Foodie Finds in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon certainly does not fall short on the foodie scene. The city is full of intriguing and innovative restaurants. We had quite the adventure exploring and sampling a variety of flavors. We could probably spend months exploring culinary treasures in the city! Alas, we only had a few days but we made some fab discoveries:

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Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon

Lan Su Chinese Garden is a walled garden treasure right in Portland. Exploring the garden, we could hardly remember that we were in fact in a city. From the moment you step inside, you are a world away.

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Scenes from the International Rose Test Garden in Portland, Oregon

Established in 1917, the International Rose Test Garden in Portland, Oregon is the oldest continually growing public rose test garden in the nation. Situated in the "City of Roses," the garden was created to save species of roses from being lost to bombings during WWI. The garden is a lovely and vibrant maze of roses:

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Traveling on the Empire Builder Train to Washington and Oregon

We just returned from a summer adventure riding Amtrak's Empire Builder to Seattle and returning via Portland, Oregon with several excursions in Washington and Oregon. Our overall trip lasted 10 days with four days of train travel. Our adventures in between our train treks included hiking, visiting gardens, enjoying beach days, learning about cheese making, exploring Washington's capitol and more. We packed in a lot of exploration and the train trip was a great part of the adventure! Follow along as I share our discoveries including:

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Spring Road Trip: Hitting the Road to Portland, Maine and Back

For Spring Break this year, we hit the road for Portland, Maine. Some may say that we were crazy--especially given the late winter. Why not go south? Well, we have been working intently on our bucket list and so we decided to visit some of the states on our list this year. When opportunity arose, we decided to go out to Maine. We drove through the states to get there and came back to Chicagoland via Canada. So, we saw a lot on this trip and had a blast! We hit quite a few cities on our trip and I will be providing you with a little peek into each over the next couple of weeks. If you are looking for a road trip idea for the coming warmer months, this is one that will not disappoint!

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