Portland In A Day

Back in November we got news that Matt's sister, Marissa, won her conference for cross country and would be running in the NAIA national meet in Vancouver, WA. We were thrilled and bursting with pride for her accomplishments! She has worked so hard over the past year and made amazing strides (pun intended haha) in her running career. Just a couple weeks after, we were able to catch a flight up from California to Portland for the weekend to meet up with the family and cheer her on!

Since we moved to Florida before Marissa started college, we haven't had the chance to make it up to see her run yet. It was a real treat that this meet ended up being on the same side of the country and just a short flight away! We were so happy to finally get the chance to cheer her on and see how much she has grown as a runner since high school. She boasted a great performance and has represented her school and herself well in her first two years running for Waldorf in Iowa.

We grabbed lunch with Marissa and the rest of the family, including Matt's grandmother and aunt who made it down from northern Washington after the race. It was great to see everyone and catch up as well as spend some quality time together before everyone flew back home.

Matt's parents left early Sunday morning, but we decided to fly out in the evening and spend a day exploring Portland - somewhere we haven't been yet. Portland is set right on the river, just like Minneapolis, which gave it a familiar feel for us. It was also a little chilly over the weekend, which might have contributed to the midwest vibes we got from the city.

One Day Exploring Portland

We spent the day exploring like we usually do - by walking the city. Because of the weather, we stopped often to window shop and try out some cute coffee shops in the city. Our first stop was in the morning at a coffee shop called Barista. It was a quaint little coffee bar set in the lobby of the historic Hamilton building in downtown Portland. Although it did not offer a ton of seating, we still enjoyed our stop, especially taking in the street view through the Hamilton's large set of antique windows. 

Our next stop was Powell's City of Books. The bookstore covers an entire city block and is unlike anything we have ever seen! Walking through the levels and levels of books was a fun experience. Whether the claim that Powell's is the largest independent book store in the world is true or not, the store is certainly impressive. Powell's lived up to our expectations and we enjoyed browsing the shelves. Even if you do not read, Powell's is for sure on our must see list in Portland!

If you know anything about me, it is that I love coffee! I am always looking or places to try when we visit a new city. Matt, unfortunately, has not been converted to the dark side yet (he doesn't drink coffee). However, he has learned to accept my obsession and even help me find new places to try! If you're a coffee fanatic like me, you might have heard of Stumptown Roasters before. They are a popular coffee company that originated in Portland and has opened locations in a couple other cities like New York and LA. They also sell their coffee all over the U.S. We couldn't visit Portland without checking out Stumptown and seeing what the hype was about. The location we went to was really cute, again, stationed in the lobby of a historic building - The Ace Hotel. The coffee shop had much more seating than Barista, as well as a welcoming vibe with shared tables and spaces both in the lobby and upstairs a floor in the hotel. We loved the vibe of this place and I was impressed with the coffee as well. 

Next we walked down the riverwalk to the Portland Saturday Market, where we browsed through small craft stands and stopped for some lunch. We decided on a little Polish food truck that sells Pirogies, basically a Polish dumpling. I grew up with my grandmother making them from scratch and we ate them on special occasions. After a few years of living away from home, it was a lunch that brought back lots of memories - and they were delicious!

We spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping at shop downtown before heading to Deschutes Brewery and Public House for a quick bite and a flight before heading to the airport (pun intended). Portland is a huge hub for breweries and although neither of us are craft beer experts, we enjoyed stopping in and sampling some brews. 

Although our day in Portland was quick, we enjoyed exploring the city! It is definitely a place that we'd love to visit again (maybe next time when it's warmer next time). We felt so thankful that the weekend worked out for use to see Marissa run, catch up with family we have missed, and throw in a quick day of exploring with it!