We Heart Portland

Bridget:

Although I have never been to the Pacific Northwest, I have heard many tales of good times had by Craig when visiting his sister Gayle and her husband Bryan who live in the area, but still didn’t know what to expect. However, judging from the Olson’s family trip to Utah last march, I knew any time Gayle Hoybook played tour guide, we were in for some exciting adventures. She doesn’t disappoint. We arrived in Portland (which is in the northwestern corner of OR) on Saturday night after our visit to Crater Lake. We stayed up late chit-chatting and catching up until it was time to finally give in to our still-on-Eastern-time sleepiness.

The next morning we experienced our first taste of Portland grub at Pine State Biscuits, a little hole in the wall that serves unique concoctions served on gigantic biscuits. In Portland, you know a place is good when you see a line filing out the front door and down the sidewalk. The food was well worth the wait. I had the “McIsley” which featured fried chicken, “real” mustard, pickles, and honey…delicious. Craig had the “Reggie” which had fried chicken, gravy, bacon, and cheddar…heaven. For the few minutes it took to devour these mouth-watering treats, I thought we were back in the South.

After breakfast, we headed to the Oregon coast for the day. The primary differences between the Atlantic coast and Pacific coast are that while the east coast is mainly beach and warm weather, the west coast is 1. cold 2. edged with beautiful cliffs and spotted with monoliths, and 3. surfers wear wetsuits in August. Upon arriving, we first had to “frolic” through the ice cold water:

Then we ventured up the sand dunes to the edges of the cliffs to take in some dramatic views of the ocean:

The next day Gayle, Craig, and I headed to the famous Willamette Valley to do some wine tasting. This region is particularly known for its Pinot Noirs. We tasted at Cooper Mountain, Ponzi, and Rex Hill wineries, all of which were fantastic. Our favorite was Cooper Mountain which is experimenting with fully biodynamic and organic wines, without the addition of sulfur (an additive that supposedly promotes aging). The result is incredibly smooth wine without the harsh “kick” you sometimes get.

We broke up the vineyard tour with a little blackberry picking at Smith Berry Farms. The great thing about a “U-pick” farm is that you can pick and eat as much as you want. We ended up with about five pounds of berries and six purple-stained hands.

Since a birthday is not official without a cake, we re-celebrated Craig’s birthday that night with some Oreo cheesecake complete with candles and singing. Nice.

Our third and final day in Portland consisted of shopping downtown and sampling more of Portland’s culinary delights. Some of the shops included Patagonia, REI, The North Face, West Elm, Anthropologie, and Powell’s, a mega book store that takes up an entire block.

That night Bryan cooked us an amazing farewell dinner of bacon-wrapped shrimp with fried okra and polenta with cohita cheese, hominy, and a cilantro ranch sauce. Delicious!

Overall, our Portland visit was fantastic not only for the scenery, food, or outdoor fun, but more so because of the good times we had just hanging out and catching up, playing games, laughing, learning photography tricks, and cooking. Gayle and Bryan, we heart you too.

Next Stop: Columbia River Gorge, OR