I absolutely love Portland.  It is honestly one of my favorite cities in the US and Oregon is easily one of the most beautiful states.  Besides being an awesome jumping off point for discovering the pacific northwest, the city of Portland has a lot to offer visitors as well.  Despite being a relatively young city, it has a fascinating history, amazing food culture and no sales tax!  If you find yourself in Stumptown, follow my itinerary for your best day in Portland 🙂

Morning

Start your day off right by heading to Hunnymilk for brunch.  Hunnymilk is a permanent pop-up brunch spot serving up an amazing deal.  For $22, you get to choose one of the sweet dishes, one of the savory dishes and a drink.  When I went, I got the ribs and grits and the french toast.  My boyfriend ordered baked eggs and waffles.  We split both.  Everything was delicious, with huge portions, so don’t feel bad if you take some home in a box, they give boxes to almost everyone.  One tip: try to make it at opening (9 AM).  They have some trouble turning tables.  If you don’t make it, they have plenty of games and books set out to keep you entertained.

After brunch, walk three block west to Heart Coffee Roasters for a mocha.  They have really good latte art, and the coffee quality is very high.  Note: this stop is optional if you aren’t as addicted to caffeine as I am.

Make your way to the far west of Portland, up to Pittock mansion for the best views of the city.  The mansion charges an entrance fee, but allows you to walk the grounds.  Also, Pittock mansion is technically in Forest Park and there is a very nice trail if you want to walk to the house.  We drove to the top.  Maybe if we had gotten to Hunnymilk earlier we would have had time for the hike.

History Lesson: Henry Pittock, owner of the mansion arrived in Portland in 1853 penniless.  He got a job working at a publication called the Oregonian for a man named Thomas Dryer.  Dryer was not much of a businessman.  He was frequently unable to pay Pittock.  When Dryer left Portland for a role in Lincoln’s administration, he gifted the Oregonian to Pittock as reimbursement for unpaid wages.  Despite fierce competition, Pittock was able to rise the Oregonian ahead of alternative dailies by organizing an expensive system to retrieve news of the civil war before his competitors.  It was through this system that the Oregonian was the first in Portland to report the news of Lincoln’s assassination!

Just a short ways from the mansion is the Portland Japanese Garden in Washington Park.  This is an absolute must.  I have only been in the Autumn (a week after The Maple had shed its leaves) and it was absolutely gorgeous.  Please not that I think this is a three season activity.  It was stunning with Autumn colors, but I am just not sure how pleasant it would be to wander around in the winter time.

Just across the street from the entrance of the Japanese Garden is the International Rose Test Garden.  Spend a little bit of time wandering through.  My boyfriend and I spent about fifteen minutes wandering the grounds, and I think this is enough time for most people.  It was nice to see it, especially considering you can enter for free, but I think it is probably a better experience in the summer or spring.

History Lesson:  Citizens of Portland proposed The International Rose Test Garden  in 1917.  Even before the existence of this garden, Portland already had the nickname: City of Roses.  Between this nickname and the willing volunteers, the garden soon became a reality.  During World War II, the president of Portland’s Rose Society petitioned to save hybrid roses from Europe.  Countries around the world sent their hybrid roses and the people of Portland considered the project a success.  Today the garden features 4.5 acres with views of Mount Hood and the Cascades.

Afternoon

Once you are finished with Washington Park, head into the central part of Portland.  Our first stop in downtown will be Powell’s City of Books.  The building occupies an entire city block and is a book lover’s paradise.  This bookstore is so large that I was lost for ten minutes trying to find the bathroom. There are so many interesting rooms full of books in this store, but the real crown jewel is the rare books room on the top floor.  If you are a collector, and even if you are not, this is a very cool room. The oldest book was published in the fifteenth century.  The most valuable book carries a price tag of over $300,000 (not on display).

History Lesson:  Walter Powell founded Powell’s books in 1971.  After not being offered a lease renewal, Walter’s son Michael came to Portland to help his father find the current location of the headquarters.  Powell’s City of Books grew to its current size after an expansion in 1999.  They claim to be the largest new and used bookstore in the world.  The bookstore purchases 3,000 books (new and used) every day.

