As expected from a Montana girl, it really doesn’t take much to impress me. In all honesty, I was just happy to visit my first Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s considering that’s all that people really talk about when it comes to eating anything healthy. After spending three months in a smaller suburb outside of Portland I started to notice all my favorite “go to” places on the weekend when I wanted to get a yummy lunch, matcha latte, drinks with a friend, or even hand crafted jewelry. The first week I started my job I sat down and started Googling everything that I could find out about Portland. Where were the good coffee shops? Bistros? Anything and everything that I wanted to experience with the short amount of time I had to spare. As how most things go, my “Want To’ list grew way too long leaving my list not even half the way checked off. That just means I WILL have to come back at some point, RIGHT?!
Honestly, I love Portland. It was my first time living in a city that was actually a CITY. It was intimidating, hands down, considering the biggest interstate I ever drove was 4 lanes instead of 8, and there wasn’t actually five o’clock traffic that I didn’t believe could be so frustrating. But the inspiration, drive, dedication, spark of those that I have met while down here has to have been my favorite. Portland is somewhere I could consider living when I have a family. Everybody is nice, you can choose to live in the city or a small suburb, people in the city are (mostly) create people that exercise your knowledge, and the beach is a couple hours away along with various hikes, lakes and anything else you would could want.
The most depressing activity I wasn’t able to check off my list was visiting Seattle, WA. Some of my distant family live there so I have gone wayyyy wayyy back, that I can’t even remember let alone get to fully experience it. All my Portland friends talk about how exciting it is to go and how different Portland and Seattle can be even though they aren’t that far from each other. Before I start going on about other outlets of conversation, lets get right into my Portland favorites!
Tea Bar
5 out of 5
This is the cutest tea place I have seen in my whole life. They have everything from matcha to detox drinks and this ice cream kinda stuff, that is a little healthier than actually ice cream I can imagine. Whenever I go I get there Charcoal Detox drink that is BLACK, it’s super refreshing and even has a slight taste of lavender and honey. Something else they have, that I am sure most of you know by now is my favorite, MATCHA. Bonus points; their staff members are super nice and laid back, I have never had a bad experience when going to the Tea Bar.
Saturday Market
4 out of 5
On the weekends I will get something at the Tea Bar and walk on over to the Saturday Market. They are super close, maybe a fifteen minute or so walk in between! They have everything you could imagine from food, clothing, jewelry (which is my absolute favorite), the cutest flowers, everyyyyythannnnng. It is located on the water front of what I think is a river of some sort so you’re able to sit down, sip your tea, and take it all in with a beautiful view of the water and the rest of the city across from it. Back home our farmers market is rather small and it IS a SATURDAY market that only runs for a short time period in the mornings. The Portland Saturday Market is the real deal, it goes on all day long Saturday AND Sunday. I love going to these markets to help the community, networking, and seeing all the beautiful things other people can make/have a passion in. It is inspiring to me and I love authentic, one of a kind things rather than a design that was originally molded to make hundreds or thousand of the same thing. The only downfall is I would go with company, as many of us have seen or heard about the homeless in Portland along with the riots and everything else that takes place, just be careful no matter what city you are in.
Twist
6 out of 5
Portland people are nice, but some can be rather stingy when you are making your way into a higher class area of town, or even just a boutique. I love handmade jewelry and one of a kind pieces like I was stating above, but I had no idea where to find these in a boutique setting other than the market. After talking to a coworker, she recommended Twist and I thought I would go ahead and give it a try. When I walked in, an employee named Viktoria started to show me around a little, and she has to be the BEST sales person I know. I worked in jewelry and I know how selling goes when it comes to commission. She ended up selling a couple pieces to me and I can honestly say I will only want to work with her when I go back there! She was super nice, wanting to know everything about her clients and honestly seemed to care about finding you the right piece & keep the connection. If any of you end up visiting this jewelry shop, go see Viktoria and tell her I sent yah! 🙂
Mother’s Bistro
5 out of 5
My first couple weeks at work I made a couple friends! We decided we would meet for brunch at Mother’s Bistro in downtown Portland. I had kind of heard of it through YouTube but never actually saw it or went and visited it myself. Upon arriving it was absolutely packed, it took some work to make my way to the front to see the host face to face, and after that I sat there for about 45 minutes waiting for a table. If this doesn’t prove how great this place is, than I don’t know what would. Our waitress was nice and I got a yummy salad that came with cornbread and a green tea, which I should have got a coffee instead (cofffeeee adddiiiiiicttttt over herrre). It was all really good food and my friends agreed after they finished there dishes that consisted of some kind of toast scramble thing and I can’t remember what my other friend got! The scenery of this bistro was my favorite part of it all. From the beautiful chandeliers, cream designed walls, and antiques everywhere it seemed to have been a restored building. It was BEAUTIFUL.
Tilikum Crossing Bridge
5 out of 5
This bridge caught my eye initially coming into Portland. As I was going over a different bridge I started to notice the huge white pillars right down to the left of me. I remember thinking I was lucky to be able to move here and experience the beauty and creativity of Portland. After being here a couple weeks and studying up on various places and booking a photoshoot with a local photographer that we took pictures on, I finally got to experience it a little. A couple weekends after that my friend and I went to a Starbucks near by and walked the bridge, making a loop around the downtown area. It was super relaxing and plan beautiful, which is a word I keep using to describe Portland, but I can’t help it. Every Sunday I find myself wanting to get up, throw on active wear, grab Starbucks (that is actually at one end of the bridge), and go on a quit walk back and forth to take it all in and relax. Even if you wanted to ride a bike or scooter, they have those to rent at one end of the bridge as well.
Pacific City Beach
5 out of 5
My amazing friend and her family have a beach house here and invited me to visit one Friday after work to have drinks, stay the night, and experience the coast. Once the stars came out we grabbed blankets to head down and look at the stars. It actually brought tears to my eyes experiencing this, praying to God in my head about how thankful I was to experience this and have met the amazing people that I have throughout this adventure. Since I have only been to the beach a couple times before in California, this was an entirely different experience that I am so thankful for!
Tear Drop Lounge
5 out of 5
Tear Drop was the first place I actually got a REAL cocktail, like ever. I remember walking in thinking I would just order a basic Gin Tonic like I would back home without even looking at the menu, I mean that’s what you do back home, I didn’t think anything of it. The person that I was with looked at me like I was a little crazy as well as the bartender. They had a full list of “classy” drinks and I didn’t even take one look at it before ordering. After the slight embarrassment of my Montucky roots coming through I learned to actually look at the menu and order like a profession, at least that’s what I like to think I am now hehehehe. After following up with a real cocktail, my friend ordered me something off the menu. After trying that, this quickly became my go-to place when I wanted to sit down and have a drink with a friend or two.
Surprisingly enough, a lot more places grew on me than I thought after the three month span I had here. It was hard to try and fit it all into one weekend as well as trying other things! I love Portland and highly recommend everybody to go visit. If you are curious as to what I was up to during this time, check out my YouTube channel where I have a couple weekend vlogs!
Until next time beauties,
Kayla
xoxo
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