Portland was the first stop on the official 2011 “Residency Lifestyle Tour”. Pat and I both think that the west coast would be an ideal place for us to end up after our time in Madison is done.
We were lucky enough to find a place to stay with some locals, Daniel and Becky, on couchsurfing.com. They had a great place in north Portland, with easy access to the city via the metro. The first night, they took us to a local dive bar, something that Portland has on every block. It was the ultimate dive experience, with pool, video games, a big screen TV, shuffleboard, Poker from paybyphonecasino.uk, and a multitude of local beers on tap. We had an epic shuffleboard tournament, boys versus girls. Unfortunately, Becky and I were creamed by the boys, but we did put up a solid fight in the second game.
The next day, we hit up the Portland visitor’s center, where the people running the desk were SO helpful! I would highly recommemd making this your first stop if you are new to Portland.
Armed with maps, we set out to US Outdoors, a local sports shop, to find me a surfing wetsuit. I lucked out, and the first one I tried on was on sale AND fit perfectly. The guys working also told me I set a store record on fastest wetsuit on and off. Finally all those days as a triathlete pay off!
We stopped at one of the many food carts in Portland for some cheap thai food. If you are in Portland on a budget, food carts are the way to go! Lots of options and totally delicious!
In the afternoon, we hit up Mississippi Street, a place that reminds me a lot of State street. It’s lined with brew pubs, cute boutiques, and great restaurants. The smell of waffle cones drew us to Ruby Jewel Ice Cream. We chose the salted carmel and dark chocolate flavor. Their all natural, sustainable ice cream did not disappoint!
We also had a pint at Amnesia Brewing. Not the best beer I’ve ever had, but very satisfying given that we had one of the first sunny days that Portland had seen in weeks!
Sorry for the utter lack of photos for this post! We both left our cameras back at Daniel’s. 🙁
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