Perfect Day in Portland

My lovely friend Brittany Jarman asked me to be a guest writer for her adorable blog (link to her blog is here). Go check it out; she's fantastic. She is doing a series of favorite things to do in cities or the perfect day in...name your city. When Brittany asked me to write about the perfect day in Portland, I couldn’t resist! I love the City of Roses! Here is what I wrote for her blog:

Portland is the most unique city that I’ve ever been in. Whenever someone finds out that I live in Portland, they ask me if I’ve seen the TV show “Portlandia,” to which I respond: “Yes. And it is 100% accurate.” The writers for that show just need to walk around downtown and they will have plenty of material. There are lots of weirdness, but that means that there is so much character. Plus, there is plenty to do and are lots of hot spots for foodies. I describe the atmosphere as being a big neighborhood. It’s a big city, but it still feels like a neighborhood where people still say hi to each other on the street and the house was quaint.

A Perfect Day in Portland.

1. If the weather is nice, take a bike ride along the waterfront. Or, like a native Oregonian, you go even if it is raining. You get a great view of the city and the waterfront trail is lovely. I would start on the west side, where you can rent a bike, and make your way north across the Steel Bridge, then down the east side so you can see the west side.

view from the steel bridge

2. Saturday Market. This is my favorite things about the city. They have local farmers selling their produce and stands of people selling their art and other crafts. There are also food carts and street performers. I always recommend the market to the place to experience Portland and have a fun Saturday morning. It’s the first thing I do whenever I come back to the city.

3. Go to brunch. Portland is a city that brunches. You can’t go wrong with brunch, so find a place based on your breakfast preferences.

This blurry picture was taken at Slappy Cakes, where you can make your own pancakes on a griddle!

 4. Browse Powell’s City of Books. This is block-long bookstore in SW that is a main attraction in the city. And it gets the attention it deserves, in my opinion. It is Disneyland for bookies, I tell ya. It is so big, they have maps and directories. So many books! Love it!

 5. Lunch at the food carts. There are a few hubs of food carts downtown on both sides of the river. They have everything and the food is delicious. I like Pyro Pizza on and PBJ’s Grilled on the east side.

My other friend Britanee at a late-night Pyro run

6. Explore OMSI. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is a fun museum with a permanent exhibit hall that’s all hands-on and pretty cool temporary exhibits. You could spend a solid amount of time here, so plan accordingly. Maybe this is for day two of the Perfect Day in Portland series. Either way, you can conduct your own experiments and see dinosaur bones and experience what it would be like to be in an earthquake.

7. Pioneer Square. There is always something going on in Pioneer Square on the weekends, like festivals and movies on big screens. It’s a central meeting spot in the city by the historical Pioneer Court. Some of my favorite street performers set-up around here. It is also by the Pioneer Place Mall, where there is good shopping.

during the Portland Rose Festival

street performers

 8. Dinner/happy hour at Portland City Grill. The grill is on the 30th floor, so you get a commanding view of the city. If you go at a certain time you can get happy hour specials so it’s not too crazy expensive. Also, if you go at a certain time, you can get the sunset and the city lights at night.

9. See a show. My love of going to concerts stemmed from the music in the city and its venues. My favorite venue is the Crystal Ballroom in SW. There is a good mix of hip local bands that you’ve probably never heard of along with big names.

10. Voodoo Donuts. Probably the most popular food place in Portland, it is the collection of pure Portland spirit in one place. This place has it all: hip cashiers, post-modern art haphazardly tacked to the wall, puns, and owners that are authorized to officiate weddings. Oh, and there are donuts. Coco Puff donuts, donuts in the shape of Texas, voodoo dolls with raspberry filling. If you go at night, take a friend because you will run into…characters. It’s open late, so it’s a good place to go for post-show munchies.

I hope you are now motivated to visit this lovely city! There are so many more things that I want to add to this list, but this should easily cover a solid weekend. Come on by; I’ll show you a good time. :)

The Ericksen's Guide to BBQ in the Portland Area

This experiment is headed by Dad Ericksen.  He loooovveeess his BBQ and so when he gets to choose where we eat, it's BBQ.  So we have tried a few places in Tualatin and East Portland that we thought were yummy.  This is ironic, since Portland is known for their vegan or vegetarian dietary habits (I will have to tell you about some yummy vegan places sometime).  Here it is! What you all have been waiting for!  The Ericksen's Guide to Eating BBQ in the Portland Area!!!  Duht duht duh duhhhhhhaaaa!

Russell Street BBQ~ 325 NE Russell Street, Portland, OR, 97212
Virginian BBQ

Pros: I am a big fan of pulled pork, so I tend to get it at places with BBQ options.  Russell's has really good pulled pork.  Also, my dad is most satisfied with the "meat-a-palooza" option here than anywhere else.  It's a lotta meat.  And I like the atmosphere.  They have lots of different pig figurines hanging out around the restaurant.  In other words, it's cute, but not overbearing-this-is-a-bbq-place-dangit.

