I'm finally sharing part three of my summer trip to the West Coast! After spending four days in San Francisco, we spent a full day driving up the beautiful coast, through the Redwoods (literally, through them!) to Portland, Oregon. We stayed the night in a fun-looking vintage hotel.
The next morning, we went to Blue Star Donuts (one of our friends who is originally from Portland recommended it and said it definitely beats Voodoo Donuts). We couldn't choose just one donut, so the four of us shared a buffet of them! Our favorites were the buttermilk, lemon poppy, and blueberry bourbon basil. After having donuts, we visited the International Rose Test Garden, which is the home of over 7,000 roses. This rose garden was set up during World War I to preserve the species of European roses that might have been decimated by the bombings. It was beautiful and smelled heavenly. Also, did you know that Portland is actually known as the City of Roses?
After visiting the International Rose Test Garden, we decided to get a more substantial breakfast at the Woodsman Tavern, followed by coffee next door at the famous Stumptown Coffee Roasters. We then visited Powell's City of Books. This is an independent new & used bookstore that takes up an entire city block! Its so big inside that you need a map to find your way around. Lastly, we got flights of ice cream at Salt & Straw, which is everything I dreamed it to be! The flavors we got were: goat cheese marionberry habanero, strawberry with cilantro lime cheesecake, summer cucumber & raspberry sorbet, and Stumptown coffee & burnside bourbon.
