Adventures in Portland

Have you ever been to Portland, Oregon?  It's one of our favorite cities. Now that we are back home and settled in, I can gush properly about our weekend and the city that has worked its way so powerfully into our hearts. 

We were there to take advantage of the long weekend, the awesome post-holiday sales and, best of all did you know Oregon does not have a sales tax?  It's awesome.  And a round trip ticket from Boise to Portland is about $100 per person, which is even more awesome.  Plus the amazing restaurants combined with the delightful art and music scene make a weekend in Portland at the top of the list.  Awesome!

Our number one adventure on this particular weekend was a hike through the Portland Arboretum to the Japanese Gardens followed by Thai food and a cozy nap while watching the Packer football game.  The only bummer of the entire day was the Packers getting their butts handed to them by the Giants in a game they should have easily won, but I digress... Aren't the Japanese Gardens beautiful?!

You can't really tell from the picture... but David is looking out over the city... beautiful vista of the entire downtown.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites on Pine between 3rd and 4th which was very nice, however a local told us about this hotel called The Nines, so while walking past it, we checked it out.  It was amazing!  Next time we are planning to stay there.  Especially because they have two incredible restaurants inside, The Urban Farmer, where we had a delightful brunch, and Departure, a rooftop restaurant that, unfortunately we weren't able to enjoy on this trip due to it being closed on Sundays.  But its certainly making us look forward to next time!

Instead of Departure on Sunday night, we ate at this great Lebanese Restaurant called Habibi.  We love Mediterranean food, and this did not disappoint.  Everything was incredibly fresh and the food was amazing.  Plus the total including drinks and a tip was only about $40... which makes it even more appealing in my book.

Monday was our day to shop.  We hit up Nordstrom and my favorite, H&M, and then on the way back to the hotel we stopped at Nordstrom Rack.  So fun!  Plus wandering the streets with a cup of coffee in our hand while passing by all the colorful windows was just delightful.  Oh, and for all of you with IBD like me, the public bathroom situation in Portland is awesome.  They really go the extra mile to make going to the bathroom easy.

When Monday afternoon rolled around we had to pack up our belongings and head for the airport via the Max, Portland's incredible, inexpensive public light-rail train line, and we were both sad to go.  However, now our sense of adventure is perked... and we were starting to figure out our way around town... we'll be going back again soon!