The Dream of the 90s is alive in Portland

Our week-long Oregon road trip wrapped up in Portland, where we had a couple of days to explore the city. Driving up from the south, we arrived in the early evening and went straight to Oaks amusement Park so Paul could get a new coaster credit. From there we went to check in to our AirBnB in the Alberta neighborhood in Northeast Portland. This neighborhood, a few miles from downtown, was recommended to use by Kyung-Hwa. It's a neat neighborhood, with a variety of restaurants and shops lining Alberta Street. We started the evening with a beer at Great Notion Brewing, then had dinner in a little food truck park at Mole Mole. Our final stop was Salt and Straw, an ice cream place with some unique flavors. Their theme of the month was "eat your vegetables" and they had flavors like spinach cake with chocolate tahini fudge, green fennel & maple, and charred corn curd. Our favorites were the carrot cake batter and honey lavender. Salt and Straw has expanded and now has 30 locations, but this was their original location.

Having fun on Adrenaline Peak at Oaks Park.

Our AirBnB was filled with bicycle items - very Portlandia!

Our AirBnB was a really cute little accessory dwelling unit.

Beer and pretzel time!

The Alberta neighborhood has lots of restaurants and shops.

Triple mole enchiladas!

Mole Mole in a little food truck park on Alberta Street.

The line for Salt and Straw.  😬

Sunday morning, for our last full day in Oregon, we started with an assortment of breakfast items from several local joints. We had biscuits from Pine State Biscuits, drinks from Barista, and pastries from Petite Provence. We then drove downtown, just in time for opening at Powell's Books, the world's largest independent book store. We got a couple of books, then walked over to Lan Su Garden. This is a small Chinese Garden right in downtown that was built by artisans from Suzhou, China (one of Portland's sister cities). It's a lovely and peaceful garden. We took some time to explore the different areas of the garden, enjoyed the blooming lotus flowers, and had some tea in the tea house.

We had lunch at Paul's friend Doan's house, and hung out with her and her family for the afternoon, including a walk around Willamette Park. Finally we drove up to Council crest park, the highest point in the city of Portland at 1,073 feet. We went here for the views, and were rewarded with sweeping vistas of downtown Portland and Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens in the distance. After returning to our AirBnB, we walked to nearby Yang's noodles for dinner, then made one final visit to Salt and straw.

Biscuit and iced coffee for breakfast.

Paul after a successful visit to Powell's Bookstore!

Portland's Chinatown gate.

The Lan Su Garden was lovely on a sunny day.

Paul in a circular doorway.

We had a pleasant time walking in the garden.

David enjoying his iced tea.

Paul's adorable tea cup.

Lotus pods and the garden's central pond.

Views from along the river.

Downtown and the mountains from Council Crest Park.

Peek-a-boo volcano!

Heaping plates of noodles at Yang's.

On our final morning, we took a short walk around Alberta Park near our AirBnB before heading to the airport. On the flight back to Atlanta we had some spectacular views of the volcanoes.

Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams, all lined up!

Amazing stratovolcano views from the plane.

This was our second time to Portland. It's a great livable city, but the downtown has suffered quite a bit from the pandemic and teleworking, while the neighborhoods are booming. We hope to return to Oregon again soon!