Today we made the journey from Crater Lake to Portland. We happily left the Crater Lake Lodge (which we don’t recommend) and headed north. We took the more scenic route and found ourselves passing through small towns as the gorgeous Oregon landscape surrounded us. Orchards and vineyards encircled us and the silhouettes of mountains lined the horizon. We’d pass through thick forests where tall tree trucks were the only thing we could see, but then emerge back into openness to find mile upon mile of grapes growing and endless sky.
We stopped at a handful of the towns for some window shopping and to check out the local scene. We found a hole in the wall breakfast/lunch spot. Literally, it was a hole in the wall. We ordered the last of her biscuits and gravy for just $2 an order.
The area is known for their wineries, especially the pinots. We stopped at two wineries and learned a bit about wine as we tasted the generous pours. I mostly learned that I like it and should probably have eaten more than a bite of $2 biscuits and gravy and half a pbj&c.
Once we had had our share of wine and cute towns we headed into Portland, our first city since Denver three weeks ago. We were welcomed with open arms at the Kimpton Monaco. We dropped our bags off in the room then headed straight to wine hour. We then wandered around the downtown area a bit and made our way to Deschutes Brewery. The food was awesome, best, most fresh crab roll I’ve ever had, the beer was amazing, and our server was a gem.
After dinner we went to Powell’s Bookstore, the largest used book store in the world. Bookstores are one of our favorite stops and this one is right up there with City Lights in San Francisco and Kramer Books in Washington DC as far as iconicness. We could have spent the whole night wandering through the rooms, paging through books on our wishlist, and reading snippets of popular books in genres we wouldn’t first choose. Ellie was the only one to purchase one, but we all took notes of books to add to our library account. The girls each took about a dozen pictures of covers they want added to their holiday wish lists.
We finally peeled ourselves away and walked back to the Monaco. The girls got cozy in bed and Zak and I grabbed the last drink of the day at the posh bar.
So far, I really, really like Portland and I’m excited to spend the next few days exploring more of what it has to offer.
