Since moving to the Seattle area visiting the nearby cities of Portland and Vancouver B.C. have always been on our road-trip must list. So over Martin Luther King Jr holiday weekend we decided to take advantage of the three day weekend and take a mini-trip to Portland, Oregon. Admittedly mid January is not exactly prime Portland visiting time, but since we live 3hrs away time of year seemed less important. We can always come back! We only stayed for the weekend ( two days/ one night), but we actually got to see a fair amount of stuff. Since it was our first visit we hit a lot of the more touristy places instead of more local haunts. Aside from Voodoo Donuts I didn’t really have an idea of where to go/ do/ eat etc. But after some light googling/ pinteresting I figured out a pretty good itinerary for out mini-trip.
Day 1
We left Seattle around 8am Saturday, drove non-stop down I5 to Portland, and arrived around 11am. I would say it’s definitely to your advantage to leave as early as possible as it allows the most time to explore the city, especially if you’re only there for few days.
Lardo
When we arrived we navigated straight to lunch at Lardo, a sandwich shop in downtown Portland. We came across Lardo online and liked the menu. I got the meatball Bhan Mi and we shared an order of fries. 10/10 would recommend. There was also a parking lot kiddy corner to Lardo so it was super easy to park and find. Since it was Saturday we got all day parking in the lot, which we didn’t really take advantage of too much but was nice in that it let us walk around after lunch and not worry about feeding the meter. The lot was a little tight and it took a while to get out of because there wasn’t a ton of room to back up. So parker beware.
Downtown Portland
Powell’s City of Books
After lunch we decided to explore downtown Portland. Downtown Portland is pretty cute and has lots of cool old building, murals etc. While wandering we happened upon Powells City of Books which is one of the sites every Portland travel guide tells you to visit. I would definitely recommend Powells. They are not kidding when they say city of books, the building is a literal city block big and full of every book you can imagine. The place has floors full of books and a coffee shop. It’s definitely the biggest bookstore I’ve ever been to and feels more like a library. We didn’t end up buying anything but I was strongly tempted by the true crime section. As an extra bonus there is a Buffalo Exchange across the street from Powells. We checked it out a bit and it did have some good stuff, definitely worth a look-see after Powell’s.
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
After wandering around we decieded to go to the car and drive down to Tom McCall waterfront park. Honestly we could have walked there but my boyfriend wasn’t feeling it at the time. It was Saturday so I assumed the Portland Saturday market would be in full effect and we could check it out. Unfortunately, the Saturday Market runs March-December and not during January/ February. I didn’t realize this so it was a bit of a let down. But the site of the market is close to the Welcome to Portland sign so you can park, get some good picks of the Portland sign ( although I’d definitely recommend doing so at dusk since it’s way cooler all lit up). we walked along the park for a bit, took some pictures of the water/bridges, then headed across the street to try and find a bathroom. As we crossed the street I saw a pink sign in the distance and we had stumbled upon VooDoo Donuts.
VooDoo Donuts and Keep Portland Weird
The hot pink VooDoo donuts sign is hard to miss and definite must try when coming to Portland. There was a line when we got there but it moved pretty quickly and once you get inside the shop is super cute and quirky. VooDoo is cash only, so come with some cash, but if you forget there is an ATM inside. The Donuts are pretty cheap we got 5 for about 12 dollars. Portland is a donut town so there are a few other donut shops to check out as well but we ended up only doing VooDoo. Before we left we had watched a Portland travel diary by Brad and Hailey Divine on YouTube and they did a taste test between Blue Star Donuts and VooDoo. They said both were good but VooDoo was more of a desert donut. I would 100% agree with VooDoo Donuts being more of a desert and less of a breakfast donut. The donuts are good but they’re VERY sweet. The shop is open 24 hours though so you can swing around anytime to grab a sweet treat. They also have a bathroom that they can buzz you into after you buy your donuts.
A bonus to checking out VooDoo is that the Keep Portland Weird mural is right across the street. So you can get two tourist musts done in one trip!
Portland Japanese Garden
After VooDoo we headed out of downtown Portland and went to check out the Portland Japanese Garden. I saw in a video that it’s one of the most authentic Japanese Gardens outside of Japan and I would definitely recommend going. It’s a bit of hike to get to the actual gardens but well worth it. The gardens were pretty lush and green even in the middle of January, though I imagine they’re even prettier in the spring/summer/fall. We didn’t end up taking a tour of the gardens, we just wandered around. But, It was very beautiful and peaceful. The running water and zen gardens are very relaxing. I honestly didn’t expect it to be that relaxing but it really was, even with a bunch of people around.
Ex Novo Brewing and Modera Hotel
After the Japanese Gardens our feet were tired, but it was only about 2:30pm and our hotel had a later 4pm check in. So, we decided to checkout a local brewery. Portland has a ton of great breweries to check out but I heard of Ex Novo on a New York Times Portland travel guide and it was one of the best rated breweries on Yelp, so we decided to give it a try. The brewery was super easy to get find and street parking was easy to find as well . I didn’t get any pictures of the outside but it has a super nice atmosphere and was very aesthetically pleasing. Since we had already eaten lunch and weren’t super hunger we just got beer and pretzels. I go the Most interesting Beer in the World, their version of a Mexican style beer and it was REALLY GOOD. I would definitely have that one again. Donyea had a cider that was also delicious. We also had two pretzels and shared a beer flight, it’s not super evident on the menu but you can get a flight of four of any of their beers. I would definitely recommend Ex Novo, the beer was delicious as were the pretzels. Though we didn’t try any entrees they looked delicious as well. As a bonus Ex Novo also gives a portion of its profits to charity!
