Day 3 in Portland

Our last day in Portland was rainy, which was too bad, but we still made the most of it! Since we couldn't exercise outside with a nature walk (I originally had planned for us to walk in , the largest urban park in the US), I took an Orangetheory class instead. Then it was back to trying new drinks!

Is this not the prettiest flight of beer you've ever seen?

Because of the morning start to our day drinking, we went to Great Notion Brewing first, which was on my list and also came recommended by our bartender during our first night in the city. They have lots of fruity beers ("tart ales"), and since I don't like beer, I thought I'd try a flight of their unique flavors. They were so cool! Some were quite sour, but I especially liked the Smoothies and the Tiger's Blood. Maybe I can find a beer out there that I like!

Then we were to Aviation Gin. We had actually stopped there the day before, but we didn't know they would be closed for Juneteenth. This time they were open, but they unfortunately have one of those weird rules that only lets them serve up to two ounces of alcohol per day per person (i.e. that is enough for one cocktail). And I didn't realize they only have one product: they have no flavors of the Aviation Gin, just the OG, so the only flights available are mini-cocktail flights.

The one on the far left, the "Uncle Gari," was the best, probably because it's made with orange soda!

They had a special one for Father's Day (including one they called "the vasectomy"), so we tried that. They were okay, but since such little gin was in each one, they almost tasted like mocktails, to be honest. Maybe if we had taken the tour we would have had a better experience, but at $35 a person for the tour, I'm kind of glad we didn't drop $70 for a tour and some "meh" cocktails. 

The vegan peanut butter brittle flavor was so good!

After all the drinking, we needed to find some lunch! We went back into the Nob Hill area where we had been previously, and we had a fish and chips special at the Nob Hill Bar & Grill. It's a very casual place, but for $15, this meal (which came with clam chowder, too!) was a deal. For dessert, we checked out Salt & Straw for more ice cream. This one was already on my radar as a good place to try in Portland, but it just so happened that one this one day they were serving double scoops for the price of singletons. Winning! But normally I order a kid's cup at ice cream shops, so needless to say, I was so full after that big lunch plus the sweet treat at the end. 

They took photos as you got on the boat, but why would we pay for that when we can take our own for free?

Then we raced toward the river for a happy hour boat tour on the Portland Spirit, which I had pre-booked before we knew what the weather was going to be like (at the recommendation of one of Steve's friends who used to live in Portland). If we hadn't already paid for it, we wouldn't have gone, but since it was a sunk cost, we figured we'd still try to have fun. There was plenty of indoor seating, so we didn't have to worry about being out in the rain; while you could barely hear the audio recording, there was an online brochure to read along, so we still learned a few things (mainly that there are so many bridges across the Willamette River that "Bridgetown" is one of Portland's nicknames!). The ride was only about 90 minutes, but with our full bellies, it was nice to get off our feet for a little bit. 

Before dinner, we took a moment to stop into Powell's Books, another place that is included in all the "must-see" lists for Portland. The place is HUGE! And because it's so big, each book section is enormous. I had no idea so many cookbooks even existed! And there were so many self-help books, a big poetry section... They have everything. I probably could have spent all night there, so it's a good thing we had dinner reservations. 

Complete with a tiny crawfish on top!

Originally we were going to have dinner at Il Terrazzo, a nice Italian restaurant. But since we had such a big lunch, and the weather was still wet, we thought we'd stay closer to the hotel and try a different Jake's restaurant (the crawfish location is much older, which was founded in the late 1800's). The hotel had given us a coupon for a free appetizer, and even though we were already pretty full, we still took advantage of that and enjoyed some calamari before splitting the étouffée (we had to have the crawfish while there!). We also split the bottle of wine we had purchased at Carlo & Julian Winery earlier in the week, and the restaurant gave us a tiny sliver of flourless chocolate cake, which was perfect after having so much food all day. 

Even with the rain, this was a great last day of our anniversary vacation. I can't wait for our second anniversary trip!