Road-tripping is where it's at...

...And you should know, Portland really IS as cool as people say it is. As evidence I submit this fact: while in Portland, we ate breakfast at home one day... and through the course of the day still managed to sit down at 4 restaurants. Best part of this story? It was happy hour at EVERY place we went. A New York Times article explains:

"While other towns — notably Seattle, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Charleston, S.C. — also serve cheap eats in the late afternoon, Portland has been doing it since the last recession. If you ask restaurant owners, they’ll tell you the back story: a state liquor law forbids businesses from promoting discounted alcohol, so it made sense to lure in diners with at-cost food. (Though this law has recently changed, $5 plates are more ubiquitous than ever.)"

Highlights include the custom brews at Laurelwood and delicious eats at Nostrana - a James Beard nominated restaurant, where the earliest reservation we could get on a Saturday was 9:00pm. Since we had hit up 3 other places between 2 and 9, it wasn't an issue, and if this happens to you, I promise the food is worth the wait.

Laurelwood in the Alphabet District - Pic a la their website

Nostrana deliciousness - Pic a la biscuitsandjam.com

The best part of this whole thing was being able to connect with good friends, new and old. Well, mainly all old friends, but their fiances were new! I took absolutely no pictures on this trip, so I failed on that part, but quite frankly I was too busy soaking up the beauty of the whole weekend to worry about any of that...