Our holidays in Portland, Oregon

We came back from holidays a week and a half ago then hit the ground running taking 2 days to prepare for our Saturday and Sunday market. For the Saturday market we make delicious gluten free treats along with our bath and body products and also donated 150 gluten free cupcakes for the 25th year of Saturday's Moss Street Market.  On Monday we crashed and Tuesday worked at our part time job. Today we are celebrating my mom's birthday.


We went to Portland, Oregon for a week and attended a 2 day conference at Storyline with Donald Miller (all about changing the story of your life). Since we were there we decided to add on a bit of holiday and went with a friend from church.


It was a wonderful time to get away and do something completely different. My sister and I had been to Astoria, Cannon Beach, Seaside a few years earlier and had only spent 2 hours in Portland so it was fun to actually explore Portland this time.

Our hotel (Mark Spencer) and the lobby of the famous Ace Hotel 

Our hotel was right in the heart of the city and we faced the main street street. They lobby was so lovely and we loved the 24 hour cappuchino/latte and steamed milk machine, they also offer wine at 5pm every day and tea with cookies at 3pm.

The beautiful Nob Hill District (we all loved it)

We all loved this area and the shops were wonderful. This is a must see area of town.

Portland Saturday/Sunday Market (we couldn't believe how big this market was and it seemed endless)
This was a huge market and it runs Saturday and Sunday. We've never been to a market this large before. Prices were not cheap though even though there is no sales tax.

Pearl District, Voodoo Doughnuts and Salt and Straw ice cream (our favourite)

The Pearl District is where our hotel was located and also where the conference was held.  Voodoo Doughnuts had a massive line up and it's always like that. We waited 30 minutes and I didn't have one as they don't have a gluten free option. My friend and sister tried them and weren't that impressed, apparently we have better doughnuts in Victoria. Salt and Straw was just amazing and we visited both locations (once in the Nob Hill District and also the Alberta District). They have the most amazing flavours. The Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons was mine and my sister's favourite.

Cannon Beach

What a gorgeous location and it was our second time visiting. It's just beautiful and the shops are wonderful. We got some treats at Bruce's Candy Kitchen and I was so happy they had gluten free treats.  For those who are local Cannon Beach is similar to Long Beach

Tula's Bakery (Albert District), Stumptown Coffee, Powell's Books, Storyline 2012 PDX with Donald Miller

We never made it to Tula's Bakery but saw it on the way back from our stop at Salt and Straw's Alberta district location (it's all gluten free though), Stumptown Coffee was good but not the best I've had (I ordered a half caf latte with soy milk and Vanilla flavouring).  Discovery Coffee here in Victoria is better in my opinion. Powell's Books was right near our hotel and we loved it. They had books on every subject. I took a photo of E.E. Cummings poetry next to Emily Dickinson's poems.  The Storyline Conference in Portland was great but I'm still trying to absorb it all. There was a lot of information crammed into a 2 day period.

Pizzicato was another great place as they had a gluten free crust option. It was amazing pizza. Portland was a very friendly city and we all enjoyed our time there.

Michelle