Portland, Oregon: A Travel Date

July 27 - 29, 2014

after meeting our friends and family, i was ecstatic to have a solo travel time with the boyfriend. He actually squeezed this trip so we can maximize my 2 weeks stay in US since it was relatively near from my brother's place and of course, his hidden agenda: SHOP! 

Anyway, this trip was mostly DIY. We didn't have any itinerary at hand and we decided to just explore the city as we like it.

TO/FROM/AROUND

Everett, Washington to Portland, Oregon (Union Station) via Amtrak - US $128 (2 pax)

The Boyfriend booked our amtrak seats online and he received this email after confirming our reservations...

our trip was scheduled for 9 am and we were dropped off by my brother at the station at around 8 am. We checked in our luggage at the amtrak counter and waited until they announced the train had arrived.

technically, this is still Washinton state. hehe

Inside the train station

When it was announced that the train was arriving, we went to platform and waited for the train to stop. Prior to boarding the train, the conductor asked how many passengers per group and gave us our seat numbers on a piece of paper.

Train Platform

We were originally seated in front of each other and later moved to an empty booth (seats with table). Our journey lasted 6 hours. The whole experience was actually nice! Seats were comfortable. Food choices were expensive but it was alright. I wanted to experience train food. hahaha! The view was not bad as well! Mountain, ocean and forest views. It was amazing!

 Inside the train

Getting Around via Max Light Rail

I am sucker for commute friend cities! my inner travel goddess went happy dancing when i found out how easy to navigate Portland because of the tram. Their tram reminded me of Melbourne's Myki. We commuted the entire time. It was easy to figure out the routes and stops. It was also convenient for us that one of the tram's stops was right outside our hotel. Winner!

Hello, max!

tram selfies! haha!

Hotel to Portland Airport via Max Light Rail Red Line

Again, we took the tram enroute to Airport. Very cost effective as we only paid US $5 to travel from hotel to airport. I'm all for tipid trips, yo! haha!

on our way to the airport

ACCOMMODATION

I am OC when it comes to DIY traveling so The Boyfriend gave me the task of researching for our hotel. He suggested some hotels, but i was firm in my decision to book Double Tree by Hilton Hotel based on the reviews i have read online. I booked the hotel via Booking.Com for US $400 (including surcharges and taxes) for 2 nights stay.

PROs

• conveniently located (walking distance to Lloyd Center and Max light rail) 
• clean and comfy room
• the bathroom toiletries were crabtree and evelyn. sosyal! haha!
• in room coffee and tea choices were from The Coffee Bean 
• free cookies (yum!)

 CONs

• expensive!

PORTLAND DOWNTOWN

On our first day, i met one of The Boyfriend's friends. He is currently based in Oregon and we were extremely grateful for touring us around downtown Portland when we arrived.

Deschutes Brewery

Portland is known for their beers. Almost every corner of the city has a pub. literally. Since i am no beer drinker, i let the two boys enjoy the beer sampler that the Brewery was famous for. 

  uy, couple pic!

Powell's Bookstore

The Boyfriend knows how i love books and when we were planning this trip, he was telling me how i will enjoy the largest bookstore in the world. i already braced myself not to get carried away and listed down the books i wanted to buy.

My gawd, he was not kidding. The place was massive. You could literally stay the entire day inside the bookstore. It was a heaven for book lovers like me. 

NOTE: Books are organized and categorized using color scheme according to its genre. But if you still have difficulty looking for the book that you wanted, staff are very accommodating. 

I wanted to hoard a lot but decided to get one just for souvenir sake. I also bought my niece her comic book pabilin, thus, our trip was a quick one.    

Voodoo Doughnuts

The Boyfriend has been telling me about these doughnuts. Apparently, it has become Portland's must see/do activity for first time traveler or maybe for frequent visitors too. I was surprised that it was true. There was an actual queue to get in the store. I was so excited (more of "takaw mata") of these goodies that i bought a dozen. haha!

well, as for the taste, It was ok. Yummy but not a "Oh My God" doughnuts. That's according to cake monster. haha! 

NOTE: They only accept cash payment

Since our movie date didn't push through when we were in Washington, we had it here at Lloyd Center, which was a walking distance from our hotel. We watched the last full show of The Transformer movie. It was our first movie together that The Boyfriend didn't sleep. Congratulations to that effort! Hahaha!

On our 2nd day, we pretty much spent the entire morning and early afternoon at Lloyd Center shopping. hello, no sales tax!!! haha! We then went to downtown to spent the rest of our day playing tourist. 

Peet's Coffee

We walked around downtown in search of nothing in particular. The Boyfriend was contemplating about his future purchase so I suggested to mull it over coffee upon seeing this cafe. 

Again, i am not a coffee drinker. Hence, i ordered tea. I forgot what tea flavor i ordered but i liked it. 

We liked this cafe. Ambience was nice. The Boyfriend even posted a status in facebook describing their coffee as one of the bests he tried. The barista was friendly and suggested a nice restaurant for dinner a couple of blocks from here.

Grassa

This restaurant was suggested by a barista from Peet's Coffee. We decided to check it out and see if it was worth dining in. As soon as we saw the door, we were sold. Hahaha! I am a pasta freak, so handcrafted pasta is a must!  

The restaurant was simple and charming. We were lucky enough to score a booth while waiting for our meals. It was a nice place for a simple dinner date or get together with friends or nice meal with the family. 

Pioneer Square

When i saw pioneer square, it added to my "why i like portland" list. This is where all ganaps in Portland happen. haha!

The pioneer courthouse was all lit up at night and it was really picturesque. I should have taken lots of pics. boo!

On our last day, we went to downtown early as The Boyfriend had some last minute shopping to do. So whilst waiting for the shops to open, we walked around for a bit and enjoyed the Portland morning.

Since we have spotted the food trucks from the other day's walk, we have decided that we will have our lunch from food trucks! aaack, Ang saya! I was craving for a thai noodles so we went to get our grub from one of the food trucks.

food trucks!!!

After getting our take out, we had our lunch at the pioneer square. I enjoyed eating my lunch while people watching. hehehe!

I got excited when more food trucks came into pioneer square. As soon as we finished our lunch, we went to check out the food trucks and excitedly ordered ice cream as our dessert. 

takaw!

As much as i wanted to stay longer in downtown, we were catching a late afternoon flight back to LA so we went back to our hotel to pick up our bags and rode the tram to bring us to the airport.

Last Thoughts About Portland

If a city is a commute friendly city, it automatically becomes one of my favorite cities to travel. I have this weird liking to exploring a city like its normal citizen. Portland was one of that. I liked the simplicity of the city and the laid back feel it brings. I know i only spent 3 days and i haven't really checked out other areas of Portland but somehow i liked it. I liked it too much that i consider this experience as one of our best dates with The Boyfriend. 

Moreover, this visit also shaped my relationship more with my boyfriend. As cheesy as it sound, we got to know each other better. Given our unusual set up of a relationship, our dates become travels. And it is perfectly fine with me.

I definitely want to visit Portland again. I dunno when but definitely in my visit-again list.