Favs of Portland

Portland was Amazing. Oregon is one of the most beautiful states I have ever been to. I was there for 4 complete days of awesomeness. I wanted to recap my adventure a little bit and go over a few of my favorite things about the city. 

I absolutely love that there's no Sales Tax. Unfortunately in Utah we have to deal with that :( It makes splitting checks easier, and it such a treat to read the price tag and pay actually that.

I love the fact that Cats are such a huge part of the demographic in Portland. Walk down the street for 5 minutes and your bound to see a cat. Cats are everywhere; boutiques, yards, walking along the paths. They even have an instagram hashtag called #portlandpussy. HA!

Green. Green. Green. This place is one of the greenest places I've seen besides Ireland. I love all the moss covered trees and green grass. The hikes were amazing. Even looking out into the blue ocean, look behind you and you have  view of a green forrest. The best of both worlds. Ahhhh.

I love the variety of the city. Lots to choose from. Lost of vegetarian/pescatarian restaurants. My favorite of all, lost of micro beers. Even at the gas stations. Full strength. Anyone that knows me, know I am a sucker for micro beers.

Portland is not Park City, in my meaning of that, I am trying to differ the closeness of the Mountains. Portland has mountains, but they are an hour away :( It's still such an outdoorsy place, but you have to get in your car and drive a little. Park City has the mountains int he back yard, something I think we take for granted here. I didn't mind at all that we had to drive to the mountain in Oregon, but what I loved about it, was that you still have a neat little city to play in. So again, the best of both worlds, its outdoorsy and somewhat of a hipsterishy, local, fun city.

I love the neighborhoods. They are so cute, real similar to Austin. In one neighborhood between Hathorne and Belmount (not quite sure), there is a huge sunflower in the middle of the street that they repaint every couple years. It covers the whole street. Its so cute. Theres chicken coops in some peoples yards. Stuff to look at. Eye candy. Artistic people.

Things you have to do in Portland

You have to check out Hathorne and Belmount neighborhoods and Mississippi Avenue!! Theres a store in Hathorne called House of Vintage and its the biggest thrift store I have ever been to. I was in heaven. Every time you would walk into a room, there would be another door to another room to check out. Absolutely loved it.

Go to the coast. Sands beach is amazing in Oswald State Park. The path to get down to the coast is beautiful and you walk through these huge trees. When you get to the beach you have green forrest surrounding you and a cool waterfall to your right. The sand is super soft and when the tides are low you have some neat tide pools to play in.

Check out Mount Hood! And on your way go to Trillium Lake. Its the coolest little lake ever. And you can walk around it and take tons of photos and soak up all the beauty. I wonder how many times that day I said, "this is so beautiful!" I wish I had a device to count for me.

Go to the Huckleberry Inn for a huckleberry shake. The town is close to mount hood in Government Camp. Super good. The foods nothing to rave about, but the shakes are awesome!!!

Visit a brewery while your in Oregon. I visited the Full Sail brewery and it was awesome. There everywhere.

Go to the Historic Timberline Lodge. Its on Mount hood and you get to see the cool views of the drive up of mount hood. They filmed the shining there. It was built in the 1930s. Beautiful place!

Go to the famous Burnside skatepark in Portland. I had to do this. The skatepark is featured in tons of skate videos and is world famous. Check!

Eat at Gravy on Mississippi Avenue for Breakfast. Its so good. It better be, because we waited an hour and half to eat!

Check out the Gorge. My experience was an intense, 6.9 mile hike called Dog Mountain Hike. It gives you great views of the hike and you can see everything. http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/wiki/Dog_Mountain_Hike

Lots more to check out, but I'll be back to find more hidden treasures. Thanks to a good tour guide!