After you are done exploring Powell’s, head to the Lan Su Chinese Garden in the Pearl district. Though small, maintenance of the park is meticulous.  The $10 entry fee may sounds steep, but I think it is well worth it.  When I was there, there was a floral arrangement festival going on, so they were offering all the guests sparkling wine, which in a shocking turn of events, I declined.  The park is small.  Take your time to explore the nooks and crannies.  Every corner of the park contains secrets.

At this time, if you are starting to feel hungry, make your way to Blue Star Donuts for a snack. Perhaps this is a controversial suggestion, after all, Portland is pretty famous for Voodoo Doughnuts.  Before my trip, three separate people advised me to avoid Voodoo and opt for Blue Star.  I thought this was an odd suggestion.  I had been to Portland previously and I actually enjoyed my doughnut from Voodoo. But this time I decided to try something new, and I think Blue Star has better doughnuts.  Or at least, they are more up my alley.

If you are not super hungry, but could go for some coffee, I suggest heading to Barista in the Pearl District.  I actually did not go there.  I let Yelp convince me to go somewhere else and it was a mistake. From everything I have heard, Barista has great coffee, an unpretentious atmosphere, and fantastic latte art.  If you are not planning on leaving the central part of Portland, definitely opt for Barista.

Evening

After your late afternoon snack, make your way to Kells Irish Pub.  This is the meeting point of Portland’s haunted brewery crawl.  I understand that ghost tours are not everyone’s cup of tea, but this was actually the best I have ever been on.  The history of the city is really interesting.  Many of the stories told on this tour covered both “normal” history, and the darker side of history.  The tour starts in a smoking lounge in the old Shanghai Tunnels.  You get to enjoy a flight of beers, then head outside for a walking tour.  At the end you return to another restaurant/pub where you get another flight of beers.  Besides just being a very insightful tour, it was also one of the scariest ghost tours I have ever been on.  The final trip into the tunnels left the entire group on edge, even after six beers!

History Lesson:  Originally built after a great flood in Portland, the Old Portland Underground, better known as the Shanghai Tunnels, still span much of Old Town and Chinatown in Portland. They were constructed to move items from the shores of the Willamette into town, but quickly became a hotbed for drug smuggling and human trafficking.  Today, the tunnels are mostly privately owned or filled in.

Finish your evening with dinner at Han Oak.  Han Oak is a Korean food adventure lead by Peter Cho.  Peter Cho’s playful style allows his restaurant to sometimes be a prix-fixe menu, and other times a dinner-party style evening of noodles and dumplings.  I did not actually eat at Han Oak, but it is at the top of my list when I return.  While in Portland, I ate at Coquine and Pok Pok, which are both excellent options.  Han Oak had been on my radar before my trip.   I heard good things about it while I was there also.  It is definitely a place you need a reservation for on the weekend.  When I looked at reservations about a week before my trip, the earliest time on a Sunday was 9:30!

I, like many of my fellow millennials, am obsessed with coffee.  Luckily for me, San Francisco has a plethora of amazing cafes.  There is everything from Starbucks, to just cozy hole-in-the-walls.  In a world with so many choices, cafes need something to set them apart.  Quality is one such way a coffee shop can distinguish itself.  Great latte art is another.  I have been to many of the coffee shops in San Francisco (though not all of them… I’m working on it!) and I have compiled a list of the best latte art in San Francisco.  Read on to see which places made the list, and where to find them 🙂

5. Sightglass

This was a close call for me, whether to put down Sightglass or Ritual.  They are both pretty big names with multiple locations and a very similar overall latte experience.  In the end, Sightglass made the cut-off because the latte art at their hq in the SOMA is superior to the latte art at any Ritual location.  If you don’t count the hq, then the race is much closer and highly barista dependent.  I have visited many of the coffee shops in San Francisco (though not all… I’m working on it!) and I have compiled a list of the five best coffee shops for latte art.

Find it: 270 7th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

4. Flywheel

Putting Flywheel on the list was really difficult for me, because honestly I am not a huge fan of the coffee there.  It’s not undrinkable, but with so many options in a small radius, it’s hard for me to justify a trip to Flywheel.  With that said, a few of the baristas there are excellent and their latte art is undoubtedly superior to the other coffee houses in the neighborhood.  If I am going to get coffee at Flywheel, it is for the latte art.

