I made it back! And oh, how I wish I was still in Portland… yesterday it was 111 degrees here. Guess what it was in Portland? 77 degrees. Ughhh Portland… why?! Or rather, why do I have a comparison of the temp in Phoenix and the temp in Portland side by side? It’s only going to make me sad in the summer…
Anyway, back to the adventures! I’m going to break this down in order of my favorite things about Oregon, rather than a daily log, because that’s easier. And yes, be prepared for a lot of Voodoo Doughtnuts! 
And be warned, this will be a photo-intensive post, so if your computer loads pictures slowly… just warning you!
First things first: day 1 of our trip, we went to Cannon Beach. Unfortunately, the first day we arrived was the only day it was sunny, and hence this one and only picture I got of the beach (and me). The next morning, we ate breakfast and left early amid the dreary rain. However, I thought Cannon Beach was absolutely beautiful! Next time, more pictures for sure. Also, more Mo’s eating. So much more eating at Mo’s…
Cannon Beach!
One of the coolest things Dad and I did was take a jet boat ride on the Willamette River. I say it was cool because a) jet boat, duh! and b) we learned some interesting info, but I have to say, I wouldn’t do it again. It was one of those jet boat rides that intends to get you wet, and half the time the guide went so fast that I had to close my eyes because my contacts were blowing out! Boo!
Boat ride!
Dad is psyched to be on a jet boat, clearly.
That’s probably the most excited face my Dad had on this whole trip. He’s not a ‘smile for the camera’ guy!
Waterfall!
On our trip, we saw the beautiful Willamette Falls, which was stunning.
And of course, any trip to Portland would not be complete without a trip to the farmer’s market! Unfortunately, Dad and I weren’t in town for the famous Saturday Farmer’s Market, but on Wednesday, we did stumble upon this smaller market downtown.
Farmer’s Market!
A view from the outskirts of the market… once we were up in it, I was too overwhelmed by everything to get any decent pictures!
You can be sure I bought some fresh strawberries and ate them all in one sitting!! Dad and I, of course, being the sweet-fiends that we are, also got a bunch of pastries… but yet again, no pictures… because we inhaled them :-/
And what would a trip to Portland be without lots and lots of eating?! (Answer: not a trip at all!!) Every single day (for breakfast and lunch) we ate at the food carts. Dinner was typically leftovers from lunch, or we weren’t hungry, otherwise we would have eaten dinner at the food carts too. No, probably not the healthiest meals, but damn were they good. My favorites off the top of my head?: DC Vegetarian (I got their tempeh BLT); the Whole Bowl (I ate there twice!); and La Jarochita (those breakfast burritos were NOT KIDDING AROUND. Huge!!). Honestly, I wish I had eaten at DC Vegetarian twice, but Dad insisted we move around the city to find more food cart pods (except, you’ll notice, when he found a food cart he loved…), so alas!
But here, the one semi-blurry picture I got of the Bambino bowl from the Whole Bowl:
I don’t even remember exactly what is in here but let’s take a stab: cilantro, avocados, black olives, black and red beans, brown rice, salsa, and something called Tali Sauce. I have no idea what Tali Sauce is, but let me just say: it makes the bowl. I mean, otherwise this bowl is something I could even whip up… but with the addition of this not-spicy-yet-not-sweet sauce, the bowl is perfect. Heaven! You’ll also notice I left off the cheese and sour cream, thereby making this bowl vegan… aww yeah! Eating healthy while traveling FTW!
By the way, the bowl looks small… believe me, it’s not. I was full off that bad boy for hours! However, it is possible to eat it in one sitting so, if you live there or maybe have access to a fridge, you could get the bigger bowl and have leftovers. That’s what I would do!
And finally… what you came to this post to read about… VOODOO DOUGHNUTS!!! We ate here twice, which was the most I could convince Dad to do, and I’m pretty sure the second time we ate there was only because it was Friday (our last day) and we had nothing to do, and because Dad is a sweet fiend like me.
My first Voodoo loot:
Yes, ALL VEGAN!
From the top, clock-wise, the ODB (I’m not going to spell that out for you, but you can find it here!), the Diablos Rex, and the infamous Voodoo Doll itself! And yes, the Voodoo Doll had red filling inside of it (like blood). The best part about all of these donuts? They were all on the ‘vegan’ shelf, meaning they were made with no eggs and no dairy! Woohoo! Also, for those curious… they taste exactly like ‘real’ doughnuts. I could not tell the difference and, believe me, I’m kind of something like a ‘real’ doughnut connoisseur.
Eat me…
And, as mentioned on Yelp, go early!! The first day we went at 6 AM (the downtown location is open 24 hours) and there was no line… Friday we went at 8 AM, line practically out the door! People literally get boxes and boxes of these doughnuts, so really… go early or go really late!
And one our last day in Portland, Dad decided to be adventurous…
ODB for an ODB.
and he tried the ODB plus the Triple Chocolate Penetration (picture not shown, because we ate it immediately…) He proclaimed the doughnuts from Voodoo “good”, which is about the highest praise about anything that you could expect from my Dad, so I took it as a good sign.
That’s it for today! Look for more pictures and Part Two tomorrow (or the next day, you never know with me)… until then, stay cool!
