First Portland Trip

*these three were taken by Justin B.

*this was taken from Heart Coffee's Instagram

I LOVE PORTLAND. Such a basic statement but I don't care because it's literally everything. It only took me about a week or two after arriving to make my first two-hour drive up north to the city. I explored the downtown area a bit, checking out a few cool shops like Heart Coffee Roasters, Powell's books, Sizzle Pie and the local Buffalo Exchange.

Anyone who knows me knows I really don't like coffee, so while my friends got a bunch of caffeine I got a korvapuusti, which is basically a Finnish cinnamon roll. I put a picture above for reference of what it looks like and there isn't any icing but like little clumps of sugar, which kind of look like salt lol. I asked the cashier about it so quickly, almost like an instinctual reaction to seeing it for the first time. It was surprisingly pretty good but I think I'm going to stick to my icing rolls because it was too sweet for me which is a rarity. I prefer sweets over savories when it comes to the morning!

We then proceeded to the beach and this location feels like a little secret that I discovered. The spot you're supposed to turn in at is almost hidden and doesn't stand out to anyone driving by that isn't looking for it. There were a couple locals there and that's it, which was literally fantastic. Also, there was a waterfall and some small caves, which I didn't even get to fully explore this time around. I will be going back to this spot forever, it's a gem!

Happy New Year's Eve eve everybody!

xoxo,
Andrea Aloren