My first trip to Portland, Oregon (2018)
This post is part of the informal Travel Throwback Tuesdays series, where I write about some travel I’ve done in the past couple of years that I never got around to sharing on my blog. In the last edition of Travel Throwback Tuesdays, I reminisced on our trip to Portland, Ore. from 2019, but today I take a brief pause and take you even further back to 2018, which was my first time in Portland.
![The front of a bookstore seen from the opposite side of a street. The signage reads “Powell’s Books – Used & new books”. A couple of cars can be seen driving past. There are a few people waiting in front of the bookstore.](/img/portland18/Portland-07.jpg)
I’ve written about my trip to Portland in two separate posts, Dear XOXO, and alone ≠ lonely – the former being about my experience at XOXO festival (the main reason I went to Portland in the first place) and the latter being about my solo adventure to Multnomah Falls and the Columbia River Gorge. I haven’t written about the adventures I had apart from all of that. 😊 So here it is! 💙
I must reiterate that I was travelling alone, and this was my first time travelling internationally alone. I’d been on a flight to the other side of Australia – to Perth (again for a conference!) – but there was something different about literally jetting to another hemisphere and being so far away from what was familiar. And all alone. I remember the experiences I had in Portland like they were yesterday. It felt like one of the longest 10-day periods of my life, largely because so many of those memories were new.
I distinctly remember having an emotional breakdown the night before flying out of Sydney. I felt nervous and scared. I had been so, so excited, but I just wasn’t feeling up for doing this on my own. I’m not bad at preparing for things. I don’t really over-prepare, but I just know that sometimes the more I prepare, the more I panic. Nick consoled me and I felt much better by the next day, but it was all very strange and very new being in my mid-to-late twenties having almost never boarded a plane by myself.
When I landed in Portland I kinda knew I’d messed up by not really preparing for how I would be able to get by without a phone. I sort of just assumed there would be free wifi at a telco in the airport. I asked a man working at a travel information booth for some help and he gave me a map and pointed out that the MAX light rail would take me where I needed to go.
![A light rail station at the end of the line. The foreground has adequate shade, and there is a light rail vehicle awaiting passengers.](/img/portland18/Portland-01.jpg)
I probably handled the situation well, but in my mind I panicked a little when he asked where I wanted to go, and I had no clue. I didn’t even have a fucking plan. I’m laughing as I write this, but in my mind, I was telling myself to get a grip. This is the shit that people forget to plan. You arrive at the airport then what. Travel isn’t that simple. I told him where I was staying. I figured that’d be easiest. Get myself into town and go from there. He pointed out a shopping centre where I could find a T-Mobile. It wasn’t too far from the Jupiter – the hotel I was staying in – and I could get a streetcar to my hotel.
I bought a 1-day ticket so I could just catch as much transport as I needed that day. I think I felt rather on edge while I was on it. It’s funny how you feel super secure when you have a working phone with service, and very unsafe and lost when you don’t. Take me back to 2001 please. 😂 I remember feeling like this, but just telling myself to pay attention to my surroundings as well as take it all in. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I could get phone service. I just didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere.
I felt more comfortable once I got to the T-Mobile to get a SIM card and the staff were really friendly and helpful. I dropped my suitcase off at my hotel and spent the rest of my afternoon in Portland, exploring downtown. I had lunch at a poke bowl place. The whole area was very quiet. My first impression of Portland was that it felt pretty quiet and relaxed. I took the opportunity to browse the Apple Store and walked through some of the South Park Blocks, a series of blocks with planted trees and benches that goes through downtown and up to Portland State University.
![An open, wide gravel path at the side of a park area where tall trees are planted](/img/portland18/Portland-02.jpg)
![A statue of a man on top of a block with an engraving, in a park with many trees](/img/portland18/Portland-03.jpg)
It was actually a really warm day! I’m not sure what I was expecting of the weather, but it was definitely pleasant. I found a Blue Star Donuts and took the opportunity to get one. This one is a Chocolate Buttermilk Old-Fashioned. I mostly got it because of the bergamot glaze, which appeals to my tea-loving tastebuds. I wanted to try all the flavours! 🍩
![The inside of a doughnut shop, with many gourmet doughnuts on display on long white trays.](/img/portland18/Portland-04.jpg)
![A half-bitten doughnut of a chocolate colour, in a woman’s hand.](/img/portland18/Portland-05.jpg)
I went to Powell’s books. I could have spent days in there. 😩 I don’t even read as many books as I used to a decade ago, but I think anyone can love a bookstore. Seriously.
