PDX

Portland was awesome! In some ways, it's similar to San Francisco: green lifestyle, convenient public transit, and welcoming of weirdness. It definitely had less of a big city feel (not necessarily a good or bad thing) and seemed cleaner. What I didn't expect was how nice people were! Almost everyone we encountered were super friendly.

As we were there for only two days and three nights, we didn't really have time to wander any part of the city besides the NW quadrant and downtown. Next time I will definitely explore more. Looking back at my photos, I realized that all we did was eat and shop. That was mostly due to the weather, which was rainy—it even snowed towards the end of our trip! On our way to dinner on the last night, I slipped on some black ice and injured my tailbone, causing pain to my rear end that lasted for a few weeks. Worst souvenir I ever got.

The cozy little apartment we rented off of Airbnb.

Connie warming up by the heater. It was her best friend for the entirety of our stay.

After settling in, we walked over to Mio Sushi for dinner. On the left is the Portland Roll, which I thought was appropriate for our first meal in the city.

Next up was Papa Haydn for dessert. My salted caramel chocolate ganache tart was amazing! And moscato is always yummy.

Little Big Burger. So good. I wish places in SF would serve Camden's Catsup (it contains sriracha).

Finding our way around Powell's City of Books.

Of course we had to pay a little visit to Stumptown.

Really cool camera obscura art by Darius Kuzmickas.

The light rail and streetcars are free in the downtown area. Nice.

Dinner at Oven & Shaker including a brussels sprouts and bacon pizza(!).

After going to an arcade bar (we each had one drink and played one game...we're both not really gamers), we took a bus back to the apartment. Hooray for reliable public transportation!

The apartment was right on this cute little street.

Woke up to snow the next day (!).

Spicy Thai (includes sriracha, of course) and Good Morning from PBJs.

Delicious Italian food at Bastas Trattoria.

Before heading to the train station on our last day, we made sure to stop by the famous Voodoo Doughnut for a bacon maple bar.

Stay weird, Portland! I'll be back.

A Day in San Jose

My sister had a bucket list for fall which included a photoshoot with leaves, so I visited her in San Jose to help her check that item off her list (never mind that it's already the middle of winter). I took the chance to explore the city a little bit. Stephanie said that I'm the first tourist she's ever seen there.

We stopped at Falafel's Drive-In for lunch and ate at the rose garden.

This was my first time at Santana Row, and I didn't go into any stores—just Pinkberry.

The cats at this park were a nice change from the homeless people I usually see at SF parks.

Should've known this was a sign that we weren't done eating.

No trip to SJ is truly complete without Vietnamese food.

Christmas in San Francisco

Alright, this post is over a month late, but I have a good reason! My laptop was in the shop for a few weeks (my uncle gave priority to his paying customers, but he replaced my LCD for free). Not that any of this matters since no one reads this blog. Anyway, I spent Christmas with Bonny and Steph in the most tourist-ridden part of the city. We didn't know where else to go, and we knew that the Musée Mécanique (best thing about Fisherman's Wharf) is open every day of the year.

P.S. This is the first post featuring photos taken with my new camera!

Trish's Mini Donuts. I always get a dozen of these whenever I'm at Pier 39.

My favorite machine.

I will beat him someday!

Uneaten bread bowls.

Breaks my heart to see all this waste. I hope some of these will at least be composted.

My Christmas dinner.