Planless in Portland: Rainy Days in the City of Roses
Portland, Oregon
Dates: Wednesday, September 27, 2023 – Saturday, September 30, 2023
Written 9/27/26
Our visit to Portland, Oregon was paired with 3 days in Seattle, Washington (9/24 – 9/27/23)
Arrival
We arrived in Portland, Oregon about 4:45PM after our afternoon drive from Seattle (and lunch stop in Tacoma) Washington. The grey, overcast weather seemed to follow us from Seattle, so our first views weren’t very picturesque.
By 5:00PM we pulled into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites- Portland NW Downtown by IHG. The parking lot was smaller and fuller than expected, but we were able to park.
Our arrival in the foyer by the check-in desk, was met with several groups of men discussing their evening plans. From what I surmised, they may have had a seminar in the hotel and were off for the evening. While this didn’t affect our check-in experience, I like getting a glimpse of the other hotel patrons. Not only that, but in this case, they were discussing dinner plans, so I was hoping to overhear some suggestions.
What’s the Plan?
Well, that’s just it. We knew we wanted to visit Portland, but aside from picking up souvenirs and experiencing the food truck trends, we had nothing else on our itinerary. First things first though, where are we eating dinner? The search was brief; my partner located a Vietnamese restaurant nearby called Lela’s Bistro in Nob Hill aka Alphabet City. Even though the restaurant was walking distance, due to the time, we’d be bringing our food back to the hotel to eat, so we drove instead.
My partner took the lead and ordered two orders of Banh Mi, two Vietnamese coffees, and potstickers as an appetizer.
When we drove up to the area it was clear that this was a bustling area for restaurants and businesses that were now occupying former homes. People were chatting in small groups on the sidewalks, and there was a good flow of people in and out of the area. There didn’t seem to be a communal parking lot, instead parking was metered along the street. Luckily, we were able to park only a few houses away from Lela’s.
The dining area of the restaurant was quiet when we arrived, which makes sense since it was close to closing. It was in a renovated home, with a big front porch. I didn’t walk around much because we were picking up food, but from what I saw I think it would have been a pleasant experience to have eaten there. The food BTW, delicious!
Photo 1: Entering Oregon
Photo 2: Lela's Bistro sign in front of building
Photo 3: Entrance to Lela's Bistro
Thursday
I awoke early to the sound of rain but stayed up and searched for breakfast locations. I found Stepping Stone Café which advertised on their menu that they had a plate sized pancake called a “mancake”. This place sounded fun, and it was just a block away from Lela’s in Nob Hill (aka Northwest Portland) walking distance from where we were. If the weather was nicer, we probably would have walked. It worked out for the best anyway, because we didn’t return to the hotel after breakfast. We went looking around for a souvenir shop.
Loved, loved, loved this place. The staff were friendly and fun; it was clearly a place that locals as well as tourists stopped in to have a quick bite. The decorations inside were quirky, and you could find something interesting in every corner. The pace of the restaurant wasn’t rushed either, that helped with the appeal. It’s not a giant place; it’s a corner type café. The mancake lived up to the hype and I was unable to finish mine. If back in Portland, I’d return for breakfast for sure.
Photo 1: Inside the Stepping Stone
Photo 2: Pancake "mancake" served at Stepping Stone
Photo 3:Stepping Stone logo on coffee mug
After breakfast we drove into the Pearl District to shop at Hello From Portland, it was there that we picked up our Oregon/Portland T-shirts, key chain and magnets as souvenirs from this city. As we drove to the souvenir store, we drove through Downtown Portland past Powell’s Books and a bar called Life of Riley. The rain had let up a little while we were shopping so dropped off our purchases in the car, then walked a few blocks and walked to SW Harvey Milk Street. From there we headed to Stumptown Coffee Roasters, ordered coffee and sat in the window watching the people walk along in the street and talking about what we should do next. (The Stumptown Coffee location that we went to outside of Ace Hotel has moved to SW Washington Street)
It was already after 3PM when we left to walk back to the car and it began to rain again while we walked. Without any other plans for the day, we drove back to the hotel and hoped that the rain would stop.
At 6:00PM we ventured out for dinner at Hawthorne Asylum Food Cart Pod, which is in Southeast Portland, taking us across the Willamette Bridge. There are approximately 19 different food trucks offering a variety of food stationed on the location of the former Hawthorne Asylum property. The evening was cool and there was still a bit of drizzly rain. When we arrived, the streets around the fenced food cart area were eerily quiet, though once we walked through the gates, the atmosphere was lively with lights, music, and lots of people.
