Eric and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary in Portland, Oregon this year! We’ve been fortunate to travel to many neat places together and one of the cool parts about Portland is that you are driving distance to the beach, mountains, wine country, and more. There is so much to see and do and it’s also an incredible city for food!

We weren’t sure what to expect from Portland but Eric wanted to check off another state on his list and I was eager to see fall foliage and have a direct flight somewhere. So it seemed perfect!

I’ll admit that we are pretty aggressive travelers. When I say that, I mean we tend to pack a LOT in in a short time period. We stayed in 3 different hotels this trip and were gone 3 nights if that says anything to you.

However, I wanted to give you a brief recap of what we did so if you choose to visit this beautiful part of the country, you have a few options to check out :)

The first night we landed we went directly to dinner at a cozy restaurant called Beast with legendary chef Naomi Pomeroy. She’s a James Beard Award winner! The restaurant seats probably 20 people a night so if you have an inkling to go (DO IT!), you need a reservation well in advance. It’s a prix fixe six course dinner and we also enjoyed the wine pairing! If you’re a foodie of any sorts, you’ll love this spot.

After dinner we checked into our hotel and went to bed early!

WHERE TO STAY:

We stayed in 3 hotels on our trip: 1 in McMinnville (wine country) and 2 different ones in Portland (because we planned last minute). Our first hotel was Kimpton Village and it was our favorite because it was the most spacious. But there are so many places all walking distance from lots of restaurants and shopping so you have plenty of options. We stayed at 3rd Street Flats in McMinnville and on our last night in Portland we stayed at Hotel Lucia. We aren’t big into hotels because we spend so little time in them when we travel but I thought all of these were perfect for our adventures! Walking distance to things are key.

WHERE TO EAT:

As I said, Portland is a FOODIE city! Our two favorite restaurants were Beast and Tusk.  We ate breakfast at a really pretty place called Mother’s that a few people recommended and we loved it! We also ate soup and sandwiches at Picnic House which also hit the spot.

Our other meals were either out on the road or not worth sharing because they weren’t anything special!

But here are some recs we received from a friend before we made our trip that we didn’t get a chance to get to:

Lechon (Happy Hour/tapas)

Southpark Seafood (crab dinner)

Revolution Hall (rooftop bar + view of city)

Ava Genes (Italian)

Interurban (upscale bar food)

Bit House Saloon (cocktails)

Apizza Scholls (pizza)

Duck House (Chinese)

Blue Star Donuts

St Jacks (French)

Deschutes Brewery

Kachka (Russian Dumplings)

Pine State Biscuits

WHAT TO DO:

If you are looking for a place to visit with a variety of activities for different people, look no further. Portland checked the box for many reasons. Even if you stay just inside the city, you’ll have so many options.

IN PORTLAND:

COFFEE- I should have mentioned this in the food section but Portland is known for it’s coffee. We loved Public Domain and Lauretta Jean’s (although this spot wasn’t open on the weekend!)

Powell’s Books– it’s a book store the size of an entire city block filled with a gazillion reads and according to their website, is the largest independent bookstore in the world. It’s just a fun place to browse and definitely check out, even if you aren’t a big reader!

Japanese Gardens– this is a pretty garden with lots of mini ponds and beautiful trees. We got there right before some of the peak fall foliage but it was gorgeous nonetheless and where I snapped some blog photos!

Hike to Pittock Mansion– we did this on the last day and it was foggy so my pictures turned out poorly but we did an awesome 2 mile hike uphill to the famouse Pittock Mansion which overlooks the city. We didn’t have time to go inside because we had to hop on our flight home, but next time we come, I want to do the full experience and see the interior! I love looking at old mansions (have any of you been to the Breakers in RI?!)

Bike Tour- we skipped this time but had friends who did this and loved it!

Spa- Eric and I did a little spa afternoon and really enjoyed Spa Sasse. It was literally around the corner from both Hotel Lucia and Kimpton Village!

1 HOUR to 2 HOUR Drives:

Wine Country! We drove to McMinnville for the night and did an Equestrian Wine Tour. Yep, we rode horses to 3 different wineries and lucked out with our own private tour! It sounds ritsy, but it was a total blast and also our 5 year anniversary! I love horseback riding and it was a treat to have such a beautiful day in the valley. The views were just as gorgeous (or arguably prettier?!) than Napa! Plus Pinot Noirs are my favorite wine and this area is known for them. So I was very happy. It was my favorite part of the trip!

Roads End Beach– there are awesome beaches off the coast of Oregon and we decided to drive directly from McMinnville to have breakfast and see the ocean before finishing our trip back in Portland. We left early Saturday morning and ate breakfast at Wildflower Grill just outside of Lincoln City. It was a very cute cafe inside a house that looked like it belonged on the coast. After breakfast we walked along the beach in our cozy coats and chatted about life. Our favorite kind of walk :)

Cascade Head– we drove up to Cascade Head which wasn’t too far from the beach. It was a tad hidden and definitely required a little off-roading but we rented a jeep and it was perfect. It had just rained the night prior so there weren’t too many hikers out there. However, we did meet a man who passed us wearing just a set of boxers and a backpack. About a hundred yards down the hill we noticed the boxers moved into his hands… I guess anything goes? Ha! Other than his bum, the views were breathtaking!

Cannon Beach– we didn’t make it on this trip, but last time I visited Oregon with my family, we walked Cannon Beach. It’s a famous spot in Oregon with it’s giant rock formations.

Mt. Hood– this was another we didn’t get a chance to do on our trip but I have been there before on a prior vacation. It’s amazing you can visit beaches, mountains, and have wine country all in close proximity. I can’t wait to go back!

I told Eric that this was probably my favorite fall trip we’ve done together. Even though the foliage wasn’t as vibrant as the northeast, I felt like the combo of having so many activities to entertain us + the cool, crisp weather made for a trip that both of us will always remember. We can’t wait to take our kids here some day!

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