I love being back in the PNW for mannyyy reasons that's for sure, but one of my favs is being able to hop in my car and drive whereverrrr the road may take me. Now don't get me, weekend getaways are totally possible in NYC and something I did take advantage of quite a bit, but being able to hop in your own car and just drive?! That feels dang near magical to me after so many years without a car -- 7 to be exact. So now that I'm back on the west coast I'm basically a born-again 16-year-old who just got her license and I'm still loving every second of it even a year later.

One of my favorite places to adventure to over the years has always been Portland, and now that it's a mere 2.5 hours away (traffic cooperating) you will certainly find me roaming my old hood quite a bit more. And can I please tell you... I swear every time I visit, the city gets a little cooler. Now I know some of the lifers might disagree with all of the growth Portland has had in the last decade, but personally, I love it. So much so, that if I didn't promise my Mom that I'd never move out of state again that I def wouldn't rule out moving south again. 😜#realtalk

So what is it about Portland that is so great? To me, it's a great sized city that has the amenities of big-city living, while still not feeling overwhelming and not being totally terrifying to drive in if you don't know where you're going. Plus it has an amazing food scene (you know me!), arts, culture, and it's still very walkable and accessible. I also happen to know some super awesome people down there so it always gets some extra bonus points for that too! The vibe in Portland is just really great and I only think it has gotten better with time. So that being said, what the heck are my fav places to visit when I'm there? Well today I'm sharing some of my must-visit spots no matter how short of a trip I'm on, which this weekend was less than 36 hours. 

Pine State Biscuits

If there is one place I pretty much always visit when I'm in town (and take everyone I'm visiting with to) it's Pine State Biscuits. Truly this place is heaven on a biscuit and the onlyyyy place around that I would wait an hour in the rain for. And trust me, when I lived in NYC we didn't wait on places and I've liked to stick to that mentality, but Pine State.. Oh I'll wait. Kathy originally introduced me to Pine State at least 10 years ago after seeing it featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives when they just had a little hole in the wall spot off of SE Belmont and I've been ordering everything off the menu ever since at their now 3 larger locations + their spot at the Farmers Market. At this point I have a few go-tos, although occasionally I'll branch out, or let's be real, someone I'm with will order something else and I'll sneak a bite or two. It's hard to venture from my favs though because they're just THAT good. So what are my go-to's? I'm talking about the McIsley, the Pine State Fried Club and the Reggie Deluxe when I'm feeling real indulgent.

Powell's Books

Is it even a Portland trip if you don't stop by Powell's? Not in my books. Get it?! I'm a funny one... I, along with a million other people, have such a soft spot for this bookstore. It hails that it is the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world and even if it wasn't I'd still love it. The bookshelves in here just go on and on and on and I love everything about it. One of my favorite things to do when I lived in Portland (and now when I visit) is to wander the halls and find a little corner in the astrology section and check out alllll of the books. Seriously.. I used to spend hours here. It doesn't matter what kind of book you're looking for either, they're going to have it and the best selection at that. Plus they have some really awesome events take place there and all and all it's just a rad place to spend an afternoon.

Voodoo Doughnuts

Now back to food, because, well you know who's writing this right!? Another one of my favorite places to stop when I'm in Portland (or Eugene if I'm catching a Ducks game) is VooDoo Doughnuts. You can find a lot of good donuts on the west coast, sorry east coast but we win at this... and VooDoo sits at the top of my list. If you're interested in some of the other great options locally as well, Little Duck did an awesome Portland Donut Crawl blog post that's worth a read too! Personally though, if I had to only pick one, VooDoo it is. I just love the novelty and the just delicious, fun and not overly fancy flavored donuts. Solid deliciousness. Insider tip too, if you want to stand in line foreves hit up the location downtown, but if you want to get in and out with a box full of your favs and a cute Instagrammable wall then you need to hit up their NE Davis VooDoo Doughnut Too location.

