Portland, Oregon!

So we flew into Portland on the 31st of July. Of course our plane was delayed so instead of getting in at a late 11pm, we got in at an even later 12 or so. No cheap public transport for us from the airport. The taxi prices from the airport to downtown are ridiculous so we opted for a flat rate driver that cost us maybe $15 less.

We got to our hotel, The Ace Hotel, in time to catch some tasty bar food and a few superb cocktails, including some rye concoction that was the shit. Mmmm. The hotel itself is centrally located to the downtown area where there are a lot of bars and some live music venues, including the Ash Street Saloon, where I caught MetalBlade's Baptized in Beer showcase featuring Bison B.C. and Woe of Tyrants. Awesome show!

We stayed in town for a couple of days checking out the city by bike,

shopping, eating and making new friends. Checked out some stores, including Hecklewood, where I picked up a sweet store shirt and the sold out alomost everywhere else Actual Pain tiger shirt, Compound Gallery, and the Upper Playground store, where I picked up an PDX exclusive Munk One tee. All 3 stores have gallery spaces where they showcase art, wish more streetwear stores would be set up like these.

We also rode over to the SE side of town in the Hawthorne district, which some describe as similar to the Haight in SF. It's the more "real" side of town from what I gather.

Portland is home to an endless array of places to stuff yourself silly with the freshest of local and regional ingredients. We feasted at The Farm Cafe one night. Although the service could have been a bit better, the food was excellent. We also hade brunch at Jam on Hawthorne with some of our new Portland friends. Amazing hash browns! We had one of the top 5 best meals of our lives at Andina, which serves up Peruvian food with modern twists. GO THERE! Everything, including the service, was incredible and the cocktails are insanely good. We also went to Henry's Tavern, which is truly beervana! They have something like 100+ beers on tap! Many that are not only unique but rare. I wish that we hadn't found this place on our last night, I would have gone by there everyday to try a couple of new beers. The food and service were also excellent.

Powell's Books! Wow! If you've been you know. I could spend days in there. Found the first volume in the series The First Kingdom, by Jack Katz, considered to be the first graphic novel. So sick! Just hope that I can find the rest.

Of course I checked out and skated Burnside. A legend. Didn't have the time to really do it justice but def a must visit if your in town. It's pretty gnarly and rough in spots but I guess that is the appeal, if you can rip there you can rip anywhere. Hear there are some great parks around town but didn't have the time to check any of them out.

Also had the great fortune to meet some cool people in Portland who took my girlfriend, Erika, and I in, taking the time to befriend and hang out with us while we were in town. A big shout to Andre, Jeremy, and Melody! Jeremy and Andre are starting this blog/website Seen All Over, that encompasses their diverse interests, including but not limited to sneakers, comics, skating, travel, etc. It's just getting started but these guys are on their game and expect big things!

We spent some time outside of the city, which I'll post up next, including anything else that I may have forgotten about our time in Portland.

Lastly we spent our last night at Union Jacks strip club, cuz what trip to PDX is complete without some full nudity? I'm sure that everyone has their favorite but this is the one we chose to hit up. Some hot girls who know how to dance and were super cool. Erika had a blast spending my $ and I had a good time watching her and the ladies. Ah, good times. Miss Portland already...