Find it: 672 Stanyan St, San Francisco, CA 94117

3. Four Barrel Coffee

The latte art at Four Barrel depends on your barista, but the minimum bar is still set very high.  As an added bonus: the coffee is really good and the space Four Barrel occupies is unbeatable.  Not to mention, Four Barrel has the best location of any coffee shop on this list.  It is only a few blocks away from sunny Dolores Park.

Find it: 375 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103

2. Saint Frank

I have nothing but good things to say about Saint Frank.  The quality of the coffee is great, the layout of the cafe is beautiful, and the baristas are really nice.  But what really sets Saint Frank apart from the crowd is the latte art, because the baristas at Saint Frank really treat it as an art.  The milk is steamed to exactly the perfect consistency to create incredibly crisp, detailed design.  The latte art is so good, in fact, it is actually a little upsetting that I cannot put it in the number one spot.

Find it: 2340 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94109

1. Home

Home is hands-down the place to go for latte art in San Francisco.  If you put latte art into a Yelp search, Home takes both the first and second position on the list.  The reason Home tops the list is obvious the minute you step into the cafe: the lattes are colorful and beautiful.  The birthday cake latte is a perennial favorite, but Home has a lot of delicious choices… as long as you come with a sweet tooth!

Find it: 1222 Noriega St, San Francisco, CA 94122

New York City is the  the ultimate American urban center, with the island of Manhattan being the first stop on most itineraries.  But even Manhattan is large enough to be overwhelming to first timers.  With the help of my sister (a Manhattan local), I have compiled a guide to the best day in Manhattan, to help you make the most out of your visit.  Get a good pair of shoes and be ready to make plenty of coffee stops.  This itinerary is packed!

Morning

Start your day off like the locals do and make brunch your first stop.  Make your way to Bubby’s Highline.  This is a trendy brunch place with the possibility of celebrity sitings and fantastic bloody marys.  Make sure to get there early, lines can get crazy after 10.

After you have finished your breakfast, take a walk up the high line.  The high line is a former railway turned elevated park/walkway.  Today, the highline is an iconic example of contemporary landscape architecture.

History Lesson:  The highline was originally a road-level railroad in the mid 1800s.  There were no barriers between the trains and traffic other than flag-bearing cowboys.  Naturally, this was not the safest solution and the number of accidents that occurred led to Tenth Avenue earning the nickname “Death Avenue”.  By the early 1900s a plan was in place to build elevated tracks which were open to use by 1939.  By the 1950s, the growth of interstate trucking began to have a noticeable effect on rail industry.  The last train operated on the highline in 1980.

Once you have reached the end of the highline, head to the metro station and make your way to 30 Rockefeller Plaza.  While undoubtedly touristy, the views from the top are some of the best in the city.  After soaking in the sights, head up to Central Park.

Afternoon

Meander through the park, take your time and enjoy it.  There are plenty of attractions within the park including pedal boats, caricature artists, and hansom cabs.  Of course, the park is large enough that just walking through people watching will keep you entertained.

Keep walking up the park until you arrive at 90th street.  Once there, make your way over to 5th Avenue.  You may find yourself a bit hungry, so it’s a good time to stop for some food at Bluestone Lane for a coffee and snack.

Once your stomach stops rumbling, head down the block to the Guggenheim Museum, the premier modern and contemporary art museum in New York City.  The building that it occupies is enough reason to choose the Guggenheim. If contemporary art just isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other museums on the same block.

History Lesson: One of the most notable aspects of the Guggenheim collection is the building it occupies.  While this building is classic, it is not the original home of the museum.  The idea for the unique structure was conceived as a ‘Temple of the Spirit’; a new way to organize space for art.  Frank Lloyd Wright (the architect of the building) produced four sketches between 1943 and 1944.  Wright initially landed on a ‘Ziggurat’, or inverted pyramid, with the intention that guests would take an elevator to the top and descend at a leisurely pace.  It was this, in addition to the location next to the park, that produced the continuous spiral building recognizable today.

Evening

Make your way back down the island to the trendy Greenwich Village to spend the rest of your day.  Greenwich is the one of the hippest neighborhoods in the city and you will find more than  enough options for dinner, dessert and drinks to keep you going into the evening.