![The aisle of a large bookstore, with wooden shelves as tall the ceiling. All the shelves are full of books](/img/portland18/Portland-06.jpg)
I had an early night (after a 12-hour flight and a 2-hour flight, you’d think I’d be tired after going through half a day haha), and the next morning I went to a cafe called Grendel’s Coffee House, across the road from the Jupiter. This was, and still is, one of my favourite places to get a chai latte. It’s… it’s the real deal. If you’re a chai snob like me, you will love it. None of this mixed-powdered bullshit. Real chai with real spice.
![A chai latte served in a paper cup, sitting on a brown table](/img/portland18/Portland-09.jpg)
![The inside of a coffee shop. The counter can be seen, with chalkboards with handwritten menus. There are only a few people in the cafe and a few empty chairs. The decor is brown and muted and gives a homey vibe.](/img/portland18/Portland-10.jpg)
Later that morning, after getting some work done, I met up with a new friend I made in the XOXO community, Victoria. 💖 She suggested a brunch place and shouted the bill. 😌 We had expected some others to join us, but it was just the two of us and I was totally OK with that.
![An omlette with ham, served alongside roast potatoes and topped with American cheese.](/img/portland18/Portland-11.jpg)
I was around the Hawthorne area, which is where Nick and I stayed last year when we visited Portland. In 2018, though, I had no idea where I was. 😆 I knew I was a far way from downtown and it would be quicker to get anywhere by bus. I don’t know why, but when I go travelling, I really like walkable options. So I was trying so hard to walk absolutely everywhere and avoid spending too much money on transport. It was definitely a bit tough, but at this point in time I had a couple of hours to kill, because my friend Phill texted me to meet up, and I had some time to get to the Tilikum Crossing where we were going to meet up.
I ended up randomly walking around the suburbs near Hawthorne, looking at the map on my phone for something interesting. I ended up walking to Ladd’s Addition for no apparent reason other than to observe the interesting street layout. All the roads came to the middle to a circular park in the middle, but there wasn’t much to see. The area was completely residential.
![A reserve with sunburnt grass and thoughtfully placed shrubbbery. A small wooden sign amongst the planted shrubs reads “Ladd Circle”.](/img/portland18/Portland-12.jpg)
I had worked up a sweat at this point, and it was a really hot day (I brought my leather jacket… hilarious and very much unneeded), so I stopped by a cafe to get some iced tea. After Phill and I did the Tilikum crossing, getting a lovely view of the Willamette River, we had a sorta-late lunch at a cafe. It is absolutely wild to think that this was my second time meeting Phill 🤯 We were actually Twitter friends and grew up in the same town in Sydney. I’d first met him earlier in 2018 when Nick and I were in San Francisco.
![The wide walkable path on a bridge with metal railings. Markings on the floor of the bridge read “Bump” to indicate a small bump in the path for pedestrians](/img/portland18/Portland-13.jpg)
![The large pylons of a bridge, with a sign reading “Tilikum Crossing: Bridge of the People”.](/img/portland18/Portland-14.jpg)
![A woman in a white denim crop top and black pants, with big and round dark sunglasses and a leather jacket on top of her head like a cape. She is walking on what appears to be a bridge and is making a face with her tongue slightly stuck out.](/img/portland18/Portland-08.jpg)
![A river with a bridge running across it, seen from a point in the middle of the river’s width. It is a bright day with blue skies](/img/portland18/Portland-18.jpg)
After hanging out for a bit, Phill and I went to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum to register for XOXO and hang out at the venue. The adventures would soon begin!
