Lady of Labor Day - Portland, Oregon
Blog: A Lady in London - 7 November 2009
Labor Day weekend took me to Portland, Oregon. Although I've lived in California for most of my life, I had never actually made it up to Portland. It was my loss. Portland is an amazing city. It is like a mix of Vancouver, Seattle, and San Francisco all in one. The city is walkable and easy to navigate, has great food, and is surrounded by amazing natural beauty.
We worked our way through the city, visiting the Pearl District, where we had amazing tea and scones for breakfast; the Portland Museum of Art, where we saw a Dutch painting exhibition from Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum; and Dan and Louie's Oyster Bar, where we feasted on local oysters and good beer. We hit up the NW area and ate great food at the likes of Papa Haydn, Moonstruck, Ringside Steak House, Tara Thai, Bleuet, Cafe Vivace, and other fine establishments. Between meals we entertained ourselves by hiking up to Washington Park's rose garden, making our way out to some beautiful waterfalls, and navigating through one of the city's enormous parks.
On Sunday we drove out to a small town called Carlton to do some wine tasting. Oregon Pinots hold their own against our California wines, and it was great to walk into the tasting rooms and not have to wait for ten minutes just to get a pour.
We worked our way through the city, visiting the Pearl District, where we had amazing tea and scones for breakfast; the Portland Museum of Art, where we saw a Dutch painting exhibition from Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum; and Dan and Louie's Oyster Bar, where we feasted on local oysters and good beer. We hit up the NW area and ate great food at the likes of Papa Haydn, Moonstruck, Ringside Steak House, Tara Thai, Bleuet, Cafe Vivace, and other fine establishments. Between meals we entertained ourselves by hiking up to Washington Park's rose garden, making our way out to some beautiful waterfalls, and navigating through one of the city's enormous parks.
On Sunday we drove out to a small town called Carlton to do some wine tasting. Oregon Pinots hold their own against our California wines, and it was great to walk into the tasting rooms and not have to wait for ten minutes just to get a pour.
On our last day we met up with my friend Leif at the Kennedy School, which may be the strangest place I've ever been to. It's an old elementary school that has been preserved in form but completely overhauled in function. It is now home to a restaurant, bar, movie theater, hotel, and many more things.
I was sad to leave Portland, but came home in time to hang out with my friend Laura, who was in town from Seattle. We went to lunch at Boulette's Larder, my favorite restaurant at the Ferry Building. Our friend Liza met us there and we had ourselves a little Prague study abroad reunion. Seeing four friends in one week from my overseas experiences makes me feel like my world keeps getting smaller and smaller. Hopefully that bodes well for my social life when I get to London!
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