Day#3 of my Oregon holiday consisted of a Portland City tour. Since the tour wasn’t scheduled to begin until 2pm, I was free to have breakfast and wander around the city neighborhoods for a healthy trek after my meal.
My hearty breakfast took place at AND Cafe(http://andcafepdx.com/) in downtown Portland. I selected the vegan biscuits and gravy with a side of vegan ‘sausage’ patty. Both were delicious and cooked to perfection! The steamed kale was the perfect veggie complement to the meal. Pomegranate juice was my fruity beverage.
Although I knew it was a federal holiday and expected many food carts to be closed for the day, I meandered over to one of the food cart areas where a couple of vegan-friendly food carts made their home. DC Vegetarian (http://dcvegetarian.com/) is known for it’s vegan sandwiches but alas it was closed for the day. Food carts are typically open for the lunch hours 11am until 3 or 4 pm. A handful of them are open until 3am. I just had to take a photo of this vegan-friendly cart.
The weather was perfect, so I just walked about town for a while and then got back on the bus heading to lunch time destination. Los Gorditos (http://www.losgorditospdx.com/ ) serves Mexican food in both a brick and mortar restaurant and in it’s food truck. I dined at the restaurant after an invigorating walk. My lunch choice consisted of three tacos: 1. Regular – corn tortillas with beans, rice, lettuce, tomato, avocado, raw onion, and cilantro, 2. soyrizo -corn tortilla with soyrizo and beans, raw onion, and cilantro, and 3. soycurl – corn tortillas with soycurls, grilled veggies and beans, raw onion, and cilantro. They were absolutely delectable! The fake ‘meats”, veggie, and tortillas were incredibly flavorful and had the perfect consistency.
Back at the hostel, the tour guide arrived in a minivan with the other tourists. We started the afternoon with a drive through Portland’s downtown. Pioneer Square is fondly referred to as the city’s “living room”. Concerts, movies, and other activities take place outdoors here. It was created to create a public space for Portland’s citizens to enjoy. It is named after the nearby Pioneer Courthouse.
Our next stop was a hill overlooking the city from atop. It provided a wonderful location for a panaromic view of the city.
Our drive took us through the various Portland neighborhoods: Nob Hill (23rd street known for it’s eclectic shopping and restaurants), Pearl District, and the Division area which is becoming famous for upscale dining.
The tour guide took us next to the Pittock Mansion. This chateau-style home was built in 1914 for one of Portland’s premier influential families. Mr. Henry Pittock was local businessman who ran the Oreganian newspaper and was quite influential in the city. He and his wife Georgiana spent a lifetime doing alot for the community.
The mansion’s room were quite elegant and contained the newest gadgets of the day: phones, intercom systems, central vacuuming systems, and indirect lighting. The grounds outside are alluring with flowers and give a glorious view of the city.
The next destination on our agenda was the Portland Rose Test Garden. It was created to test new varieties of roses. This location is the first of it’s kind in the United States. The gardens possess many varieties and hues of roses:pinks, oranges, reds, whites, purples, and yellows. Portland has thus earned a nickname of “The City of Roses”. It is an absolutely stunning place to visit!
The Rose Test Garden grounds include a gift shop where visitors may purchase various rose-themed souvenirs. I purchased an all natural, vegan rose mineral bath salts, a rose beaded ring, and a vegan rose jelly treat.
The final stop on our tour of Portland brought us to the Lan Su Chinese Garden. The city does not have an active Chinatown per say, as it’s Chinese population have moved to other parts of the city. However, the garden is still a popular tourist attraction. It was built by Chinese artisans from the sister city in China meant to resonate with authentic Chinese gardens. The gardens are based on an ancient Chinese tradition that fuses art, architecture, design and nature in perfect balance. Visitors can find more than 50 trees, rare shrubs, and selections of Magnolia, Peony, Camellia, Rhododendron, Osmanthus and bamboo.
Our afternoon tour of Portland had come to an end. My thoughts turned to meal time. I decided upon Papa G’s Vegan Deli ( http://www.papagees.com/) for dinner. The restaurant is Portland’s only organic, vegan deli. They offer a salad bar, sandwiches, hot entrees such as vegan mac and cheese, and tofu or tempeh bowls. I selected the tofu “hot dog” with sauerkraut, onions, and vegan cheese on a wheat bun with mustard. The side dish was a vegan potato salad with vegan mayo. Everything was mouthwateringly good! The bottled Tulsi herbal tea was refreshing with my meal!
Dessert was a chocolate and vanilla mousse. It was rich and smooth and oh so yummy!
Evening had arrived and it was time to rest up until the morning. For my next day’s journey would take me to Portland’s infamous “Vegan Mini-Mall” and vegan food carts!