Markey Writes

I was most excited about going to Portland. The whole trip to the west coast was amazing, but I had heard so much about Portland and was really looking forward to seeing the city and experiencing the culture. The TV show Portlandia portrays a series of stereotypes about Portland that I find interesting culturally. Although extreme versions, we did see a lot of the themes from the show in person. I want to preface this post by saying that Adam and I couldn’t really figure out what Portland was – what its image or personality was and, how we could describe our experience to others. (For example, we live in a capital city which means that it houses a lot of bureaucrats – the personality tends to be a bit conservative, quiet, and outdoorsy.) On our second day in Portland we came to this description: it is a city that feels retro in a way that has now become cool, as if it hasn’t changed in 40 years and all of a sudden this is the new ‘in’ vibe. But there is so much more to it than that. Everything is local. When you talk to people in the city, they are all making their own beer, their own hot sauce, they all use locally sourced products, everything is recycled and reused; lots of craft fairs, vintage stores and neighbourhoods where no one wears makeup. Everyone we met was easy going, calm and nice. This is a large generalization, but it was the feeling I was left with after visiting. Portland was a bit of a dream-like city where you felt like you could just melt into it, never leave and be happy.

We arrived in Portland in the afternoon on Saturday. The drive from Seattle was quite beautiful with the dark green trees, rolling hills and mountain range in the background. We wanted to be able to stay in Portland so we could spend the evening exploring the city, but with the total expenses for our trip adding up, we tried to find the cheapest hotel to stay in. And you bet we did. I have never stayed at such a grungy hotel and we were both extremely happy that we were only there for one night. The Hotel was the International right beside the Convention Centre. The good thing about the hotel was that it was located right beside the light rail that took us into downtown Portland. Ridding through the city we were able to get a better sense of what it looked like. Here are some images of downtown:

We ate dinner at a place called The Parish – the the heart of the downtown district and decided on a seafood feast starting with a plate of oysters, then a warm octopus and rabbit sausage salad and for the main a soft shell crab that was done almost like a burger on a bun – delicious. This was my first time trying softshell crab and it was amazing. Afterwards, we wandered around the city as it grew dark, stopping off for a drink here or there…. one place we noticed which was just around the corner from the restaurant was this brewpub that seemed to have a line up around the corner for the whole night. We managed to sneak into the bar and grabbed a couple of stools when two other left and enjoyed one of the many Portland microbreweries.

The night was beautiful – warm and welcoming. The downtown felt like safe with quiet excitement. We walked by two weddings with people spilling out into the streets.

The next day, we rose early and headed out to explore other areas of Portland outside of the downtown core. We got lost a couple of times and eventually had to buy a map – it seems that Portland is divided into four quarters – Northeast, northwest, southwest, southeast – and each quarter has streets that identify their direction… so we would see East 123 northwest street etc on the signs. Once we were able to orient ourselves, getting around from one quarter to the other wasn’t so bad. We went to Mississippi st, to Alberta St etc to visit some of the vintage and funky neighbourhoods. And of course did a drive by of the famous Voodoo Doughnuts…

After exploring for a while, we headed back into downtown Portland to try a couple of the the street vendors. Portland has city blocks surrounded by food trucks of all sorts – foods from all around the world as well as gourmet specialities – like the grilled cheese truck – serving any number of options but all being grilled cheese.

Once full, we decided it was time to head south to our next destination: the famous Wilamette Valley for a tour of Oregon wines. Not knowing the region well, we found what looked like a town that was in the center of the region: McManville. It was perfect. Driving into McManville, we came across Dundee Hills, an amazing location to truly taste some of the greats in Oregon wine. We hadn’t planned on doing any tastings that Sunday afternoon, but couldn’t resist driving into the hills to see what was in store. This was the first place we came across: although the wines were not the best on our list, the view demonstrates the absolute breath-taking beauty of the region.

This region is incredibly beautiful and if anyone is travelling to the area, I would recommend staying in McManville. The town was quaint and friendly with lovely boutiques, great coffee shops and delicious restaurants.

We stayed at a beautiful B&B that had a real victorian feel to it. The owner was a French man who served us Creme Brulee followed by Ostrich quiche with truffles for breakfast. Decadent and delicious. Luck would have it that he was a sommelier and we spent some time speak with him about what vineyards we should visit that day. This made a huge difference because we were able to taste some of the best wines in Dundee Hills. These were the ones that really stand out and are a must if you find yourself in the region.

5. Durant Vineyards

4. De Ponte Cellars: we learned at this vineyard about how the iron rich soil from the volcanic past really influenced the palate of the wines.

3. Eyrie Vineyards: These were very good, well made wines. Some of the vines were 45 years old and demonstrated the complexity that comes with age. One interesting technique that they used for the Black Cap Pinot Noir 2010 was what they called ‘dry farm’ which we learned meant that no added water to the vines.

2. Domaine Drouhin: very French in style. Very well made wines.

1. Domaine Serene: Our favourite, and the only place that we bought a bottle. Although expensive, they were exquisitely made.