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Portland, OR

Following our weekend in Seattle, we spent a day and a half in downtown Portland.

Transportation
We had booked Amtrak tickets ahead of time for $63 total, and the scenic train ride took about 4 hours.

Hotel
Portland Marriott City Center 
This hotel is in the best location!  Very central, close to Pioneer Square, Mother's, Blue Star Donuts, etc.

Restaurants
Jake's Famous Crawfish -  This bar and restaurant has been around for a very long time, and many of the old fictures are still in use or on display.  Good food and nice place to stop for happy hour.  It apparently gets crazy busy for dinner, so happy hour might be your best bet to try it out if you don't want to wait.

Clyde Common - I kind of wish that we'd tried this place out for dinner because happy hour wasn't that enticing.  OK food and drink specials.

Mother's Bistro - Oh. So. Good!  Happy hour is simply wonderful, and we ordered several different special drinks and items from the menu.  All of it was fantastic.  Mother's is a Portland institution, so you must visit!

Portland City Grill sits on the 30th floor so the view is fantastic. Seems to be quite the popular choice for both locals and visitors as the place was packed half an hour into happy hour.  We got there around 4:30 after walking from Mother's.  Good wine by the glass or bottle, tasty food, but let's face, the atmosphere and the views are what make this place so cool.  Highly recommend.

 There's also a plethora of food trucks scattered around downtown that represent almost every type of cuisine that you could dream of eating.  You will not starve in this city!


Things to Do
Free Walking Tour - Secrets of Portlandia - At 11am, every day, rain or shine, Erik offers a free walking tour that is roughly 1.5-2 hours long. He is very knowledgeable and gave Portland some context. He explained the drinking fountains we saw all around the city, which reminded me of the fountains around Rome. It's cool potable water that comes down from the mountains and available to anyone who wants a sip.  He's personable, funny, safety-conscious, and is used to working with a mixed crowd.  You can't go wrong.  Just show up in front of the court house on Pioneer Square, and you're set!

Eat some donuts.  Really.  Voodoo donuts is this crazy popular place, but I had read reviews to visit Blue Star instead.  I can't compare the two since we didn't visit Voodoo, but boy was Blue Star good albeit a bit pricier than Krispy Kreme.

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