We slept well and got up around 9 am, leaving the hotel to explore Portland around 9:45 am. We drove in to downtown Portland and parked at a garage in the heart of downtown for $13 for the whole day. We walked a few blocks to Pioneer Courthouse and went to the visitor’s center underneath a cool waterfall thing across the street. We got a map and some helpful hints from the guy working there and were on our way for a full day’s adventure.

First we walked south to walk along the water. We saw the Spirit of Portland depart, but didn’t want to go on the cruise. Not too much going on down by the water besides a fountain, and it was cloudy so not a great view either. We then walked north and happened upon Rocket Fizz, a candy store with a great variety and a ton of house made sodas. We didn’t get anything, but they had a British section with Crunchies and Irn Bru. Nice!

The visitor center fellow highlighted an area of town with food trucks, so we did a lot of damage there. We walked around the entire city block to check out every single food cart, and there were a ton of offerings. From Greek to Thai, and Iraqi to BBQ, we were in heaven. We split a half of a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and apple butter from Savor food truck to warm up. The apple butter made the difference, but regardless it was so delicious. We walked down the block when we happened upon a the Snapple truck who had just pulled up to give free samples (Team Handsome is the best at getting free brand name drinks in the street from a truck). We each got the sweet tea and several BOGO coupons. Such good karma from our souvenir pennies and various animals we’ve seen in the wild.

Around 11:30 am Kaity Haworth, aka Kitten, met up with us. Kitten is a founding member of Friar Tuck, a band formed at Dillon and Amanda Gower’s wedding in Seattle in May. We have yet to practice or write or perform any music, but when it happens we’re going to be big. Kitten only worked at camp in 2013, but she and Alex hit it off because camp people are great like that. After walking around some more Alex and I landed on Anna’s Original Thai, each ordering pad thai. We walked down the street to eat in the park. The food was mediocre even though Anna herself promised it would be delicious. That liar! I gave my leftovers to a homeless man, but Alex couldn’t gift his to anybody. By the way – there were A LOT of homeless people in Portland. So sad, and at times uncomfortable.

Though we were in the town where Voodoo Donuts originated (throwback to Denver), we instead walked north to Blue Star Donuts, which apparently was voted Top 10 donuts in the US and was highly recommended by Kitten. They branded themselves as “donuts for grown ups,” which is true because their palette was more mature than Voodoo’s. My chocolate ganache donut was phenomenal, as were Kitten and Alex’s donuts. Alex had the raspberry rosemary donut which the guy at the counter said was the best donut in the universe.

We then strolled over to Powell’s books, which is a bookstore that takes up an entire city block. Other than the Library of Congress it was the most books I have ever seen in a store. What a collection! We walked around through the various rooms and checked out books of all varieties in all the different sections. My family would have a field day there. After reading and Kitten purchasing “Into the Wild” we went to Deschutes Brewery for a quick drink. My native Oregon cider was so good! Kitten left us to run some errands, so Alex and I were on our own to explore without our tour guide (it was OK – we still had the map from earlier).

We walked several blocks north to check out the famous Rose Garden. We climbed A TON of stairs to get to the top to access the garden. We were never out of breath and didn’t break a sweat (totally kidding). There was a really well done Holocaust memorial at the top with a large granite engraved monument to remember those that had passed and metal items (a teddy bear, suitcase, book, etc) scattered throughout the path to represent the chaos created on Kristallnacht. We ended up not going to the rose garden, but we added a ton to our step count for the day so that was a plus.

23rd street was close by, so we walked almost the entirety of the street, which was full of cool shops and restaurants. I walked into a toy shop and checked out old Berenstein Bears and Wheres Waldo books. So many good memories. 23rd was super hip and really nice. As I’ve done in just about every state we’ve been in, I went into a store to get a scratch off lotto ticket (or 3). More good karma – I won $15 off a $1 scratch off! Second time winning the lottery this trip (really earning all my money back). We then walked downtown via Washington Ave and got dinner at Mandarin Cove Chinese Restaurant around 7:30. We were craving it, so we each ordered a delicious dish and enjoyed the standard chinese restaurant ambiance. My beef with eggplant was awesome, as was Alex’s beef chow fun.

Alex wasn’t feeling too great, so we went back to the hotel around 9 or so and hung out for the rest of the night. We watched an episode and a half of shark tank before falling asleep around 11:30 or so. We did 25,686 steps, or 12.11 miles, that day, which broke the record we set in San Francisco. We both loved Portland and could see ourselves spending more time or even living in the area.

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