Our Weekend Portland Jaunt

Well, it’s a shock all-round, but I actually have something to write about: last weekend we went to Portland to watch two wonderful friends get married! And in fact, the Thursday night before we went was the 50th Anniversary of the US Army Air Defence Artillery becoming a distinct branch, and we went to a ball. See?

Doing so many things! (But seriously: this was honestly one of the most boring events I’ve ever been to: if this picture wasn’t so nice and it wasn’t proof that I’ve been leaving the house and wearing human clothes lately, I probably wouldn’t include it at all).

Friday, 15 June — A Taste of Portland

It will surprise no-one who has ever read this blog before to hear that getting anywhere from Oklahoma is a pain in the neck. A really, really big pain in the neck—sadly, Portland didn’t prove the exception. We were up early to get on the road by 5 for an 8am flight from OKC to San Francisco (we’ll be heading back that way again later this year, so stay tuned for those escapades!). A short 50 minute layover in San Fran gave us just enough time to grab some unsurprisingly-average airport food (I had Pho) before hopping on another flight to Portland. Finally! After a bunch of delays and plenty of plane napping, we got in at about 1ish, and grabbed an Uber to our Airbnb—kudos to Portland Airport for having a designated Uber/Lyft/‘rideshare app’ lane for pickups, it was really handy. Interestingly, this was the first of many interactions we had about how Portland is basically going to the dogs. 

After checking into our Airbnb, we got changed and (surprise surprise) went for a stroll to hit up the nearby gym, Peak Performance. If you’re looking for training options while you’re travelling, I can strongly recommend Peak Performance—it’s a great space, with lots of equipment and a really versatile range of training options. And then afterwards we got some doughnuts from Heavenly Doughnuts, just down the road. Why else does one go to the gym? This time, I was the one who picked the better doughnut option (ha!), and I feel like we really deserve congratulations for only getting two… Sitting in Lawton and typing this up, I kind of regret that decision. But anyway!

We had a shower and relaxed for a while before gussying up to head to Marci & Kellen’s ‘meet everyone’ shindig. Since we knew next to no one, it was a great chance to put faces to names, eat some little snacks, and pat Marci & Kellen’s dogs… In fact, I disappeared for a while and James was convinced I was sitting outside the function room hanging out with Tags & Ada (the dogs) on my own. Jokes on him, there were actually two other people out there with me. Somehow I didn’t get a photo of the dogs: not quite sure how that happened. Despite the delicious assortment of snacks provided for the evening, we wanted to check out Portland’s Pearl District, so we grabbed an Uber and headed out at around 7 to find some dinner. Being a Friday night, we knew our chances of getting in anywhere amazing was relatively low, so of course we decided to take a punt on Andina, the 3rd most popular restaurant in Portland according to TripAdvisor. Hey, if you’re going to aim, aim high, right? 

Of course, there were no free seats, but we were asked if we’d like put our names down. It was a 45 minute wait, but we didn’t have any other plans & decided to check out the area. Powell’s was first on our list. This massive, city-block bookstore has been recommended by all our book-loving friends (special shout out to Jordan!). We walked all the way to Powell’s—it probably wasn’t that far, but my feet were hurting, so it felt far—and just get through the door before James got a text telling us our table was ready. Oops! We turned around and headed right back again, eager for dinner. We did receive some mild heckling from a man sitting out the front of Powell’s, who wanted to know why we hadn’t bought any books. A reasonable question, but we assured him we’d remedy our mistakes the next day. 

Andina was amazing: there’s a reason it’s in the top 3 restaurants in Portland! Not surprisingly, we plunged headfirst into the gastronomical delights on offer. We kept it light and easy with four tapas plates: the Tortilla De Papa (Spanish-style potato frittata with an ají amarillo aioli), De Betarraga (roasted red and golden beets, served with ají verde al batán, pickled vegetables and sesame oil), Conchas a la Parrilla (grilled diver scallops with a tamari-brown sugar butter sauce and crispy onions), and De Pulpo (grilled octopus kebobs with chimichurri and a caper majado de papa). Of these four plates, I have to vote that the Conchas a la Parrilla seriously knocked my socks off. For one, I love scallops. For two, who doesn’t love brown sugar butter??? I ended up pouring the remnants of the butter over the mash that accompanied the octopus kebobs (so good!)

Sadly for me, one of our ‘trio of creme brûlées’ was a coffee one, so James carried the team there and we shared out the vanilla and the caramel one (which was amaaaaaazing. Easily the best one). And by then, we were beat! We had a great Scottish Uber driver take us back to the Airbnb—funnily enough, he also thought was on a serious downhill slope—who seemed surprised we weren’t heading out somewhere else for the evening. Ah, no mate. It’s after 9pm. I’m ready for bed. 

Saturday, 16 June — Our Big Portland Goals!

