Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip, Day 2 - Portland, OR

Voodoo Doughnut
Originally uploaded by theotherlondon

I have been remiss!  Remiss to the Nth degree!  What kind of person am I that I would begin to recount a west coast road trip adventure only to leave you hanging after one measly day of travel, through rainy Washington and in the dark nonetheless!  I know it's no excuse, but, you must forgive my lollygagging, I've been recovering from our time spent in Los Angeles.  You know how it is.

But I get ahead of myself...

When last I wrote we were spending our first night (of two) in Portland at the Convention Center La Quinta. Unlike my perception of the bright and friendly Austin Airport La Quinta, where I happily sojourned during the SXSW conference in March, I'm afraid I don't have many good things to say about the Portland Convention Center La Quinta.  It is cheap - with the $50 cash back 'Portland Perks' deal offered on the Travel Portland website, it was actually cheaper than some hostels I've stayed in...which to be fair were a great deal more dingy and stinky.  Meh.  I still wouldn't stay there again.

But let's not doddle on the less than stellar details!  You and I prefer the amusing haberdashery of pleasant, loosely organized travel memories - e.g. 'Was that Bolivia or Switzerland?' - and the describing of aesthetically intriguing or culturally interesting finds that simply become more fabulous with the passing of time -  e.g. ' The colours in the marketplace were so vibrant I was gobsmacked' on second telling to become 'I was completely gobsmacked' later to be followed by an emphatic, 'Gobsmacked, I tell you!'

And I will tell you, there are many fine things to appreciate about Portland - unless you compare Portland to San Francisco, but we'll get to that post in a few days.  Anyway, taken on it's own, there are many fine things to appreciate about Portland and of all the fine things to appreciate - lovely architecture, interesting neighbourhoods, abundant evidence of the local population's regard of fine art, culture and all things environmentally friendly - what I appreciated most was the food.  In my admittedly limited experience, Portland is an exceptional city when it comes to culinary offerings. 

Our first real meal in Portland was at a comfy little diner in the city's trendy Pearl District called the Byways Cafe. At this point, I must make a confession that I fear may cast an unflattering light on our journey.  That is, that I planned the restaurants we would visit based on one of my favourite Food Network TV shows, 'Diners, Drive Ins and Dives'. In case you're not familiar with this show, which I would guess to be the case, it features a boisterous, bleached-blond, red convertible driving Californian, named Guy Fieri, who tours around the US visiting famed local greasy spoons recommended by viewers where he samples America's 'best' over-sized and deep-fried diner specialties.  You must forgive my shortcomings for referencing the 'p' word (plan) and the banality of scheduled television broadcasting, but time was short and a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do when she's traveling with a guy who's unfailing response to, 'What would you like to eat?' is, 'How 'bout A&W?'  As recommended by Guy, we ordered the blue corn pancakes, which were every bit as good as he said they would be, and the 'Lumberjack' hash which was okay.

After our meal at Byways, we took part in an informative and entertaining walking tour called 'Underground Portland' offered by a tour guide company aptly named Portland Walking Tours.  When the tour wrapped up, we decided to revisit one of the spots we passed during the tour, a little hole in the wall (literally) doughnut shop called Voodoo Doughnut.  This was, in fact, not the first time we had returned to Voodoo Doughnut during the day as we had passed the shop numerous times while exploring the core area, each time hoping the forty-five minute lineup would diminish on our next pass,  which never happened.  We finally acknowledged we would either have to wait or forgo the experience.  Well, the decision was obvious, of course.  When we were finally admitted to the closet sized interior space, packed with bodies, punk music blaring, anticipation was high. Gladly, we were not disappointed by the array of choices on the chalkboard menu, awash with tantalizing, exotic combinations including maple glaze with bacon - well, hello?! why hadn't anyone thought of that one before -  and our choice the 'Memphis Mafia', a banana fritter the size of a human head topped with peanut butter, chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, chopped peanuts and, for good measure, sugar glaze.  It took us three whole days to eat most of that doughnut and we ended up throwing some of it away.  My, it was good.

We had dinner at another 'Diners, Drive Ins and Dives' gem, Pok Pok, which unexpectedly features a menu of Thai street-food.  Unfortunately, I'm tired and ready to go to bed so at this point, I'm afraid we're going to have to make due with my insistence that a meal at Pokpok alone is worth the drive from Victoria to Portland.  Being the good, old friends that we are, I know you will know what I mean. Remember the fish and chips place at Tobermory I deemed good enough to warrant the drive from London?  Well this is twice the distance.  It's that good.

I know you're vegetarian, but I'm still going to recommend you try the chicken wings. Gobsmacked, I tell you!

View my West Coast Road Trip Flickr set.