Last weekend I flew to the northwest for a quick trip to
attend the Bite of Portland on behalf of a client. Ironically, I attended this
same event several (scary) years ago for another client.
When planning a summer vacation, Portland may not be on
your list, but maybe after this post, it will!
From Chicago, it’s just a little more than a three hour
flight to Portland. I found out that Seattle is just less than three hours
away, SO you could totally rent a car and hit up two northwest cities in just
one trip!
Portland reminds me a bit of Pittsburgh. Some areas of
the city shut down after work hours, but there are little nooks of streets with
cute restaurants and riverfront trails.
Unlike the ‘burgh, Portland deserves huge kudos for its
awesome shopping right in the middle of the city. There is the Pioneer Place Mall which offers a great mix of
high and low end stores (think Louis Vuitton and Gap). Across from this mall is
a fantastic Nordstrom – which is expected due to the chain’s northeast roots!
Some other must do’s while in Portland….
·
Voodoo Doughnuts - Each and every person that I
met was talking about this place. I was expecting it to be mini-gourmet
doughnuts, but these things were the real, big deal. The line is rather long
(20-40 minutes), but well worth the wait. I opted for the maple bacon (why
not), while others I was traveling with sampled the ones below.
·
Food Trucks – like most major U.S. cities, the
food truck trend has taken off in Portland. There are literally parking lots
just filled with trucks and you can easily spot some while walking around the
city.
·
Pearl District – I was on the hunt for an Anthro
dress to wear to a wedding, so I made a quick trip to the Pearl District to see
if they had the frock in the store. They did not, but I discovered TWO awesome
places. The first, I’ll call the Boozy Mermaid. It was a Starbucks that sells
beer, wine and mini appetizers (in addition to being a normal coffee shop!). I
know Starbucks is testing this concept in other markets, like Chicago, but it
was the first time that I stumbled into one of these. The second find was House of Lolo – a cute little boutique that
ships anywhere in the U.S. online. They had a number of cute dresses – one of
which I selected! The Pearl District was filled with cute stores and shops (and
is walking distance away from Voodoo doughnuts – so you can walk off all that
sugar!)
·
While I’m not an outdoorsy person, Portland has
a lot of options for hiking and sightseeing outside of the city as well.
I’d love to go back to Portland to explore – when I have
more touring time to spare!
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