Cons: It's popular, so it can be busy.  That can be a pro, though, except from the lack of waiting space/benches.  They don't take reservations, either.

Sam showing how it's done 

love my pulled pork and potato salad!

Podnah's Pit~1625 Killingsworth, Portland, OR

Texan BBQ

Pros: The atmosphere is fun and Portland-ish. It's in the heart of East Portland, so you can do other things, too, like grab dessert afterwards, and feel like a Portlander.  The meat platter does NOT skimp; I had to share mine with my mom and we still didn't finish.  My mom is a beef brisket fan and she really liked the beef brisket (as did I).

Cons: Street parking only.  Also a bit of a wait since it is popular.  

not my picture

the meat platter my mom and I had to share

Famous Dave's~three locations in the Portland area

Chain Restaurant, but I think they shoot for Texan BBQ

Pros: I super love their cornbread and potato salad.  They have lots of choices for sauces.  The decor is cute.  

Cons: My dad is a little disappointed about the wimpiness of the equivalent of the "meat-a-palooza," since there are only two meats you can have, unless you add $3.99 more per addition of type of meat.  

Pine Shed Ribs~17730 Pilkington Rd, Lake Oswego, OR
Pit BBQ
Pros: The menu said one side for my particular choice, but when I got my plate, I also got chips and a pickle! A pickle, I tell ya!  The cornbread was really good.  I got the pulled pork sandwich and it was also really good.  I hear their white mac n cheese is also good, but they were out.  They also claim on their menu that they only get meat from local vendors, if that suits your fancy.
Cons: Of course, my dad got the meat platter and he and my mom loved the almond smoked chicken.  However, the rest of the meats they complained were a little dry compared to the other places.  Also, we were unsettled by the fact that you have to order in one spot and then walk in the rain to another area to sit.  So, this place is probably more fun in the summer during a quick lunch time when you can just eat standing up outside or you don't have to get rained on going to the eating area.

We are still on our quest to discover good places to eat in Portland Metro area and this includes our BBQ spots.  Let us know if there are any good places you'd recommend to us, BBQ or not!

another good deed or two

I don't know what it is, but Someone must be looking out for me, lately.  I have been "seriously so blessed" (a hilarious blog, check it out).  But really.  This week has been a particularly stressful one, since I'm going to be out of town the weekend before finals week (thanks, Tualatin High School for not planning graduation around my schedule...).  Yesterday, I was sitting at work thinking about what the heck I was going to do for din din, when I get a text from Anna saying that we should go out to dinner.  Whihc means I get to play with Anna AND I don't have to cook! Yay! We went to Guru's and then tried the new crepe place on State Street, Roll Up.  It was a much-needed break and it's always so so so so so so fun being with Anna.  We have big plans for the future :)
This morning, after another consecutive night of little sleep and paper writing, I went to the computer services place to pick up some printer ink cartridges that I had dropped off to be refilled.  They brought the little baggie out and I said "thanks so much!" and turned to pay for them.  A note on the baggie said my name, number, then "no charge -SJH".  Well THAT'S awesome.  I went to the cashier and asked "Is this note real?" and he said he thought so.  Thanks, SJH, whoever you are! You made my day!  Ok, you may think that it doesn't take much to make my day, but I had 6 cartidges that cost about $7-$10 to get refilled.  That's potentially $60 that I didn't have to pay today.  Day is made and papers are printed.
To top it off, I'm heading back to Portlandia for the weekend for my brother's graduation/Court of Honor/Senior piano recital.  Both sets of grandparents will be there in addition to sunshine in the rainy city :)
I never tire of this video, so I'm posting it again.



In summation: I have a job for the summer that I love doing.  This semester from H-E-double hockey sticks is over next Wednesday at 1 PM.  I get to see my family this weekend.  Life is good.

Portlandia

Here's a shout out to my home turf.  I lived in the Portland Metro area since I was 8 and I feel like it has helped to define who I am.  I mean, in my persuasive, open-topic paper for my Freshman year paper, I wrote about recycling.  I love the city.  The waterfront, the Saturday and Farmer's Markets, the concert venues, and even the weirdos.  I miss the rain.  I miss OMSI.  I miss the trees.
So you can imagine how excited I was to hear that someone else noticed how...unique...the city is.  There's a new mini-series called "Portlandia" that are just little skits of the funny things about Portland.  Every single thing they did this last episode was dead on.  My friends and I just laughed and talked about how we've experienced what they talked about.
Here's a snippet of what it's like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XM3vWJmpfo