This last weekend was so much fun. On Saturday morning, Holly and I packed up my car and headed to Portland for a quick, but very fun trip! The drive is about five hours from where we live- so we had lots of time for girl talk which is always nice :-) I had only ever driven by Portland, so this was an especially fun and exciting trip for me. I love new experiences!
The purpose of our quick girls getaway was the Pacific Northwest Blogger Holiday Party. (Blog post coming on this soon!) We were able to stay with one of my best friends who lives in the area, so on Saturday we had a girl’s day. After touring her new house- which was so nice since I’d only toured it via Skype- we ventured to downtown Portland. And what was at the top of my Portland to-do list?
Voodoo Doughnut!
This place was so much fun! Was it worth the trip? Yes, I definitely think it was. There was a line that went all the way to the corner, but it went fast. I had good company during the wait too, so I’m sure that helped a lot. {Cool tip: Voodoo Doughnut is open 24 hours a day. Craving a doughnut at 3 am? They’ve got you covered!}
I snapped this photo on my iPhone while we were waiting in line. When we got inside (I feel like we were waiting for less than fifteen minutes, but I’m not sure) the shop area was pretty small. You basically order your doughnuts and leave. There is seating outdoors. To be honest, ordering doughnuts was a little overwhelming! There were spinning display cases that had the doughnut options, with the whole top row being vegan options. They have plain doughnuts, or “normal” you could call them, but who wants that? You can get normal doughnuts anywhere! There were doughnuts with cereal toppings, maple bars with whole pieces of bacon, and oreo-topped dessert doughnuts. Choosing was hard!
I ended up choosing the cap’n crunch topped doughnut, and I got the voodoo doughnut guy to take back to my hubby. I’m craving doughnuts now…
Silly picture, I know, but Holly and I were so excited for our pink boxes! “Good things come in pink boxes.” I would have to agree. I will definitely be getting another pink box the next time I’m in Portland :-)
After our doughnut adventure we were trying to find a place for dinner and got completely sidetracked. We ended up at Salt & Straw which, as my dear friend Tallie told us, has the best ice cream ever. This place was really neat, and as we waited in line we were greeted by someone asking us if there were any flavors we would like to try. They will let you sample whatever you want! I tried a salted caramel flavor first, followed by an almond brittle with salted ganache flavor. We all ended up getting the almond brittle– so delicious! I highly recommend it. Check out their website here.
After ice cream we decided we really needed to find a place for dinner! After pondering various recommendations, we maneuvered the downtown Portland traffic and headed over to a Thai restaurant called Pok Pok. By the time we found a parking spot and made it to the restaurant entrance it was 6:30 p.m. The hostess cheerfully told us that the wait would be 2- 2 1/2 hours. Even though we decided to go somewhere with less of a wait, this place looked really awesome, and next trip we will plan better because I would really like to try it!
We ended up going to Thai Orchid in Vancouver which was really good. I had the Pad Thai, which was absolutely delicious. Check out their website here. After dinner we called it a night, making sure to get enough beauty rest for Sunday’s festivities.
Sunday, our clocks “fell back” an hour for daylight saving time. It was nice to add an additional hour to the day, but my body wasn’t fooled as my internal alarm clock woke me up at 6 a.m. even though my cell phone alarm was set for 7. We took the morning to leisurely get ready for the holiday party. We left early for the event because we were unfamiliar with Portland traffic, and ending up arriving sooner than we had expected– a whole hour before the party started. (We got awesome street parking right out front of the venue though!)
Since we had the extra time, we decided to walk a block over from the party venue and ended up at this tiny coffee shop called Half Pint Cafe. It was a great “accidental” stop.
Though there was only one person taking orders and making the coffees (the owner) he was very personable and chatted the customer up while working behind the counter. There were two other people in front of us, and I didn’t mind the wait at all. Right away as we were examining the menu, Holly asked what the “chili mex” was. A friendly customer explained the “spice-y” flavor and said it was really good. Shortly after, the owner behind the counter gave us little cups to sample the “chili mex” hot cocoa.
It was really good, and I loved that we got to sample it, especially since it was a drink we were unfamiliar with. We ended up ordering a latte (me) and a mocha (Holly) for some much needed caffeine. By the time we got our drinks, we had just enough time to head back over to the venue for the holiday party.
The party was so much fun! I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun now, because it’s going to take a whole post! Be ready to read about an awesome event in the near future :-)
After the party, we headed home. The best part about road trips? If you see something interesting, you can stop! And we did. At the Maryhill Stonehenge. This is basically a replica of the original Stonehenge, honoring veterans of World War I. It was a great place to stretch our legs, break up the drive, and snap a few fun photos.
That sums up a fabulous weekend. (And– tomorrow is Friday, yay!)
Have you taken any road trips recently?
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