NW 23rd Ave in the Alphabet District

Awww my old neighborhood! I mean I don't want to brag, actually yes I will brag for a sec, I've been pretty darn lucky to live in some of the best neighborhoods in the cities I've lived in. NW Portland, The Upper East Side in NYC, and the Stadium District in Tacoma. Heck yes! And this neighborhood, well it's truly one of my favs because it is just so stinking cute! I lived off of NW 23rd Avenue in the Alphabet District and it's one of my favorite places to spend an afternoon. When I moved there my mom called it her "happy place" and it's def still makes my list as well. Adorable shops, delicious food, and bars galore.. like what more do you need?

NW 21st Ave is a close second too being just a few avenues over too. A greattt option for nightlife too. So many fun memories and truly something for everyone! Some places I definitely always love to stop at are Saint Cupcake -- their mini cupcakes are to die for! One of the McMenamins locations for some cajun tots and Ruby beer and maybe even an extra stop at their bottle shop that's now open at the end of the ave to grab some Ruby to go too! Pssttt, we're actually getting our own McMenamins in Tacoma in 2019 and this girl is PUMPED to have one of my favorite Oregon spots so close! Wherever you go over here you really can't go wrong!

Pearl District

Last but not least, another one of my favorite neighborhoods to wander is the Pearl District. After a trip to Powell's of course! (It's nearby) I'm such a sucker for repurposed factories and industrial vibes mixed with new construction and the Pearl combines all of that. Pair that with great options for Happy Hour, art galleries and some seriously amazing food and it has me feeling a little fancy! I worked at the neighborhood Safeway while finishing up college and just fell in love with the neighborhood from day 1 and it has only expanded and grown since. So many fun places to visit and it's just a cool pocket of the city.

Now of course, there are SO many more incredible things to do, see and eat in Portland that I could write for dayssss about but these are just a few of my favs that I always try to make it to. If you have some other recs or places you think I'd like definitely drop a comment below!

If you caught my last blog post I've had some exciting changes in my life as of recent. Even better, I got to kick off my new life adventure with nearly a month on my favorite coast! It was so wonderful to be home to relax and regroup a little, all without having my departure looming over my head. Somehow the month still flewwww by but I did get some quality family time in, which I SO needed! Here are some of the highlights of my trip!

Portland

I kicked off my west coast tour in one of my favorite cities with some of my absolute favorite people -- the PERFECT combo!

It's always so much fun visiting Portland! I may have only lived there for a year, but it always brings back great memories.

Little Duck and I put our walking shoes on and had such a fun adventure! It's probably good we walked a lot too because we followed our amazing breakfast with donuts and cupcakes. #NoShame. Okay, well we saved the donuts for later, but hey, when in Portland enjoy the food!

After an awesome day. We united with our other lovely ladies and enjoyed a fun night out! We checked out a delicious little Italian spot in the Pearl District that was dishing up some seriously good bites and then we headed to the Nutcracker! The last time I had seen the Nutcracker, Little Duck probably wasn't even up to my shoulder in height, so you know it has been a LONG time! It was such a nice holiday treat and I'm so thankful that the Hardersens invited me to join them! 

For our last day in the city, we visited my all-time favorite Portland spot, Pine State Biscuits! Nom, nom, nom! Followed by some shopping at some seriously cool home stores including City Home -- LOVED this place!

Enumclaw

After our amazing trip in Portland, we headed back north! My mom recently moved back to my hometown so it was so wonderful to break in the new digs! We hosted the whole fam for Christmas and it was a great time catching up with everyone!

We even got a little bit of a *White Christmas*! Barely, but enough to say we did ;-) After Christmas I worked quite a bit, which doesn't make for that exciting of blog posts buttt I did capture this work-from-home day with my dad! We have matching hats because we're cool like that.

Fast forward a little bit and Chris headed west for a visit. Almost as soon as he arrived, we headed up north to Vancouver B.C. for a little getaway.

Vancouver, B.C.