After beers we went back to downtown Portland to check into our Hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Modera since there was a promotion for it on Hotels.com. It was a nice hotel, the rooms were very cute and the bathroom was nice, although tbh it could have been a touch cleaner. We ended up being pretty beat and just ordering pizza to our room after check in, which really hit the spot. The Hotel overall was ok. You do have to pay for parking and there’s no free wifi in the room. My main gripe was that our room had an incredibly loud heater that turned off an on ALL NIGHT. Normally that’s not an issue but It made a very loud clunk noise every-time it turned off or on and made it hard to fall asleep. I’m not a super light sleeper, I don’t mind city noise or even a loud consistent noise, but sudden loud bump noises every once in a while was rough. I ended up sticking my earbuds in my ears to drown out the noise and eventually fell asleep. So if you’re a lighter sleeper I’d recommend figuring out the heater situation, bringing ear plugs, or staying in a different hotel. Heater aside it was a nice room and had a nice location, but I don’t know if i’d stay there again.
Day 2
Cheryl’s on 12th
Day two we checked out of our hotel and went to grab brunch. I had checked the weather religiously before our trip and it became clear that Saturday was going to pretty dry and it was going to rain most of Sunday. So I had planned to have Sunday be more of an indoor day with the Peculiarium and exploring various shops in the Hawthorne district on the agenda. Rainy days in the PNW aren’t the rainy days other parts of country might imagine. It rains steadily sure, but you’re unlikely to find yourself caught in a massive downpour or thunderstorm.
Anyway, we ended up going to brunch at Cheryl’s on 12th which is across the street from the downtown Lardo. We noticed it the day before when we were having lunch, as it had a long line outside. We looked it up on yelp and the food looked really good, so we decided to give it a shot. It did have a long wait, but we ended up walking around for about 20 minutes to kill time and went and browsed the nearby Buffalo Exchange. We also we seated pretty quickly when we returned.
The Peculiarium
After brunch we decided to head over to the Peculiarium a kitschy horror-y museum of sorts in Portland. It’s full of weird/ random artifacts like a a vampire survival guide, Krampus statue, and buried alive simulator. It was a fun little detour. I love random kitschy stuff like that so it was a good time and it’s only $5 to get in. I’d recommend it if you’re into kitschy stuff like that.
Hawthorne District
After the Peculiarium we headed over to Hawthorn BLVD, a street full of cool little shops and restaurants to explore. The neighborhood near Hawthorn is super cute and full of GORGEOUS old houses. If I lived in Portland I’d definitely want to live there. If you love old houses it’s definitely a neighborhood to check out and gawk at the architecture.
The first place we checked out was Hawthorne Vintage, a vintage furniture/ home decor store. It had a lot of cool danish/ Mid Century Modern furniture, home decor, records, and even some vintage clothes. Of course I drooled over everything in the store, but didn’t end up buying anything. The prices weren’t that bad though, along the lines that i’d usually expect for a vintage furniture store. Definitely a fun place to go if you’re into vintage MCM furniture.
After that we headed across the street and checked out Quarter World. Donyea is a huge gamer so we had to go in a check it out. Quarter World is pretty awesome. It’s a retro style arcade in what used to be an old movie theater (I think). It has a lot of cool 80’s graphics, retro arcade games, PinBall Machines, and more modern Arcade options. It also has a bar with drinks and food. True to its name the games actually took quarters, so you could play a few games with your spare change and not have to load a card like some modern arcades. They did have an app you could also download to play games as well as an ATM and change machines. If you’re into video games I’d definitely recommend Quarter World, it was super fun. We ended up hanging out and playing a few games with the change I had left over from VooDoo donuts and when we spent the last of it decided to head out.
An Oscar Meyer Weiner
I really liked the tiny bit of the Hawthorne district that we explored and when we go back to Portland we’ll definitely be spending more time in that area and other cool neighborhoods around town. If you’re looking to avoid touristy spots I’d definitely recommend checking out the Hwathorne District and other similar fun neighborhoods.
After Quarter World we decided to call it a day and head back home to Seattle. We grabbed some burgers from Super Deluxe and headed out. Super Deluxe is a fast food burger chain, but it’s one we’d never been to so it seemed like a good choice. We were just looking for a quick place to get some food for the road. The food was really good and if you’re looking for a similar place I’d definitely check it out.
Heading Home and Thoughts
After our little weekend in Portland I’m definitely Smitten with the city. It has a lot of beautiful old architecture, fun tourist spots, beer, donuts, great food, and lots of places to explore. We’re already planning to go back when the weather is nicer. I still want to visit the Saturday Market, alpine trams, International Rose test garden, try Blue Star Donuts, check out Laurelhurst Park, go to Multnomah falls, eat at Pok Pok and Por Que No, check out more of the Hawthorne District and other neighborhoods, and checkout more of the Portland vintage, secondhand, and thrift store scene. Oregon has no Sales tax after all which means shopping there is far cheaper than the insane sales tax in the Seattle area.
If you know of any other cool places to check out in Portland, Oregon let me know if the comments!
