THE SIGHTS

Portland is good for walking. Many of the sights and restaurants we visited were in the downtown area that we could walk to. Portland has a great brunch and coffee scene. For info on the restaurants, coffee shops, and hotel we stayed at downtown, read this post.

Portland Signs

My favorite is the marquee sign at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. The minty color gets me!

White Stagg

This is located on the west side of the Willamette River at the Burnside Bridge.

Mississippi Avenue

A local suggested we visit Mississippi avenue and we're glad we did! It's a cute street with tons of restaurants, bars and shopping. Be sure to have a drink at Prost. This area isn't in walking distance from downtown, so catch an Uber.

This taqueria was packed. We had already eaten but a crowd is a good sign it's good!

There's a Blue Star Donuts on Mississippi Avenue, so treat yourself to a donut and coffee.

Day Trip to Willamette Valley

So this is the whole reason we chose to visit Portland. Where there is wine, I will be there! But in all seriousness, Oregon pinots are spectacular and I was dying to visit the region.

We chose to book our trip over my birthday so we splurged and booked a private wine tour with Dirty Radish Travel Company.

IT. WAS. AMAZING.

This tour was not a collaboration and we paid full price. I'm mentioning it here because I truly want everyone to experience the day Chevonne provided for us. I'll definitely remember it forever!

It was a full day, private tour so Chevonne picked us up at 9am at our hotel in a super nice Mercedes van with captain's chairs in the back and bottled water waiting for us.

Willamette Valley is about 45 minutes from Portland so we got to know Chevonne and enjoyed the scenic drive. She asked us beforehand if we had any wineries in particular we wanted to visit, but because she is a sommelier, we let her choose and I'm so glad we did. We visited four wineries and they were all spectacular from the wine to the sweeping views and ambiance. We may have ended up with a case of wine to check on the airplane. So worth it. Chevonne helped us with packing the wine in a shipping box to ensure none of the bottles were harmed in transit. That would have been a travesty.

J.K. Carriere

The flower game at this vineyard was so up my alley.

We purchased bottles of the Chardonnay, Pinot Rosé, and Vespidae Pinot Noir.

 Beckham Vineyards

This tiny vineyard stole my heart. We met the owners - a husband and wife. She gave us a wine tasting, explained the wine and notes. He worked in the vineyard harvesting grapes for future wine. We then got to walk through the vineyard, taste grapes right off the vine and see how the harvesting process works.

This winery is unique in that they age all of their wine in giant terracotta pots that the husband hand makes! It provides an interesting taste to the wine that we had never experienced and it was delicious.

We purchased multiple bottles of the 50/50 Noir/Gris and the Creta Pinot Noir.

I loved every second of this winery!

Élevée

The third winery we visited provided a picnic lunch during our wine tasting that we got to choose beforehand. It was a very small estate winery also run by a husband and wife. They live in the vineyard at the property we visited. Their backyard and tasting area is their home! They were so kind to let us go in their home for the restroom and we got to meet their Bernese Mountain Dog, Four. I almost took him home with me.

We purchased a couple bottles of their Pinot Rosé.

 

Can you believe this little winery had gluten free bread?! And it was DELICIOUS.

Domaine Roy & fils

This was the last stop of the day for the setting sun and it was the perfect place to end our tour. This winery was the most high-end we visited but the sweeping terrace of the vineyard was breathtaking. We also got a tour of the winery's underbelly where grapes were being harvested and met the owner, a young man that took over for his dad. So talented!

We couldn't fit anymore bottles in our case (of 12!) we were taking on the plane so we ordered a half case and had them ship them to us.

We purchased the Chardonnay (maybe the best I've ever had) and the Dundee Hills Incline Pinot Noir.

Chevonne made this trip to Oregon extra special for us and I can't wait to go back. There are more wineries to visit and sights to see!

I hope you put Portland on your list. We had the most fun!

PIN IT!