Keep Portland Weird is a thing – like Keep Austin Weird, but after a recent visit, we have decided Portland is just really unique.

Oh yeah, there are plenty of weird things, like this business that sells Bonus pants next to the portapotties, but hey, support small business!

Portland and the Oregon wine country have been on our getaway list for quite some time. Our travel to do list is pretty long, so we had just not prioritized it. First world problems I know, but LeBonVieTravels has a strategy. Besides planning summer and winter vacations, we observe birthdays with getaways rather than gifts. Birthdays are a good excuse to check out new restaurants, enjoy dessert, and taste a little wine, perhaps more than usual. So Hubby’s birthday celebration was a late spring holiday in Portland.

Our hotel stay was at The Nines, where hubs had arranged a suite upgrade with SPG – yes! Nothing says celebration like a little luxury and a view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nines is across the street from the Pioneer Courthouse and Square and very walkable to everything.  

On the maybe a little weird side, downtown Portland seems to have a lot of bronze sculptures of beavers and other Pacific Northwest wildlife, but the beaver is Oregon’s state animal as well as the Oregon State University football team – so that’s what that is all about.

 

 

Portland is an incredible little city with 5 quadrants: Southwest, Northwest, Southeast, Northeast, and North. The Willamette River divides the city between west and east.  Burnside Street crosses the river on the Burnside Bridge and divides the city into north and south. It’s known as the City of Bridges and also the City of Roses.

 

 

We saw many bridges but it was too early for roses in May, unless they were on the side of a building.

 

 

 

 

 

Portland is less than an hour drive from the lush Willamette Valley wine country with over 19,000 acres of vineyards and over 500 wineries and tasting rooms. By the way, the correct pronunciation of Willamette as it relates to the Oregon wine region is Will-AM-it as in It’s Will-AM-it, damit!, which we heard many many times from Oregonians who thought they were very humorous.  Willamette Valley’s lush beauty and wineries is worth it’s own blog post, so more on that later.

The weather during our visit was amazing! Portland is estimated to have approximately 144 days of sunshine per year, and we used up almost 6 of them.

We walked down to the Willamette River waterfront where the birthday boy frolicked in the fountain (note to self – John will take on almost any dare even in a dress shirt).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We admired the separate pedestrian and bike lanes, and the Biketown Nike sponsored bike sharing system, because Portland is all about cycling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like most cities, Portland has many interesting signs and plenty of street art,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

unique paver sidewalk filled with famous quotes,

and lush city parks that continue for blocks.

We checked out some of the 52 Benson Bubblers that bubble water continuously. Twenty of these historic fountains date back to 1912 when philanthropist Simon Benson donated them to the city in the hope that they would reduce the consumption of alcoholic beverages during lunch breaks, and to ensure drinking water for everyone.

And of course we saw many clusters of food trucks, 

however, our first delicious lunch stop was Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every time we walked past Luc Lac, there were lines out the door, but we arrived at 11:15, literally minutes before the lunch crowd, ordered and were seated within 5 minutes.  The food was AMAZING. Lucky lucky at Luc Lac.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We obviously did not count calories at all this week, so we also enjoyed Voodoo Donuts which is a Portland given…and saw people carrying those distinctive pink boxes all over town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our hotel was conveniently about a block from Moonstruck Chocolate, home of luscious truffle treats, so yes we tasted a little of the cocoa confections.

There are a number of markets, but the big market is the Portland Saturday Market…where you can go on Sunday. Weird – right?  We went on Sunday and it was super cool.  Down near the waterfront and the Burnside Bridge, there is summer, sunshine, entertainment, food vendors, and lots of shopping.

 

 

Portlandians love brunch and therefore on Sunday we brunched at Mother’s Bistro. At Mother’s, it’s made with Love.

 

We rode the trolley and got off in the Pearl District to shop at Powell’s City of Books, which covers a whole city block. OMGoodness. If anyone can bring back reading real physical books, it’s Powells.  We loved this store! It has more books than a library – they say a million. They sell new and used books because Powells buys back books, and they sell other cool stuff like cards, notebooks, t-shirts, bags and travel accessories. Can’t say enough about Powells.

May was a bit soon for peak rose season, but the Lan Su Chinese Garden downtown was an amazing alternative. It is a photographer’s paradise as the gardens were designed to create scenes framed within scenes and framed again. Beautiful and oddly peaceful for being right in the heart of the city.

 

 

 

 

The Teahouse in the Tower of Cosmic Reflections offers tea and snacks if you decide to just stay, meditate and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of a city tour, we were brought up to the top of the medical district where we took an aerial tram ride down to the waterfront. The Oregon Health and Science University campus has grown so large that they operate two campus’ connected by the aerial tram.

The tram is free if you ride it from the Marquam Hill neighborhood down to the South Waterfront. So if you can get someone to drive you up to the top….it’s a cool panoramic vista at the upper station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were very fortunate to snag tickets to a sold out Stephen Stills & Judy Collins concert at Revolution Hall. Revolution is a old high school that has been converted into a 850 seat performing arts venue with a rooftop bar and another bar right off the main floor seating area. It was intimate, had great acoustics, and Judy’s voice was amazing as ever as she hit the high notes in Both Sides Now.  Definitely check out the Revolution Hall website for the calendar of events if you will be in town.

The Eagles were scheduled to play at the Moda Center, home of the Portland Trailblazers, but unfortunately rescheduled. There are many concerts and events at Moda, so check their events calendar if you’re coming to town.

Our week was full of winery and city tours, an excursion to Mount Hood and the Gorge, and a historic concert. We packed so much into six days that Portland could be the topic of many blog posts and we definitely plan to visit again soon.

Stay tuned for some serious wine tasting and beautiful Oregon scenery.

I wonder how hubs will top this week when my birthday rolls around?  C’est tout!