Last day in Portland.

I mean, it was a quick trip, and we did most of the things that we wanted to do. My brother didn't have work this week, so he joined us for a couple food places.

SE Waterfront - Blue Star Donuts

Not only does my brother live above one of my favorite burger places, but he also lives near a donut place! Yay. Donuts are probably my favorite breakfast food.

My brother said that it tends to sell out early in the day. He lives near Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), so people probably grab it for their classes or before work. People who work in the hospital also live in his building, so I'm sure they pick some up as well. They weren't super fresh, but that's to be expected if the donuts aren't made onsite.. My brother thinks they might have a bakery in the building, but it doesn't smell like one... So who knows?

We ordered a lot of donuts. While I don't remember what we ordered... I liked most of them, especially the peanut one. It had some kind of powder on it that was delicious.

Downtown PDX - Tasty n Alder

My brother eventually woke up, so we all went down to get breakfast at this restaurant. Each of us got some variation of protein with eggs. Most of our conversation revolved around my brother's job; he's an electrical engineer. He's gotten walking histories of Portland and Seattle from his former coworker, and has been accused by being a cop by a homeless man. Overall very interesting stuff.

I'm a steak and eggs kind of girl in the morning. The steaks were flavorful and tender, and cooked really well! Despite that, I think Tam had the best dish, as the oysters were crispy and fresh!

I would go again! I really liked it.

We went to Trader Joe's after to pack a little, then headed back out for snacks!

Downtown PDX - Nong's Khao Man Gai

Down the from Alder Street is a collection of food carts. It's a different scene from the LA or Hawaii Food truck collections. Here, you have a bunch of stationary, single kitchen carts. One my brother likes is Nong's. It's a cute yellow shack, but that's not really descriptive since they're all food stands. What does standout is her branding. The paper bag given to us with our food had cute chickens drawn all over it. They were so cute it makes you rethink eating the chicken. The food itself is packaged like it is in Thailand; wrapped in paper to go.

This place literally cooks one thing: chicken and rice. It's Thai chicken and rice. According to the newspaper clippings dotting the windows, it's a recipe that she learned from her mom. The business model revolves around doing one thing well.

They sure can do it well. We were originally going to order it through UberEats in Portland, but found that they don't offer one thing online: fried chicken skins. We ordered the mixed meat plate, with light and dark meat. The two combined taste amazing, but what really makes the dish is the sauce. It's a combination of chili, garlic, ginger, vinegar, soy sauce in a delicious and savory combination. The sauce with the chicken skin was a huge win.

Soup is also served with the meal, and I can see why my brother likes this place. It tastes like our dad's chicken papaya (tinola) soup, one we would drink when sick... Or when there was particular desire to be healthy. I think this place was definitely one of the best Portland food restaurants that we went to.

Side Adventure

We got to experience Amazon's Prime Now service. It's where you can order goods and have them delivered to your house within the hour, or in a certain time frame. Since we were planning to leave our luggage at a luggage hold place in Seattle, we needed the TSA locks. Prime Now has a minimum spending threshold to get stuff delivered. We tried to order sweet chili sauce, but found that it was considered part of another marketplace. That's another stipulation. It can't be from different marketplaces (stuff + food = no). Instead, we ordered rubbing alcohol.

And if you're wondering why we were trying to buy sweet chili sauce; it's because Tam accidentally knocked one over in the morning after we ate donuts.

SW Waterfront - Little Big Burger

They failed immensely this time around; first giving me a hamburger instead of a cheeseburger. They also offered to replace the burger, and then chickened out of doing it after it was promised. Reputation ruined. Only ever buy their ketchup again.

Driving to Cannon Beach

We took my brother's car on a drive to Cannon Beach. It was about a 1.5 hour drive west of Portland. We caught the sunsetting as we drove there, but missed the golden hour completely... Kind of a bummer, but it doesn't mean we missed out completely.

While we were driving, the reception was kind of spotty; good thing my brother had a phone charger. Along the drive you'll see small homes, or even restaurants, dotting the roads... Albeit it very isolated from others. One of the abandoned building we passed had "Keep Out" spray painted across its boarded windows. More of a surprise, was the teenage girl, her dog, and dad chatting in the yard as we whizzed by. Isolated houses are romantic in some ways, since you have the ability to imagine a life faraway from modern civiliziation. It's another thing to actually see a small piece of someone's day to day. Maybe other people don't wonder about it, but I wonder about other people's hopes and plans and dreams as I notice them on the streets.

Cannon Beach was beautiful. While it wasn't the gold that we saw peaking through the trees, we were greeted by a quiet, periwinkle and lavender sky. It wasn't very cold at all, and this coastal town was beautiful! It's quaint, and charming, with its houses dotting the shoreline. We took some pictures and headed back.

Driving Home

Of course, the drive home was dark. Anyone who's ever taken a road trip with me knows that I always think of scary stories to tell when there are no streetlights... and there's a lack of phone service. Jeanessa and Tam know this very well. I bit my tongue, but we listened to the Hamilton Soundtrack for parts of the way home. In case you were wondering, I was thinking about the following:

What happens if you get stranded on the side and have no signal? Would you trust a stranger?
What if a wild animal or some kind of spirit was passing through?
Would you wait till morning?
What if you encountered something weird; like people approaching your car with Friday the 13th masks... Or pulling over because you see a baby crawling on the side... Only to see that it's a doll on a string when you get out of your car? (I got those ones from scouring AskReddit constantly.)

Don't think too hard about it. I didn't, mostly because Tam wouldn't let me. Also, sleep was going to be important! We needed 5 hours of sleep before our layover in Seattle!