my trip to portland, or and seattle, wa (tons of pics)

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

originally wrote this up for shaggy and it took forever, so i don't feel like editing too much. if i reference, that site, now you know why...

just did a week in the pacific northwest and i gotta say, that is a gorgeous part of the world. SO much green! and mountains and rivers and oceans.... i could absolutely see myself living there. kind of wish i'd have moved around a bit when i was younger. thought i'd share some pics and thoughts w/ y'all.

portland, or

THIS is how austin ought to be growing it's urban development. tons of mixed use condos, but no skyscrapers - all 6-12 stories or so, and very cool looking. i was blown away at the urban area and how many people lived downtown. lots of little parks, tons of foot traffic, no traffic congestion. super sporty - tons of bike lanes, bikers, joggers. all kinds of awesome restaurants and breweries all over the place. i could easily live in portland and be a happy kid, if not for one thing - serious lack of good looking women. honestly wondered wtf was up w/ that the whole time i was up there. very strange.

view from my friend's kitchen

rose garden on the right - lamarcus holla!

had maybe the best biscuits and gravy ever at byways cafe, which has been featured on food network's drive-in's, diners and dives. gigantic plate of fresh, homemade biscuits covered w/ sausage gravy that has plenty of sausage in it. couldn't even finish the plate there was so much!

dinner at bridgepoint brewpub and bakery was great - huge portions and good ipa. i had a grilled pork chop w/ applesauce over mashed potatoes and green beans and it was pretty damn fantastic. others had a pulled pork plate, a pulled pork sandwich and the burger, and everyone was happy. i thought their pulled pork was good, but couldn't help thinking that it likely wouldn't pass most of the shaggy cue snob's muster. service was stuff. reminded me of what most of y'all think austin service is like. watching oregon get a smbf from boise state while in oregon was pretty cool.

mother's bistro & bar is a portland landmark and my hosts raved about it. i had their famous cornflake crusted french toast and was underwhelmed. it was tasty, but i want really rich french toast and this wasn't. the wild salmon hash was unreal - fresh salmon, spinach, mushrooms, potato hash. just awesome. their migas were pretty damn tasty as well.

broke my gin cherry at andina w/ one of the best cocktails i've ever had. place reminded me a bit of peche in that they have specific, unique, cocktails they promote. thought of doc and tropheus as i oredered my tortuga which was

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

Hell yeah Full Sail!!

Portland is a killer city. I wish we spent more time there. Definitely on the list of places to explore more. We ate about a block away at Rogue. Had I known about Byways we totally would have stopped there instead. The beer at Rogue is good though.....

PS: you were less than a 1/2 mile from one of the coolest places I have ever witnessed on this planet:

You had to be prepared to do it though. Full wet hike.

ChrisG · Posted: Sep 08, 2009 11:52 am Post subject:

jt - great pix. I just booked airline reservations for the family to fly to Seattle for Thanksgiving. $98 round trip on Alaska. It will be my first trip to the Pacific Northwest. Thanks for sharing.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

ChrisG, out of where? SMF or OAK? That's an excellent deal, cheap enough where I would consider doing a weekend there.

Damon · Posted: Sep 08, 2009 12:00 pm Post subject:

Good to see you got a little sun in Seattle. Getting to the needle must of been nuts w/ bumbershoot going on

ChrisG · Posted: Sep 08, 2009 12:07 pm Post subject:

chavez - OAK...I was really surprised to see that deal during the week of Thanksgiving. San Jose and SFO were a lot more expensive. I looked at Virgin, US Airways, and Southwest and no one could come close to $98 round trip.

Zach M · Posted: Sep 08, 2009 12:48 pm Post subject:

Glad you had fun. I grew up in Portland and have lived in Seattle for the past 7 years. I love visiting new places, but couldn't really see myself living anywhere but the PNW.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

churchy · Posted: Sep 08, 2009 2:00 pm Post subject:

jt09, glad you had a good trip.. you should have stopped here on your way through though.

Zach M · Posted: Sep 08, 2009 4:58 pm Post subject:

Jeff206 · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 27 May 2004 Posts: 1002

b33nine · Soul Rider Joined: 04 Sep 2008 Posts: 311 City: Salem-ish

Took a long weekend back home myself last week. Gotta say, I've just never liked another place as much as the northwest, and I ask myself every day how I wound up in Oklahoma. I'm pretty sure we're trying to make it back that way after our lease is up on the place we're in.

Oregon is just too awesome, although I would really like to see how Austin is comparatively to Portland. Lots of opportunities in Texas compared to very few in Oregon makes it a very interesting place.

Portland has a pretty good riding scene too fwiw, although I'm not sure if they still do Wet Wednesdays anymore on the waterfront. Colin Wright used to ride out there a LONG time ago as well as the Ennen brothers more recently.

I'd caution you to not underestimate the weather though. It gets very wet and grey in the late fall and winter months and coming from Texas that would probably be a little difficult to deal with. I suppose if you like snowboarding though you could deal with it.

Can't wait to get back home permanently.

jryoung · Ladies Man Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 7664 City: Man Jose

Good Stuff JT glad you had a good time. Too bad the sun didn't peak out when you were up in the space needle, when you have full visibility it is simply stunning.

I miss Seattle a lot, growing up there you get use to the rain, I get bored with the 300 or so days of sun we have here in SJ. That and the escape from both Portland and Seattle is so quick. One hour and you are on the ski slopes, another half hour and you are in the desert. Such varying degrees of microclimates.

And you mentioned one of the best parts, the food. Northwest fusion cuisine is so incredible and since I left there has been a ton of great restaurants opening up in Seattle. Tom Douglas was really one of the first chefs to bring it mainstream, but now there are so many that are combining the amazing seafoods of the NW with the cultures that are in the area.

Tyler T · Posted: Sep 09, 2009 6:48 am Post subject:

Glad you made it out and had a good time. I think Oregon has to be one of the most awesome places on Earth during the summer, but if you're considering living here, definitely get prepared for the wet and the gray.

We hosted a couple of self proclaimed hippies from Austin last summer for a few months and they found Portland a bit too crunchy for their tastes!

lcap · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 10973 City: Homeless

I may give the nod to Portland on the downtown contest. It is amazing how well Portland has developed the city to make it so bike and pedestrian friendly. Anyone would be blessed to live anywhere between Shasta and Bellingham.

I don't mind the gray as much as the traffic in the winter. If its gray and raining I know its snowing in the hills but I can't do anything about traffic.