Tuesday, September 16, 2014

My First Trip to Portland

I went to Portland for the first time this past weekend. My main reason for going was to see my aunt and cousin because I haven't seen them in about ten years. I've lived in Oregon for about six months now and wanted to get completely settled in before taking any trips, but it was hard waiting to see them when I knew they were so close. The other reasons my boyfriend and I decided to take a trip to Portland were to see my suitemate from my first year of college (he hadn't met her before), and to explore the city in general.

We left Bend on Friday and got to my friend Christine's house around 12:30. She had lunch waiting for us, so we ate while catching up on things (Bart opted for playing with her housemate's new kitty while we had "girl time") before taking a bus downtown. We went to the Chinese Garden, which is absolutely stunning. These are some of the shots I took while we were there.




After that we went to this awesome ice cream shop called Salt & Straw that specializes in funky flavors. You can tell it was a really popular places, because there was a line out the door and about a 30-45 minute wait even with four people working the line, one person making fresh waffles cones, and one person on the cash register. SO WORTH THE WAIT THOUGH.



I got Honey Balsamic Strawberry with Cracked Pepper, Christine got Freckled Woodblock Chocolate, and Bart got Apricot with Citra Hops. It was a magical experience.


After that we went back to Christine's and hung out some more (while Bart played with Ricky the cat some more) until it was time for us to go to my aunt's house. When we got to my aunt's we obviously were excited to see each other so we caught up in her living room and ate pizza before calling it a day. Also their dog, Libby, is basically my new best friend now and I regret not taking a picture of that majestic creature.

The next morning we went to breakfast at a place called Biscuits before heading to the maker's market in downtown. There were so many cool booths that it was hard not to spend an hour at each one. My favorite was definitely the one with nerd themed prints. We talked to the guy for awhile and definitely plan on buying more prints from him, but bought these two to start (pictures are from his website [outnerdme.com] btw because I couldn't get good pictures of ours without mad glare). I picked out the Big Bang Theory one and Bart picked out the Firefly one.



But if we went to Portland and didn't stop at Voodoo Doughnut, does the trip even count at all?




After that we went downtown, browsed through some shops, and then we went back to their house to relax for a little bit before going to the mall (Elise had a surprise party to go to, but the rest of us went). I replaced my foundation and eyeshadow primer at Sephora and bought a new nude eyeshadow palette because I'm down to 3 neutral shadows that are all almost gone which is how I justified buying the palette in my head. I DON'T FEEL BAD AND I EARNED IT OK


After the mall we went back to the house, watched Big Bang Theory with my aunt, and then went to bed.

On Sunday we went to the Rose Garden, followed by the Japanese Garden before eating lunch at a pub called The Public House and then saying good bye...for now.


Elise can't pass up an opportunity to study...




The pictures from the Japanese Garden didn't turn out as well as the others, but you can still get the idea of how gorgeous it was.


Overall it was an amazing trip and I'm so happy that I got to reconnect with family that I haven't seen in ages and a friend I haven't seen in years while exploring a new city. I can't wait to go back!


Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise

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