a stroll through the Hawthorne neighborhood, the center of Portland's hippie/boho culture (there are not one but two rolfers here). Try to figure out exactly what it is that a rolfer does.
6) Toast to a very successful day with a glass of sparkling wine and an early dinner (feeling a bit jet-lagged) at Toast. Again have trouble deciding what to order, but after remembering that I had a bacon-heavy lunch, go vegetarian with the mixed peas with goat cheese and house-made gnocchi.
7) Head back to Ace for a good night's sleep.
Day 2:
3.
5. 
7. 
1) Wake up early, grab a coconut latte from the Stumptown conveniently located right in Ace's lobby and a toasted everything bagel with olive cream cheese from Kenny & Zuke's next door.
2) Hop in my adorable rental car (a convertible Mini Cooper, perhaps?) and make the 40-minute drive up to Battle Ground, Washington for the Barn House antiques market. Find a pair of vintage leather gloves, a Samsonite train case from the 50s, a silver vanity tray, and 3 Hazel-Atlas capri dots juice glasses to complete my set...and then wonder how I'm going to fit it all in my carry-on.
3) Back in Portland, grab lunch at Garden State, one of Portland's gourmet food carts. Opt for the chickpea sandwich, an arancini (or two), and a watermelon-basil acqua fresca. Mmm...the best food I've ever had from a kitchen on wheels.
4) Spend a couple of hours browsing for books at Powell's. Find a gently-used copy of M.F.K. Fisher's The Art of Eating for 50% off the cover price.
5) Relax in Washington Park with my new book until my tummy starts to rumble again.
6) Dinner near the hotel at Clyde Common. Feast on pork belly with fried green tomatoes followed by the pan-roasted halibut. Throw back a couple of cocktails (the East of Eden sounds delicious)...hey, I'm on vacation!
7) Back at the hotel, watch a little TV while catching up on blogging. Crawl under the covers after midnight, but unable to fall asleep, decide to go to Voodoo Doughnut (open 24 hours!) for a late-night dessert. Sample the signature voodoo donut and pick up an apple fritter and a peanut butter bacon donut for tomorrow.
Day 3:
1.
2. 
3. 
1) After an early breakfast of last night's donuts, hop back into my rental car and spend the whole day sampling the Willamette Valley's best wines.
2) Before checking out of the hotel, take some souvenir photo booth pictures in the lobby.
3) Fly back to wherever it is that I came from, already dreaming of my next trip to Portland...
*****
The only things left to figure out are who's coming with me, and when do we leave? :)
P.S. The title of this post comes from the excellent Loretta Lynn/Jack White song entitled "Portland Oregon." Check out the video here.
Posts
Why doesn't Dayton have PB & bacon donuts?
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent question. I think the only donut shop in Dayton (other than Krispy Kreme) is Bill's in Centerville. Their offerings don't sound very exotic, but it might be worth checking out!
ReplyDelete