One of the best things in the world is not having to set an alarm for the morning. We had a leisurely start to the day before grabbing an Uber into downtown and hitting up Cheryl’s on 12th for breakfast. Complete with complimentary beignets (yes, you read that correctly), a delicious chai latte, and the world’s biggest serving of their specialty breakfast Portuguese fried rice, it more than hit the spot. 

We saw the ‘thing’ below—genus and species unknown, assessed as likely some kind of alien life form—and I had to take a photo. It’s for all the people who don’t believe in ET. 

Anyway! Other than that strange encounter: there were probably three things I really wanted to do in Portland: and number one was Powell’s Books. Of course, that meant it was first thing on the list once breakky was done and dusted. Oh Powell’s! Its tagline is ‘the world’s largest independent bookstore’, and I can believe it. It is huge. And it is full of books, which is, of course, the most basic and fundamental recipe for happiness ever written.

I think we spent close to $100 on books. I say ‘I think’ because we had to spend $16 buying a cool calico bag with a skeleton carrying a pile of books (because I figure that’ll be us, trying to get through our ‘to read’ lists). And I had to buy some pens, because I didn’t bring any spare ink for my fountain pen. And apparently that’s something that you can’t find anywhere at all. Strange, I know. Anyway, we bought six books, and we were lucky to escape with our lives. If we owned a house, we’d have mortgaged it in that store. Actually, I wouldn’t mind living in there. Maybe I’ll open a bookstore.

Afterwards, we went for a stroll to the nearby Saturday markets, which were amazing. I love leatherworking, woodworking, painting, candles, fudge… Basically all the things that are always at markets. I’m rarely disappointed. On the way, we wandered past Voodoo Doughnuts, the iconic Portland fried dough adventure. It might have been on the list, but the temptation to enter didn’t outlast the sight of the line stretching out the door. I’m not sure any doughnut is good enough to justify spending all day lining up to get it. Plus, we were pretty full still, so we just kept on. Again, sitting back in Lawton, I kind of regret this choice.

We survived the markets without buying anything (always a struggle), and decided to walk to our next big goal for the trip: ice cream. I recognise the contradiction in being too full for doughnuts, but not too full for ice cream, but we had a bit of walking ahead, so I was confident we’d arrive there at just the right time. So off we went. 

One of the best things about visiting beautiful cities like Portland, is that walking from place to place is full of all these wonderful things to see and do. I get it: when you’re coming from a cultural desert like Lawton, it doesn’t take much to stimulate you. But to be fair, we encountered some stuff. We ducked into a gorgeous little leather good store (Orox Leather Co.) and considered buying leather satchels.

We met a fern called Peter (at a fun little souvenir store called Hello From Portland where I kinda wish we’d bought more stuff).

We drooled over everything stationery, and wrote words of genius on old-school typewriters at Oblation Papers and Press.

We bought the two sweetest little chocolates at Moonstruck Chocolate Company… And managed to resist buying me just a whole cup of melted chocolate (more regrets). 

I picked up (and again, really regret not buying) this super cute octopus stamp (and a bajillion other things) at Paper Source. Yeah… I have a problem with stationery. Sorry (not sorry). To be fair, it’s not just me: James and I happen to have many similar weaknesses. 

We reconfirmed my ‘head for hats’ at Goorin Bros. I have a theory… and that theory is that all hats look good on me. I mean, look at our visit to Austin last year: I haven’t found one hat yet that isn’t at least good, if not great, on my noggin. Of course, I may have just blocked out the bad ones, but my theory is looking strong right now. 

And then… THEN we went to Salt and Straw. Everyone has recommended this to us. Friends, family, the internet by dropping convenient hints in the Insta stories of people I follow. The universe wanted us to go here. And I can see why. For one, it was probably the friendliest place I’ve ever been. The guy serving us was so nice… and he let us/made us try every single flavour. For two, all of the flavours were delicious. All of them. Somehow we only got one scoop each (possibly another regret?) but they were good enough to do a half scoop of two flavours for me. I got one scoop of duck crackling with cherry preserves and sea salt with caramel ribbons (not vanilla with salted caramel, sea salt ice cream). It was amazing. James got Ras el Hanout & pickled rose petal jam: no biggie, but I think I made the better choice. So does he actually. Anyway, I’m ready to go back to Portland just for the ice cream. Like… Today. 

We did a lot of walking, so no one judge me when I say we got back to the Airbnb and as soon as I lay down, I passed out. James did some reading, but I was out for the count. I napped for a long, indeterminate period of time, and it was glorious. 

Besides… Then we got dressed up verrrrrrry fancy as you can see, and partied very hearty! Maybe I should have won the scavenger hunt at Marci and Kellen’s wedding, maybe I wasn’t robbed, who knows? but we had an absolutely amazing time. Marci & Kellen had the most touching, fun, interesting and all-round gorgeous wedding and we were so thrilled to be able to celebrate their day with them. 

Until next time!

-Ana.