I've been wanting to visit Vancouver B.C. for awhile so we decided to finally make it happen! Surprisingly, even though it's only about 3 hours away, I'd never been so it was some new scenery for the both of us.

Normally I'd do a lot of research on visiting a new city, but for this trip we kind of winged it by just booking a hotel and some great suggestions from a friend.

If there's two takeaways I have from our visit.. it is that Vancouver people are some of the friendliest I've ever met and man is the city beautiful! 

Seattle

Following our Vancouver trip, we also made a trip up to Seattle. Aww, love this city so much.

It may have been a little chilly, but the day was gorgeous so we hit up Alki Beach. I just love the views over there.. oh and the donuts weren't bad either!

We also checked out an Oregon Ducks bar for our bowl game. The bar was a lot of fun and it was awesome to see so many Ducks fans in Seattle. The game ended up being an epic bust though sooo we'll just skim over that fact!

And Back to Enumclaw!!

For the rest of my trip I mostly stayed local for some more family time and a few Seahawks games! Plus I got to be home for my mom's birthday (the first one since I was 18) soooo that was really nice too! 

It was such a great trip, although still somehow not long enough! I think being home so long almost threw me off in a weird way! If plans had to get pushed around I was thinking, "oh no problem, we'll get together later" and then poof! Suddenly there wasn't time for later. So to those I didn't see, or see enough of. I'll be home again soon! :)

What a WONDERFUL trip back to the northwest! Of course the trip wasn’t long enough (it never is) but I feel so blessed for the memories I made! My trip started very early flight out west, ending with this beautiful view of the mountain!

My first day back, I spent some quality time with Mama Duck in Enumclaw.

In the evening we went downtown to a newer restaurant called Rendezvous Wine & Brew. They just re-did the kitchen and expanded the menu just in time for summer. The location is super cute and has open panels that open all of the way. Once I saw the monte cristo sandwich on the menu I knew that’s what I wanted to order. I must say I was quite impressed too! Enumclaw is stepping up its game in the foodie scene. 

In the evening, I visited Little Duck and we headed for another “first” for me.. Enumclaw’s froyo, Avalanche Delite. Froyo has been blowing up over the last few years all over the city and it seems to be doing the same on the west coast! I will say it was definitely the place to be in Enumclaw too. In the amount of time I was there I saw quite a few people I knew. Props to their topping bar too! I’ve been to my fair share of froyo places, but I’ve never seen quite the selection that they had! I’ll admit I went a little crazy (mine is the one on the right) but I couldn’t help myself. Fresh fruit, honey, marshmallows, bobo balls and wait for it…  pop rocks! Oh yeah, they had pop rocks and it was awesome.

On Friday, my mom and I were off for a little road trip south to Portland! Little Duck was touring her first college on Saturday in McMinneville (about an hour from Portland) so we decided to head to Oregon and visit my old neighborhood and stay the night before going to McMinneville the next day.

We couldn’t have lucked out more on the weather. It was absolutely perfect! Low 80’s, slight breeze, and sunny. A nice change after getting 3 inches of rain the day in New York before my trip!

We stopped for some Happy Hour grub at McMenamins and I couldn’t have been happier. $3 Cajun tots and a pint of Ruby beer was one of my favorite Portland past times, so I was very happy we had time to go there on our short trip.

After spending some time in NW Portland we headed towards the waterfront to our hotel. Not a bad view from our room either huh? ;-)

We were thinking of adventuring to some local watering holes downtown, but our hotel had a pretty nice bar, complete with a live band so we decided to stick around. My mom’s friend and my friend Amanda were able to come by so we had a really fun visit with both of them.

My friend Jacob and Martha were able to stop by really quick too with a special surprise too… Their hedgehog! I’ve had a hedgehog obsession since living in Portland and they recently just got one so I was pretty excited to get to meet little Olive! Even if she didn’t want to come out for my picture!

We had such a great time in Portland and I’m really happy we decided to stay for the night before heading to McMinneville!