vacation: Forest Park, Portland, Oregon
We woke up bright and early and packed a delicious picnic lunch. Fresh bubblegum prosciutto di parma, creamy sheeps milk “etoki” cheese, and chewy fresh bread topped off with a strange sweet orange chili mustard we got at the Farmer’s Market. Mmmmmm, this was going to be a great day.
The air was chilly, it wasn’t exactly the warmest weather in Portland. That didn’t stop us from taking a venture out into the wilderness today. But first though, we wanted to pick up some breakfast, so it was time for the Flavour Spot, a waffle cart located at various industrial corners of North Portland. Tom had Nutella and raspberry jam and I had Black Forest ham and smoked gouda. It was heaven in waffle form.
We then proceeded to spend the next 2 hours trying to find the “entrance” to Forest Park. We went up and up hills and found random gates with pictures of hikers, but no real entrance, no information huts. Finally we gave up and just pushed our excursion into the wilderness, something we would not regret. Official entrances were not the point of this park. Exploration was key.
The pathway curved around deep valleys of lush ferns and mossy trees. It felt like we were exploring Jurassic Park. The scenery was quiet and amazingly green. I don’t know if I can do this description justice, but Forest Park was probably the most amazing hike we have ever been on. I think we took forty pictures of trees before deciding it was time to stop and picnic.
Picnicking was not the easiest feat. There were no meadows, no flat and dry spaces. Just forest and cliffs. Tom carefully flipped over a piece of a rotten log and we made ourselves a custom park bench.
Finally it was time to head back. We took a short detour to the McMeniman’s St. John’s Pub. Sipping rose and beer in their sunny courtyard, before venturing to the Rose Garden. The wide variety of roses in bloom inspired picnic lunches with families and couples kissing on park benches.
Dinner at Navarre was probably the most unique dinner we will have all vacation. We walked in to the hustle and bustle of a busy kitchen and a crowded communal dining space. Every wine was available via carafe and the menu, which featured small plates or family platters of three dozen or so items, took some major decoding to understand.
We were not in Portland, we were right back in Europe.
Even after ordering via sushi chit style, checking off the samples we wanted, we had no idea what was coming our way or how much. Our tiny streetside table began to fill up with unusual plates of things, many delicious and some just strange.
We ended our night sipping beers in the movie theater lobby next store, which with 8 microbrews on tap was the best bar on the street. We watched as patron after patron grabbed a large slice of gourmet pizza and an entire pitcher of beer before entering their feature film of the night. A novelty for us, but for them it was natural, it was the way you are supposed to watch movies,¦ and why shouldn’t it be?
Tomorrow: Olympic National Park
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