Portland, Oregon... I'll Have Seconds, Please

Before I travel I make sure to ask as many people as possible where their favorite place to eat is before even booking my hotel. I then supplement this research with my own information found online through foodie forums such as Eater, Tasting Table, and Yelp (to name only a few). The more we hear about a certain restaurant, the more we want to visit said restaurant. This is how we plan all of our vacations and weekend escapes, but Portland was not as orderly as I had expected. I logged onto Facebook.com and excitedly typed into the search bar "Friends who live in Portland, OR"... Nothing. Then I tried typing "Friends who live in the Pacific Northwest"... I quickly discover I have 2 friends that live in Seattle, WA. I asked one of them if he had visited Portland and had any good suggestions. He kindly suggested I drive 3 hours north to Seattle and "see a real football team." It quickly became clear to me that we were on our own with this Portland conquest.
Portland is a city that is located about 1.5 hours away from every activity imaginable. Top skiing trails, the Pacific ocean, world-famous wine country, rolling farmland, more hiking trails than mosquitos, even mountain biking, a robust culinary landscape, and wonderfully-grungy city scenery. I can't think of another city that has easy access to as wide a range of activities.
With so many possibilities at hand, we decided to taste some of the wines in the Willamette River Valley. Portland surrounds the mouth of the Willamette River. Follow this river south for less than an hour and you will be in the center of the Pacific Northwest's renown Pinot Noir wine country. We started heading south and stopped at a great little antique shop. A lady behind the counter told me that she sells vintage items that belong to her 5 friends and herself. She explained that each section of her store is dedicated to one of the five friends and their goods-- Her job was to sell. This store was pretty incredible. If you are a flea market junky, this place is a gold mine. We continued down Route 99W towards the town of Dundee in Yamhill County. Our first stop on the Pinot Path was at a newer vineyard called Blakeslee Vineyards. The Blakeslees purchased the land from the former owners of Quail Hill Vineyards and built a home on the property equipped with an infiniti pool that has a stunning view of the grape-covered hillside. The tasting room was only 2 months young and gave us a very welcoming and homey vibe. We were greeted by the family dogs and waved to Bill Blakeslee as he worked from his study just beside us. The wines were wonderful and the views and property were exceptionally maintained. I would highly recommend making a stop here.
Our next stop on the trail was Domaine Drouhin, a French establishment and winemaking family that laid down roots in Oregon over 25 years ago. Domaine Drouhin was the first to plant grapes in Oregon, and was responsible for  launching Oregon wines into the limelight. We pulled in to the gates of the estate and drove alongside neatly trimmed vines for the entirety of the long, curvy path. The  Tasting room felt tidy and clean like the manicured grape vines surrounding the building. The wines were tasty and they even offered us some of their french collection to try. With wine in our bellies, we walked out onto the immense patio (used for weddings and live music in the summer) and took in a great view of mountains and fields of grape vines.
Time was not on our side, so we continued on to one more wine tasting at Argyle Vineyards. Argyle is known for their bubbly wines, which were crisp and welcoming after a day of reds. We continued down 99W to the town of Daton and the famous Joel Palmer House. This was a special dinner because we were celebrating a birthday and because they specialize in self-harvested, local mushrooms and truffles. The restaurant has been around for generations and some of the offerings on the menu are just as timeless. Their mushroom soup is so crazy good, its no wonder the recipe has been in the family for generations.
The following day we had an incredible brunch at Tasty and Son's, a hip bar-restaurant that delivers original food with incredible flavors. We sampled the chocolate potato doughnut with crème anglaise, potatoes bravas with over easy eggs & aioli, and Erin's sweet biscuits with blueberry compote. To digest our feast, we spent the rest of the day exploring the city of Portland on foot. Trotting through neighborhood streets gave us a great perspective of the people of Portland and a lay of the land. Coming from larger cities like New York and Chicago, we were expecting each neighborhood to be more substantial that it was from a size perspective. We saw their homes and cars and its all pretty odd. Thankfully the weather was perfectly welcoming. We got hungry again so we stopped at Bijou Cafe, a jazzy local spot that is mostly known for their brunch menu and their live Jazz and night. This place mostly caters to the local crowd, so you will meet and find some unique characters during your meal. A few regulars noticed us charlatans with our maps and our Nikons laid across the table. Luckily they were kind and were able to assist us in gaining our bearings. They even gave us some great suggestions for which food trucks to try. We continued to walk the streets of Portland and found some pretty unique stores. Moul'e (pronounced moo-lay) is a fashionable store that caters to everyone. Designer toys don the shelves opposite a rack of high-end men's sportcoats (women's clothes, too). We found Vintalier, a designer resale shop on a small side street. Vintalier will make the most highbrow people shop for secondhand goods. We also saw a very large store that sells 200-year-old Chinese chests and furniture along with smaller nick-naks only found in China.
As I sit here in my technology class and type about the wonderful stores and lovely foods I was able to experience, one perfect bite keeps my mouth quivering for more. It was an unusual food for me to be smitten with, considering I never had a love for this food or even the category. Salt and Straw is the name of the etherial establishment which provided me this perfect bite in the form of a scoop of  caramel ice cream atop a waffle cone. The self proclaimed "farm to cone" ice cream shop captures you from multiple angles: the smell of the hot, fresh waffle cones wafts into the street and peaks your initial interest; next, you notice a massive line developing so you hop aboard to avoid fomo (fear of missing out); then you see the amazing strands of salted caramel being dolled onto warm cones and you need to have some. What makes this ice cream special is the high quality of products used, the care given to every small batch, and the 17% butterfat within each scoop. Needless to say, I was sold before the first bite. With almost a 65/35 ratio of ice cream to caramel, my first bite was a stunning mess.