A few months ago, we took a group trip out to Portland. It was the kind of trip that beautifully comes together when one person says, let’s go to Portland! No further explanation and flights are booked, Airbnb is confirmed, and all of a sudden we’re there basking (well shivering) in the dream of Portland.
We were a group of 8-10 that don’t get to hang out often. We all mostly met in grad school, many of us having just graduated from Berkeley Haas in 2016 and looking for any excuse to all see each other again.
Portland was the perfect destination and pace to catch up without requiring a whole lot of planning and research. The food is amazing (minimal reservations needed) and there are plenty of bars and breweries to entertain for days on end, and no sales tax!
We visited in February 2017 when Portland was going through one of the worst winters in the US (relatively), but even at it’s coldest and being limited to indoor activities, we had a blast!
Friday
We kicked off the reunion rendezvous on Friday with a group dinner at Andina. The restaurant has amazing Peruvian food with yummy fun cocktails. We ordered family style so we got to try a little bit of everything. This will definitely be a go to spot whenever we return! Highly recommend grabbing a meal here.
The night continued at the Multnomah Whiskey Lounge – a cozy lounge with brick walls, huge spirits list, and all seated tables! The perfect setting to grab a delicious drink with some personal space 🙂 Highly recommend getting reservations in advance, or plan for a 1-2 hour wait. We had attempted to go before dinner, but given our group size there was a 2+ hour wait. Sounded absurd, but timing worked out perfectly and we ended up going after dinner!
Saturday
Saturday was a bit spontaneous, but the one thing I was set on was visiting the Farmer’s Market at PSCU. I could write a whole separate post on this Farmer’s Market, but let’s just say it one of my favorite things in Portland. There are less vendors in the Winter, but nonetheless it is still such a fun varied market. I love it because you get a true feel for the local scene and culture. You’ll see all the latest health foods and the most delectable treats. You’ll also be entertained by Portland’s version of street performers – musicians playing house hold goods (think Washboards), Banjos, and instruments you’ve never seen before. The market is only on Saturdays and definitely worth planning around!
Brunch was at Olympia Provisions, which was perfect for the group (and worth resisting all the Farmers Markets treats). We had delicious house made charcuterie & various egg brunch dishes & yes, cocktails. The restaurant was super cute with a lot of natural light.
We didn’t have any other formal plans, and Portland was the perfect place to meander and have it all come together. We had really wanted to do a Brewery Bike Ride (and live up to be those rowdy out-of-towners you were secretly jealous of), but it was unfortunately too cold and rainy to do it. Instead we ended up on our own bar/brew crawl.
Breweries
There are so many fun neighborhoods, breweries, and bars that it is hard to go wrong. Throughout the day we ended up at Bridgeport, Cider Bite (they have flights!), maybe a dispensary, Rouge Brewery, and 10 Barrel Brewery. All fun chill places, the last one letting us play Heads Up (Friends version!) for hours on end. One of the most memorable places for the group was Ground Kontrol, a bar arcade where we discovered Killer Queen. It was girls vs guys in the 10 player game and the girls racked up a streak of 10+ wins!
Sunday
Sunday came too soon. We all had time for one last brunch and since Rome and I stayed the latest, we got to take advantage of the tax free shopping. BTW if you were planning to make any big purchases (eg Apple watch) this is the perfect place to do it! For Californians, its like a 10% discount!
Our last stop was the food trucks, a Portland staple. Brunch box (which actually is no longer a food truck and graduated to a store front!) is a favorite – they have a grilled cheese burger (as in the buns are grilled cheese!).