Portland, Oregon + Mt. Hood
We spent a long weekend in Portland Oregon and Mt Hood National Forest.
Specialty Coffee Associations annual Expo was held in Portland this year. The expo is the Meca of all things coffee — from roasters to milk alternatives to the newest tools to serve the best coffee in the industry. While we didn’t get to explore Portland a lot we did find some awesome places to eat and drink (both cocktail and coffee) 🥂
Must eat places in PDX:
Tusk - a beautiful mix of middle eastern and mediterranean cuisine - do yourself a favor and get the Chefs Mezze style. An incredibly delicious mix of cold and hot dishes - chef's choice! The entire table has to participate and you get to choose your meat. 100% recommend!
Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill - We shared the nachos and the chips were fresh! Check their website for happy hour as well! * Lots of shopping nearby - must stop is Portland Leather! As you can imagine it’s a Portland based small business with incredible quality.
G Love- Went for the instagrammable cocktails but had to have a snack once we saw the delicious menu. We opted for a salad at this stop because - BALANCE (and the friendly bartender said it was her favorite!) The Ensalata Bomba description on the menu (baby lettuce, apple vinaigrette, avocado, apple relish, aged gouda) doesn’t do this salad justice. It also has house made croutons and edible flowers mixed in. Wish i had one right now! Also on the adventurous side, is one of there most popular drinks Maria Teresa (Mezcal, carrot, bell pepper, ginger and lemon mole). Sounds weird, right? I am an adventurous person and if not for our convincing bartender I would have chosen something else BUT I'm so glad I didn’t! Something about the earthiness of the bell pepper/carrot mixed with the sweet + citrus of the ginger/lemon mole made it one of the most delicious cocktails I have ever had!
Pink Rabbit - Also went for the instagrammable cocktails and they did not disappoint! We had the Travel Kit (another bell pepper/mezcal concoction because i’m in love), Loose Plans and Moon Rabbit. We shared the curly fries and loved the fun neon vibe they had going!
Voodoo Donuts - you’ve gotta do it if in PDX - just to say you’ve been there! Lots of different flavors to choose from. We had the Portland Creme and a strawberry filled donut that looked like a poptart! Also, if you ask what their most popular one is, be prepared for their answer- the biggest one in the case. 😂
Mount Hood + Surrounding Area:
We then headed to the Columbia River Scenic byway. It’s a gorgeous drive even in early spring as you have the Columbia River on your left separating Oregon and Washington and the classic pacific northwest pines on your right. We stopped at Multnomah Falls which is just off the highway and has several trails surrounding it. The walk to the falls is easily accessible and all paved. (Certain times of the year are on a timed entry so plan ahead with the link above.) After talking to the park ranger - if you read my previous blog you know this is my best -not kept- secret. He said the wild salmon had just started coming up the river and we should go check it out at the Bonneville Dam just up the highway and that we needed to meet Herman. We didn’t ask, we just said OK! The Dam has a lower level room where you can sit and watch the salmon swim upstream through the lock. Really cool, especially if you love fish! We were able to tour the hydroelectric powerhouse where they generate enough power to service all of Portland making it the 3rd largest dam in the United States. We asked the rangers at the dam where Herman was and they said we could find him at the fish hatchery. So on our way out, we stopped at the Hatchery and asked for Herman and they said you can find him in the white house at the back of the property (feeling a little sketchy at this point. LOL). So we headed that way and TURNS OUT Herman is a 84 year old Sturgeon who is 10 feet long and weighs 500 pounds. He is enjoying retirement and lives in a beautiful pond with some other large friends. To read more about Herman here is his bio.
We drove through the town of Hood River and entered the “Fruit Loop” section of our drive. Although we were a little early to see any actual fruit, there are several wineries and stops along the way that are open year round. Fall is the best time to go as they have harvested their pears, apples and cherries by then. Check out their website for more information and events. We took this scenic drive on what would have been my dads 74th birthday and I can only imagine how much he would have loved being with us and I am grateful to him for my adventurous spirit.
Seeing glimpses of Mt Hood coming from the north is absolutely awe inspiring. Mt Hood still has lots of snow at the end of April and It’s the most snow that either of us has ever seen! We drove up to Timberline Lodge (6,000 ft) to get a better glimpse of Mt Hood but also to see the location where part of the Shining was filmed. If a place can be creepy and cool at the same time this place is it. The hotel was built in 1938 and has been pristinely preserved over the years. Its large rooms filled with intricate wood and tile and so many wood burning fireplaces make you wish the walls could talk. I recommend staying here if you love skiing/snowboarding as you can catch the ski lift right outside the lodge.
We went and checked into our cozy cottage in Rhododendron about 10 minutes east of Mt Hood where there was actually no snow! Very cute and cozy. Here’s a link! I recommend this place if you are a couple and/or have small children. For food everyone we talked to highly recommended Skyway Bar and Grill’s BBQ mac n cheese. Who can say no to that? It was DELISH.
Breakfast the next morning at Zig Zag Mountain Cafe. Not a ton of options in the area but this one is one of the best. I had a veggie omelet and Tyler had chicken + Waffles.
Several park rangers in Mt Hood were really helpful in helping us find trails that were open as the hikes we had planned were still closed for the season due to the uncharacteristic snowfall. We hiked the snow covered Little ZigZag Falls trail. Beautiful hike especially in the snow and has a decent waterfall at the end. We went down the mountain to Old Salmon River Trail. No snow at all but the Salmon River was RUSHING with all the melting snow. For reference both of these are in Mt Hood National Forest. We had pizza for dinner at Mt Hood Brewing in Government Camp. Tyler really liked the Ice Axe IPA!
The next morning we headed back to Portland but we could not leave without stopping at one of our favs from afar Coava Coffee - an absolute must if you love Coffee and are in Portland! Their mocha is made with another one of my favs Seahorse Chocolate and it did not disappoint.
Tennessee was calling!
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