I obviously won’t recount XOXO again, since you can read about that in Deear XOXO, but I mentioned Salt and Straw in my blog post two weeks ago, and this was the glorious serving of ice cream I had from there. I don’t quite remember what flavours I got, but one was lavender and I think the other one was some kind of very nice berry flavour. Either way, during this little lunch adventure I had with some of my newly-made friends, I had to share some of this ice cream with them because I could not finish it. 🍦 My lactose intolerance was playing up! I thought I could take the hit, but, I forget that servings in the States are so huge. 😂
![A woman’s hand holding a red-and-white paper cup with a large serving of ice cream. The top scoop is light purple and the one underneath can only just be seen, and is beige in colour.](/img/portland18/Portland-17.jpg)
On the morning of the last day of XOXO, a few of us gathered at La Luna cafe (a favourite!) and had breakfast. I couldn’t go past the poached eggs. Though in 2020, I tend to go for scrambled. 🤓
![Chai latte served in a blue cup and saucer, with a sprinkle of cinnamon](/img/portland18/Portland-15.jpg)
![Poached eggs and hollandaise sauce served on buns with charred greens and tomato](/img/portland18/Portland-16.jpg)
The day after XOXO ended, it was a Monday again so I had to work remotely. I worked from my laptop in my hotel room in the morning, and I remember managing to get some semblance of hotel room workout in. It was difficult to work in that space, though, because there was not a lot of light, so I felt pretty tired and demotivated. I ended up going out and to a nearby cafe to work.
That afternoon Liene picked me up and we went to the Portland Japanese Garden. She was a member so she could bring a friend in. I appreciate the kind gesture! 🌳 We had some tea inside the cafe there too. 🍵
![A small arch with a corrugated roof, between white walls, in an area full of trees, resembling a forest. Past the arch are steps and a small ramp alongside it, going upwards](/img/portland18/Portland-19.jpg)
![An open paved area with a forest in the background. At the edge of the paved area are a couple of benches. A woman is sitting on one of them and appears to be on the phone.](/img/portland18/Portland-20.jpg)
![An intricate junipter bonsai, on display in a brown pot. A small plaque next to it reads “Rocky Mountain Juniper” and indicates that it is 100 years old](/img/portland18/Portland-21.jpg)
![A Japanese maple, with coral red leaves, presented in a shallow plate with green moss. A small plaque next to it indicates that it is 15 years old](/img/portland18/Portland-22.jpg)
![A view of a city from a high elevation, mostly obscured by trees and a hedge in the foreground. The sky is slightly cloudy.](/img/portland18/Portland-23.jpg)
![A path between the tall trunks of many trees, resembling a forest](/img/portland18/Portland-24.jpg)
![A pond surrounded by beautiful, lush green trees](/img/portland18/Portland-25.jpg)
![Orange and white koi fish in a pond with dark green-brown water](/img/portland18/Portland-26.jpg)
![A Japanese zen garden covered with pebbles. Some rocks feature on the pebbles, in a neat formation](/img/portland18/Portland-27.jpg)
![A tray served with green tea matcha and some sweets](/img/portland18/Portland-28.jpg)
The next day was my adventure to Multnomah Falls, and in the afternoon after getting some work done, I made my way downtown again and met up with Hans, another XOXOer, and we browsed the International Rose Test Garden. I got a few beautiful photos – the natural light was really lovely that afternoon.
![](/img/portland18/Portland-29.jpg)
![A close up of a group of pink roses](/img/portland18/Portland-30.jpg)
![A close up of a couple of peach roses, among a green leafy bush](/img/portland18/Portland-31.jpg)
![A grassy path going between two plots of rose bushes](/img/portland18/Portland-32.jpg)
![A close-up of a light pink rose with a light peach colour towards the centre](/img/portland18/Portland-33.jpg)
![A selfie of a woman with short dark hair, wearing a blue shirt and black jacket. She is in the middle of a rose garden](/img/portland18/Portland-34.jpg)
![A close-up of a pink and white rose with a pattern resemblig paint streaks.](/img/portland18/Portland-35.jpg)
![A concrete path going around a slight bend, with a lamp post to one side. There are different coloured rose arrangements in the bushes and hedges at the sides.](/img/portland18/Portland-36.jpg)
![A large rose garden with many rose bushes planted tightly together, in various shades of red and pink](/img/portland18/Portland-37.jpg)
![A rose garden with many red and deep pink roses. Big pine trees are visible in the background, with a small sliver of a rainbow appearing in the clouds between the trees](/img/portland18/Portland-38.jpg)
![A close-up of some bright purple flowers amid growing leaves of roses.](/img/portland18/Portland-39.jpg)
As I was feeling quite hungry afterwards and chose to walk all the way back to downtown, I ordered a large meal of ramen and two fish tacos with a drink at a Japanese restaurant called Afuri.
