oh hiiiii there portland! i’ve been waiting to come visit you for years. i don’t think i’ve been this excited about a city since the first time i went to new york – though i’m not expecting you to be anything like new york. after watching some hilarious portlandia episodes and reading up on you, i’m hoping to ride many bicycles, eat many donuts and drink many espressos in you.

portland is the second ace hotel location we’re staying at, and it happens to be the one and only original ace hotel. i feel like i’ve seen so many pictures of its lobby and industrially decorated rooms that actually walking into the hotel will be like coming home or something. also, don’t tell matti, but i’m scheming a way to buy myself another ace hotel blanket as a souvenir from our stay. he says the one we have from new york is enough to get us through a lifetime of cold winters (darn that superior pendleton quality), but i just don’t agree.

so to distract my guy from my shopping, i’ll treat him to clams at the woodsman tavern and perhaps a dinner at clyde common? and a trip to portland wouldn’t be complete without coffee from stumptown, heart roasters or at see see motorcycles, right? after all, it is coffee capital. personally, i’m especially looking forward to seeing what all the donut madness is about at blue star or voodoo.

picture of the ace hotel by the veda house