As part of my work doing business development for a global recruitment network, each year we host one large conference and several smaller meetings that I have the pleasure of attending. This past week, Portland, OR was the location, and since my good friend Kelsea is also my coworker, we decided to add on two days to get a little bit more out of the trip. Here is our mini trip from Wednesday-Monday.
Traveling: Portland has a great public transportation Max Light Rail that can get you all over the city for a $23 pass for the week and many of our members used this with ease… Kelsea and I combined had nearly 180 lbs of luggage (Southwest spoils you into thinking you can pack it all) so we took a taxi downtown for about $50 with tip thanks to our sweet Chicago member we picked up on our flight! We ended up ubering back which was only about $25. If you are a skiier/boarder which I am but had no time, Mt. Hood is about 1.5 hours from downtown, and the hike through the popular waterfalls that we did is about 45 minutes from the city.
Hotel: Our conference was held at the beautiful Nines luxury hotel in downtown Portland. This hotel was super swanky and had two amazing restaurants that are highly rated, the farm to table Urban Farmer (get the dungeness crab omelet) located in their lobby/atrium, and Departure which is an asian fusion lounge on their rooftop.
For any meeting planners who have stumbled on my blog, this hotel was an awesome spot for our 150+ meeting. We were able to have multiple rooms open on the same floor for our breakout sessions and lunches, and the ballroom was able to expand to hold everyone, or be closed off to allow more intimate rooms. The food was delicious, and the staff does an excellent job of accommodating to the needs of your group.
Food and Brews: Upon realizing we could not quite check in along with a few members, I instantly asked the front desk where I could find seafood and a happy hour stat. From someone in line I got the fantastic recommendation for Southpark Seafood, which has the largest selection of oysters both raw and baked in Portland, and brussel sprouts you’ll dream about for days. We split their salmon burger here as well, which was maybe a 7/10- but the vibe of the place, good happy hour, and oysters would definitely have me recommending this as a must stop.
Next we shopped and brewed up the streets a bit, we were going to rent bikes using the Nike Biketown app, but were not sure how many places there would be to lock up the bikes- turns out there is a ton, so definitely consider that option if you want to be a little quicker on navigating the city. It was not in service yet, but I had found this great hop on/hop off trolley I wish we could have done, and looking back- the stops to get you around the town were great. If you plan a trip, make sure it is June-September if you aren’t looking to be in a constant drizzling rain state the entire time. My fashion/hair/makeup game was quite crabby in a city where seemingly every 15 minutes you get a drizzle or downpour of rain & umbrellas are “uncool”.
We had flights of beer at Deschutes brewery, 10barrel brewing co, and Rogue. While 10 barrel came in third in terms of the beer, we did share their steak and gargonzola potato chip nachos that were phenomenal. They also have a great rooftop patio, and are just a skip away from the REI store which we made a stop at for “buzz management” 🙂 Deschutes definitely had the best beer out of the breweries we went to. The Pearl District is super fun to bop around on, with Patagonia, Lulu lemon, Athleta, and other shops to check out while you eat/drink.
Knowing we had a long couple of days of meetings, we made a 9pm stop out to Whole Foods for some sushi and kombucha and curled up in our hotel robes and slippers for the night to catch up on The Arrangement on Bravo TV.
With 7am-7pm meeting days, our only blog-able moments were the dinners out at Portland City Grille and Bamboo Sushi SW. I picked both of these places for their high ratings and they did not disappoint, you will need reservations in advance. Portland City Grille is located up on the 30th floor with all glass windows highlighting the city views, and Bamboo Sushi has three locations in Portland and is honestly some of the best sushi I have had ever in terms of fresh flavor. I tagged the brunch menu from PCG because although I didn’t have it- I think it would make for an amazing stop. The brunch we did go to that is also highly rated is Mother’s, which is a must while in Portland, but be prepared to wait, it is worth it.
Another little spot I enjoyed a ton was the Pine Street Market, which is a large building that houses about nine different food concepts in a large, open seating casual layout. A group of us went there and were able to get what we wanted (aka delicious ramen bowls or potato chip ice creams) and all sit down happily enjoying the casual feel.
Bars/Nightlife: I really did not find Portland’s night life to be up my alley as I am definitely a live music or dancing kind of gal. Departure lounge at our hotel had a nice rooftop scene, but with only one tiny bar out there, it took forever to get a drink, and they closed fairly early at midnight during the week and 1am on the weekend. It seems most of the night life is just more breweries or “chill” bars which was fine to be tucked in bed during the meeting, but if I came with a group of girlfriends or my husband I probably would have searched out something a tad bit more high energy. Our closing event was at Pips and Bounce, a ping pong bar across the river, which was neat if you are into ping pong, otherwise it wouldn’t be on my list to do. I did enjoy a place out of the way called Swift Lounge, which is super tiny but had a delicious menu of mason jar cocktails and food and had a hip hop dj there.
Activities: As I growled about earlier, March is quite a rainy, cold, and windy time to try and see Portland. My friend Kelsea’s sweet family attempted to take us on a beach hike along the Oregon coast at Canon Beach, which was beautiful to see, but our hike lasted a whole 15 minutes of being pelted by rain and wind before we all took off the fake smiles and made a mad soaking wet dash back to the car. The little town looked like a super cute way to spend a warm summer day though, and it is about a 1.5 hour drive from downtown.
Our main activity we did was a 5 hour bike and hike tour through Pedal Bike Tours. This tour was $99 per person, but for the transportation out of the city, the bike, the knowledge of the guide, and the instagram worthy stops of the 6 beautiful waterfalls it was an excellent way to get in some activity (about 9 miles total biking/hiking) and feel like you got to see some of Portland’s natural beauty, including of course Multnomah Falls.
Also for my “healthies”, this amazing yoga studio called Pearl Yoga is right downtown and connected to a delicious cafe called Prasad that has everything a kale loving, juicing, yogi would dream about. I had their granola bowl with coconut milk and their juice with wheat grass as a morning detox before flying home.
We did also try to make a morning of heading to the Portland Saturday Market which is open Sat/Sun from 10-4 and features tons of outdoor tents selling various food and crafts and items, however with the rain and cold we skirted through quickly. If the weather is nice though, I could have grabbed a coffee and easily made an hour or more of this.
If I ever do make it back, I would love to take on Mt. Hood, more hikes, and also see some of the wineries I have heard make delicious Pinot Noir. 🙂
Phew! That was a lot, let me know if I did anything you also love in Portland or any places I really missed out on ❤
-Sarah
Freiburger on the Fly 