On our way back to the hotel, I wanted to stop for pizza. Not exactly because I was hungry, but because I read a post that Portland pizza is better than New York pizza. I wanted to check it out for myself. We picked up slices to go at, Escape from New York Pizza which was only a few blocks away from Lela’s that we went to the night before. I wouldn’t say it’s better than New York pizza, but I would say it a tasty replica!
Photo 1: Entrance to Hawthorne Asylum Food Truck Pod
Photo 2: One of the seating areas at Hawthorne Asylum Food Truck Pod
Photo 3: Inside Escape from New York Pizza
Unexpected Hotel Encounters
When we returned to the hotel room, our toilet was backed up. It wasn’t late so my partner called downstairs to ask for assistance. The voice on the phone told him that there was no one on site that could assist with the toilet until the morning. He walked down to the front desk to see if he could borrow a plunger. The front desk clerk was unable to provide him with one and suggested that we use the public bathrooms in the lobby if we needed them until the toilet was fixed. At one point he and I both went downstairs to use the public facilities. Although I entered and left without issue, the front desk contacted security and my partner was questioned. It was quick fix, but still one that could have been avoided with a plunger. In the morning, maintenance came and fixed the toilet. This isn’t the first time we’ve had issues with our room in a hotel, but it was the first time when the front desk didn’t remember who we were and called security!
Friday
Wanting to experience another food truck pod, my partner took us back to one that he saw when driving around Downtown Portland the day before. It was The Cart Blocks which is a short walk from Powell's Books. We traveled by car and found parking on the street behind the park where the trucks were located. When we visited it was much smaller than the Hawthorne location, but they also offered outdoor seating. We also went during the day so that might be why it seemed quieter and smaller.
On our walk back to the car, I noticed that we parked in front of a property on the National Register of Historic Places, the Balfour-Guthrie Building. I love finding things like this! It was built in 1913 and remained occupied by the Balfour-Guthrie company through 1957. It is on the registry for the architecture and being around during the growth of Downtown Portland. The Balfour-Guthrie Company was an exporting and shipping company that specialized in wheat and flour. They were US offshoots of a bigger company in England and shipped the locals’ grains all over the world.
Photo 1: Street view of The Cart Blocks Food Truck Pod
Photo 2: SW Harvey Milk street sign
Photo 3: Powell's Books building sign
By this time, we were getting into the Portland swing of things, but our time in the area was short. We drove out of the familiar areas and went to West Hills of Portland to quickly stop over at Pittock Mansion. We didn’t arrive in time to attend a tour, but we spent an hour exploring the grounds. There was this really great view, but it was a little overgrown. I thought it would be great to watch the sunset from there, but we had one more place on our list we really wanted to see, the rose gardens in Washington Park. Luckily, Washington Park is less than 2 miles by car from where we were.
There are two rose gardens in Washington Park, one is the Japanese rose garden which we went to first, but they were closed for an event, so we were unable to enter. The second is the International Rose Test Garden, is one of the oldest displays of roses in the country. It’s also where new varieties of roses are planted. I loved walking amongst so many different colored roses. I think this was the biggest garden I’ve ever visited. The sun was already setting when we arrived, but we spent as much of the remaining daylight there as we could.
Our last stop for the day, and really for Portland unless you count the airport, was at Hawthorne Asylum Food Truck pod for dinner. It was busier than it was the previous night but there was still plenty of seating.
Photo 1: View from the grounds of Pittock Mansion
Photo 2: Long view of one of the gardens at International Rose Test Garden
Photo 3: Close up of one of the rose bushes at International Rose Test Garden
Things I learned from experiencing this trip: Our hotel was in a very central location that allowed for us to get to many different parts of the city easily, but I think next time I’d like to stay in a different neighborhood. Utilizing the public transportation system might have helped me grasp how to get around the area better. Portland seems to be the type of city where you need to have a plan. While there were plenty of restaurants/eateries near our hotel, there wasn’t a lot of “stumble upon” things to see without a destination.
Things I keep in mind when organizing a trip for myself: Go back for more! Take a tour. I feel like I missed out on too much during this visit. Go back to the rose gardens in Washington Park. Lela’s, we were so torn about trying new places or returning to Lela’s and eating there again. A spot to revisit to be sure!
Things I learned from writing this post: There are so many different sections of Portland that we didn’t visit. I spent a lot of time trying to identify where we spent our time while in Portland, it seems we spent a lot of time (eating) in Nob Hill.
Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT and Perplexity. Brainstorming for blog titles too!
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