Traveling with Laura

I’ll admit to doing very little today and spending several hours lounging in bed (a luxury I never allow myself to indulge in at home). One word: allergies. I have no idea what it is that I’m allergic to here, but my three allergy medicines are having a tough time keeping up. I spent the entire day outdoors yesterday, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. All of that to say I felt pretty congested and tired all day today. It didn’t help that the skies were overcast most of the day so my motivation was on the low side. Nevertheless, I did manage to do a few things.

The woman working in the gift shop in the Washington Park rose garden yesterday told me that the rose garden at Peninsula Park was even better, so I knew I had to check it out. Plus, it was close to where I was planning to have breakfast so I made a stop there before fueling up. It was a completely different feel from the Washington Park gardens, with a fountain in the middle and shrub-bordered beds of rose bushes. I wasn’t able to take as many pictures because you can only get close to a few of the bushes around the outside of the gardens. It’s not that the roses weren’t beautiful, I just prefer the layout and feel of the International Rose Test Garden better.

I set myself the challenge of finding the best breakfast in Portland today. I usually don’t have any trouble finding great breakfast places, but none of the menus I saw online really appealed to me. Sweedeedee appeared in several of my Google searches for the best breakfast in Portland, so I decided to give it a try. It’s a tiny place with just four tables and a couple of window stools inside and a few more covered tables outside. Since it was only in the upper 50s this morning, I picked a table inside the cute cafe and ordered a mimosa and French toast. I didn’t think it was possible for French toast to literally melt in your mouth, but this one proved me wrong. The bread was perfectly crystallized with brown sugar on the outside and soft as can be on the inside. Topped with blueberries and just enough cultured butter to add an extra flavor element, it was probably one of the best French toasts I’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot!

I was feeling pretty tired after breakfast, so I decided to try napping for a bit before heading back out. I didn’t really sleep much, but I didn’t want to waste the day in my hotel room, so I headed out on foot to the Portland Saturday Market. As one of the country’s longest continually running outdoor markets, this is mainly an outdoor craft fair with a few food carts mixed in. I wandered a bit was so tired I didn’t really want to be there. I ended up back in my hotel room and felt somewhat better after a couple more hours’ rest.

You know what always makes me feel better? Cider. If you know me, you know I hate beer, tolerate wine, and love cider. Portland Cider House was my kind of place. This cozy little cider house has a whopping 26 ciders on tap; 15 of which are their own and 11 are “guest ciders”. I ordered a flight of 6, choosing 5 of their own and one from Cyderish. I tend to enjoy semi-dry ciders and mixed a couple of those with some fruit ciders. All were delicious, especially the semi-dry Peach Berry. I also needed some food and the pulled pork sandwich and Hawaiian potato chips were the perfect antidote to my hunger.

Next stop: ice cream. Salt and Straw is a small batch ice cream that has slowly branched out from a food cart in Portland to Seattle, California, and Florida. I actually had an individual cup of their Cinnamon Snickerdoodle flavor on my flight out here Wednesday night. But I was looking forward to trying some of their more inventive flavors today. Pear and blue cheese ice cream, anyone? I sampled that one, but ended up going with Salted, Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Not very original, I know, but it was really good and creamy.

My last stop for the day was one last visit to the International Rose Test Garden. When I was there yesterday, I found a small garden area (called the “Secret Garden”) tucked away just down the hill from the rose garden. There is just one bench, a large grassy area, and some interesting stones with Roman numerals. The whole garden is bordered by trees and has just a couple of footpaths leading into it. I sat there for a little while before strolling through the roses.

I’m hopeful that a good night’s sleep will renew my energy for my drive to the Oregon coast tomorrow!