Hi you guys! Kristen here! I am beyond excited to finally be connecting with y’all through these blog posts, so I’ll just go ahead and jump right in!
For this post, I wanted to give you guys a way to get to know me a little better so I sat down and thought about all of the things I loved that I could write about. Since you all probably don’t want to read five paragraphs about how much I love my dogs and the time Samson (my first-born pup) ate seventeen chocolates off my counter without leaving any proof behind, I settled on sharing about my very favorite place: PORTLAND!
A little background first: When Jake & I got married, we decided to elope in the Vegas desert. We wanted to do it our way. Just the two of us – no pressure and no stress. It was totally perfect and left us with plenty of money for a long honeymoon! We decided on Portland and Seattle because we both had always wanted to visit the PNW but never had! It was perfect!
Needless to say, I left a piece of my heart in that awesome little city.
Without further ado, my top five reasons that you absolutely must visit Portland, Oregon:
1. THE BEST FOOD
My very favorite thing to do on vacation is EAT! And in Portland, boy oh boy can you EAT! We didn’t eat a single bad thing in this city, and we had (at least) 3 meals a day, for 5 days. Everything is super fresh tasting, and usually organic or local. It doesn’t hurt that it’s all very instagrammable too haha!
2. BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE
Okay, so for this one i’m including the areas a little bit outside of Portland too. A short 1.5 hour drive to the west will take you to Canon Beach which was hands-down the best part of our trip! It’s a quiet little beach surrounded by towering trees, giant rock-faces and a misty ocean with large rocks jutting out of it. Photos can’t do it justice y’all! An hours drive in the opposite direction takes you to Multnomah Falls – the 2nd highest waterfall in the country. It’s the #1 natural attraction in Oregon so there are sure to be a lot of people, but if you take the 2 mile hike up to the top, you can get a little more privacy. And for good reason because that hike was so steep, I think I asked Jake to carry me about 50 times!
Sidenote: Jake and I noticed that everyone in Portland has an immaculate front yard, so I supposed that can considered beautiful landscaping too haha! But seriously, we actually spent an entire afternoon driving around and admiring everyones lawns because they were that pretty!
3. ALL THE COFFEE
Much like Seattle, Portland has SO many good coffee places that it’s almost overwhelming to choose which one to go to. So Jake and I of course made it a goal to visit a different one everyday (we’re big coffee drinkers / coffee shop lovers!) Each place we visited was so different from the others that it made choosing a favorite really, really hard. They all have different vibes and very different tasting coffee so I recommend trying out as many as you can!
4. BIG CITY WITH A SMALL TOWN FEEL
This is one of my biggest reasons for having so much love for Portland. It’s got all the great things that big cities have while also retaining that small town charm. For example:
- There is plenty to do, but there aren’t a ton of tourists everywhere you go.
- Even though it’s a big city, there is easy-access street parking and everything is walkable.
- Everyone is so friendly that Portland gives off that small-town, everyone-knows-everyone vibe.
- There are tons of fun parks nestled around the city that people just go and picnic/hangout at.
5. AN AMAZING ZOO
Last but definitely not least, the Oregon Zoo is just AMAZING! Now we might be biased because we love animals, but Jake and I had the best time here! The animals were all so active, even though we went on a hot day. I think I stood at the elephant exhibit for 30 minutes because they were SO funny!
There ya have it guys! All my favorite things Portland & why I think you absolutely HAVE to visit!
Read More of Kristen’s (Amazing!!) Guest Blog Posts Here! She is so fun!!
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