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Portland, Oregon // 2024

Ani and I took the train down to Portland in late August when she had finished up her first full-time summer job. We had a very quick 48 hours in the city.  It had been 6 years since we were there and we basically planned our trip around Powell's Books! We hadn't been there since 2018, but a lot of the city is boarded up, from our uber drivers, as a result of covid and businesses leaving. 

A wall in just a small bit of the section of Newbery's! Imagine!


On Tuesday afternoon, after our train arrived, we stopped in for just an hour to Powell's, and then walked to Tita's Juice bar for some smoothies. Later we ate dinner at Mother's Bistro - which was said to be a local favorite. I think we missed the memo on skipping dinner if we weren't able to make brunch. It was underwhelming and half the staff we interacted with were honestly terrible! The other was fantastic. Wouldn't go back unless it was brunch. 


Ani's first Stumptown coffee. She liked, but nothing can replace Oldhand for her

On Wednesday  our first stop was coffee at local coffee Stumptown, and then breakfast at 
Screen Door - East Side. It was *amazing* but pricey and we should have shared because the portions were huge! Some random guy begging for money got some very expensive leftover pancakes, which was a win-win.


Rollerskating at the biggest skating rink in the US!

After breakfast I showed Ani my previous life's favorite store - Anthropologie - but they don’t have the cool art installations anymore! 
We then walked to William Temple Thrift Store for some great steals (this is supposedly the best thrifting in Portland and it did not disappoint!)
Later that afternoon we went rollerskating at Oaks Amusement Park roller rink which was so fun, followed by EB&Bean frozen yogurt. 


I just really loved this shop's art in their window

After an ice cream break, we headed to Floating World Comics for a gift and then Barnes & Noble to charge my phone and then EEM or dinner-Thai BBQ fusion-60+ minute wait and SO worth it. 
While we were waiting for dinner we went to the store Alchemy (“plant + thrift”) which was THE FUNNEST PORTLAND vibe!
We killed a bit more time waiting for dinner at Black Thorn Mercantile and got some cool candles. 
Lastly, after dinner the lovely lady at The House of Flavor Market was kind to let us get on the wifi to get our Uber (and had a great snack selection!) before we left the Alberta District. 


a modern sculpture by Khinde Wiley

On Thursday morning we started our day again with Tita's Juice Bar smoothies for breakfast and then walked to the Portland Art Museum which I loved and Ani tolerated, followed by a long leg at Powell's Bookstore to finish our time.

The bill at the end was ... surprisingly not bad but we do not mess around with the biggest bookstore in the US! We fully explored every coloured room there (finally), which we were unable to do last time.


A gorgeous modern take on impressionism by Zhang Hangtu

Back to the train (bus bc of mechanical issues) and home again by Thursday night.


The stack that came home with me - I had a lot of willpower 


Since we went Tues-Thursday, not much was open before 10AM. So we leisurely read in bed at our airbnb each morning and even finished 2 books each because we had so much downtime from when we woke up! It was such a fun trip and we both agreed that we still love Portland just as much as our first visit many years ago. 


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