![A blue-rimmed bowl filled with pork ramen. It is topped with half a boiled egg, bamboo shoots and nori seaweed](/img/portland18/Portland-40.jpg)
My stay in Portland was coming to a weird, bittersweet, sad close. In the morning I caught a bus early and went to the now-closed Tasty N Sons, and treated myself to a(n American) biscuit. 🤤 I was hoping I would be able to get my laptop out and do some work inside, but I got a seat at the bar at the window, and barely had any space. It’s usually a bit of a shame when you expect to be able to work from a cafe but it’s possible. Sometimes you simply don’t know until you get there. 🤔
![A plate served wuth eggs, bacon and an American-style biscuit. It is served at the inside window of a cafe.](/img/portland18/Portland-41.jpg)
After I finished my breakfast I ended up going to Bread & Honey cafe. I liked this spot a lot, and ended up staying there until the afternoon. They had a lovely chai latte, and power outlets readily available, so it was a really comfortable place for me to work. I remember Apple having their keynote announcing some new products at this time (since it was September), so I ended up watching some of that live. When I’m at home in Sydney it usually starts at around 2:00am, but this time I was actually in the same timezone. 😆
![The inside of a cafe seen from one of the tables inside. The table has a table number and a cup of tea. The cafe has some art on the walls and some yellow wooden chairs.](/img/portland18/Portland-42.jpg)
That evening, I went to Portland Rock Gym with Autumn, who I’d met at XOXO. I ended up doing mostly bouldering because the rope system was significantly different to the pulley system they use in Australia, so I wasn’t actually all that familiar with it. There were some self-belaying walls, though, at least. I did have fun, though – and this actually reminds me that I haven’t gone climbing in a good while. 🙈
![The inside of a bouldering/rock climbing gym. Coloured rock holds line the geometrically-shaped walls, and someone sits on the landing, facing away from the camera.](/img/portland18/Portland-43.jpg)
![A top-down view of a woman’s feet; she is wearing bright yellow and blue rock climbing shoes, and navy blue leggings.](/img/portland18/Portland-44.jpg)
I wasn’t anywhere near downtown so I ended up going to a bar to eat (there weren’t many other food options), where I had a tiny, expensive meal. I got hungry late at night so I walked all the way up Burnside for probably a mile, and found a cafe that was open late. I had a coffee and some sweets. I felt weirdly lonely just being in a quiet cafe so late at night in the middle of nowhere. It’s funny, when you’re alone and anxious, sleeping can sometimes feel like the best way to get over it. 🤨
![A grey bowl with a small serving of scallops and vegetables](/img/portland18/Portland-45.jpg)
![The dark and dimly lit interior of a cafe, with red decor. Wine bottles line the walls along with fake red candles.](/img/portland18/Portland-46.jpg)
My flight out was the next afternoon. I went to an open co-working space called Elevator where there was a cafe, and sat there and worked until I had to leave. I picked up my luggage from the hotel and took a walk to the MAX. I thought I left early enough, but I got to the airport with little time to spare – I arrived with only about 10 minutes until boarding time. It was enough time to take a photo of the famous PDX carpet.
![A cafe counter with a menu above the counter. Hanging lighting and fans can be seen from the ceiling.](/img/portland18/Portland-47.jpg)
![A top-down view of a woman with brown boots on her feet. She is standing on a teal green carpet with a repeating pattern](/img/portland18/Portland-48.jpg)
My flight went to LAX, then I had a short layover and the non-stop flight to Sydney. The flight was delayed by a couple of hours and I was falling asleep in the terminal. It was ridiculous. LAX is also not that nice of an airport. 😆 I bought a coffee to try and stay awake until the flight arrived, but I forgot about the higher Californian tax rate, so there went all my cash. 😅
Writing this post has made me miss Portland. I’m sure I will be back at some point in the future, because both my visits have just been a really nice experience and I love immersing myself in Portland’s culture. 😌
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