Grown-Up Field Trip – Portland

We thought it was about time to share another one of our Grown-Up Field Trips, taking in Portland.  This place is made for an GUFT.  , While we have been there a few times, the opportunity to explore had not been present as our main client has an office in the Portland area.  When we finally had a weekend off and the time to see downtown, the focus was on finding what the must do things were.  Beer, bikes, and Blues (well music) were the pieces to put together.

Safety First

Portland has wonderful museums and galleries, a great place to pick up your cultural requirements but we chose to go the live music route.  Josh is a big fan of Trombone Shorty and could not believe our luck to see he was playing that weekend.  After securing tickets it was time to sort out rest of our weekend.  The cycling culture in Portland is prolific, a part of the very entrenched green living lifestyle.  There are all kinds of resources to find bicycle tours around the area, covering just about any subject you are into.  We found a place that rented bikes and decided that we would try out one of the brewery routes.  Now I’m not gonna lie, I am in no way proficient on a bike and this whole idea was a bit scary.  Amazing how much more confident I got after each stop, LOL.
Josh had participated in a guided bike and booze tour of New Orleans (Confederacy of Cruisers) and says it was the highlight of that trip, I can say that I am now a convert.  In bike friendly cities like Portland this is really the way to see things.  We crossed bridges and peddled through neighborhoods.  There is a delightful amount of street art.  On one of my first trips to Cincinnati my BFF Becky took me on a culinary tour, teaching me the art of trying a signature cocktail and snack at each stop.  It was the perfect way to see and taste the city.  We tried to do the same thing with our brewery tour.  Nearly all of these places served a small menu and it’s a very veggie friendly place.

In all we stopped by Burnside Brewing Co., Hair of the Dog Brewery, Green Dragon, Buckman Botanical Brewery, Base Camp Brewing, and The Commons Brewery.  After all this a nap was in order, HA.  The Old Town area of Portland is laced with music venues and is a great place to hop around taking in tunes and enjoying even more local beers on tap.

On day two with the Trombone Shorty concert later we decided to lounge about a bit and search out some of the spectacular food in the area.  I am a HUGE fan of farm-to-table restaurants, mostly because they offer a wider variety of vegetarian entrees.  Downtown Portland is home to some of the coolest boutique hotels available and it was in one that we found the Urban Farmer.  Honestly it wouldn’t matter which one you chose, but I would recommend adding a restaurant within a boutique hotel to your list, it’s a way to see two unique parts of Portland culture, even if you don’t stay at one.  We rarely do, as our travel is a bit different and we have negotiated rates with many large chains.

While we didn’t visit a VooDoo dounuts this trip, it is a don’t miss.

So here is your list:

1. Portland Breweries, this is a mecca of micro brewing and a wonderful experience, new trends are set here.  There are about 70 breweries in the city proper and over a 100 in the metro, so even if you could try them all, would you remember it?

-If you are a wine drinker then boy oh boy would Portland make you happy, we didn’t have time to stop at wineries on this trip but we had helped host a wine tasting party earlier this week.

2. MUSIC, it doesn’t matter where you go or really what you find the scene is so much fun

3. Think alternative transport, we got around the entire time on bike and Lyfts

4. VooDoo Donuts, they really are that good

5. Art and green living are essential to Portland life, you will see so many cool ways the two cross and how they like to keep local culture alive.  This is not the land of chains.

6. Find the food trucks!