Greenwich has a number of restaurants to choose from, but check out Chomp Chomp, a hawker-style Singaporean restaurant.  After dinner, walk two blocks to arrive at Pasticceria Rocco.  This is the ultimate bakery to cap your night off with a cookie in New York City.  If you aren’t exhausted after your long day of exploring Manhattan, then get ready for a night on the town.  Hit one of the neighborhoods bars and relax after your best day in Manhattan 🙂

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Trip Stats:

Days: 3

Distance: 39 miles

Day One:

Tioga Road closed due to snow the night before our trip began.  That was it: the death sentence for our trip.  Well, not quite, but it sure put a lot of stress on us.

We had permits for six people leaving from the Cathedral Lakes trailhead.  These permits were particularly valuable because they included the option to climb coveted Half Dome.  Unfortunately, the Cathedral Lakes trailhead was on Tioga road, and even as we stood in line at the ranger station in the valley the morning our trip was supposed to begin, Tioga Road was closed.

As the minutes ticked by, we passed the time drinking coffee and hitting refresh on the NPS road status site.  Finally at noon, Tioga road was opened.  Yes! Our trip was saved! Well, not quite.  The plan was to get picked up by a shuttle service so we could end the trip at our cars.  Because of the road closure, the shuttle said it was too late, so we had to drive ourselves and get shuttled at the end.  A minor inconvenience, but better than nothing.

We finally hit the trail at about 2 PM.  Definitely a later start than I was hoping for.  The trail to Cathedral Lakes starts with a climb.  It’s not too difficult or steep, and the blood flow was definitely welcome in the snow.  The first three miles of the trail are mostly just forest.  There are a few vantage points when the trees clear, but the views don’t start getting really nice until you hit the lakes.

We stopped for a snack at Upper Cathedral Lake, still in good spirits.  This is the part of the trail where the views finally start to become special.  But in the back of my mind there was a slight sense of fear.  It was already quite late in the afternoon and we still had many miles to go before camp.  So we set off.

The next four miles after Upper Cathedral Lake just get better and better.  After Cathedral Pass, you are solidly in the Sierra high country.  But this trail follows Sunset Creek, and the meadows next to that creek are some of the most beautiful in California.  While the snow had not been something we planned for, it really added to the serenity of our surroundings.  And as much as I wanted to hit camp before sunset, walking under the cotton candy colored sky as day turned to dusk over the winter wonderland around us was one of those experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

We pulled into the Sunrise High Sierra Camp just as the last moments of daylight were slipping away from us.  It was still a mile and a half from our original intended campsite at Upper Sunrise Lake, but the fire already set up by a group who had made it to the camp before us looked quite inviting as the temperature dropped.

After setting up our tents, we joined our new friends around the campfire for dinner, we had a chance to hear some tales from further along the trail.  We met one guy who was just finishing the John Muir Trail.  He had started from Horseshoe Meadows about a month before and was one day shy of his return to civilization.  There was also a woman who just started the JMT coming from the opposite direction.  She had a month ahead of her.  Our weekend trip was childsplay compared to the two hundred plus miles these folks were doing.  As the night wore on, and the bag of wine we brought began to run dry, it was time to call it a night.

Day Two:

To say it was the worst night sleep of my entire life would be an understatement.  It was a night filled with tossing and turning and trying (and failing) to stay warm.  The only proof I have that I got any sleep at all was that my boyfriend got up in the night and I would have remembered that if I were awake.  Eventually the night ended, the sun began to rise warming the world below.

Once again, we got a late start, leaving camp at around eleven AM.  We had a lot of miles today, especially since we didn’t make it to our intended destination the day before.  The trail from the Sunrise High Camp was barely trodden, it would have made more sense for skiers or snow-shoers than us in hiking boots, but after arriving at the Upper Sunrise Lake, the trail and miles came easier.

The crux of our day involved climbing up and over Cloud’s Rest, a ridge with arguably the best views in Yosemite.  I have been to the top of Cloud’s Rest before, and even in good conditions it frightened me due to the sheer drop-offs on both sides.  I was tepid for this hike in particular due to the snow and ice.  But after stopping for lunch at the last fork, we made the decision to push forward.  The next couple of miles felt very fast, and I was feeling confident based on chit-chat with people coming the opposite way.  The sun was out, the snow was melting, I was feeling good.

Like clockwork, some clouds blocked out the sun just as I arrived at the scramble to the top.  And that was it.  A complete wave of panic took over, and I just sat there crying.  The icy steps to the top were just too much for me.  I wasn’t going to make it.  It was already four pm and the alternative was to back track and walk an extra nine miles around Cloud’s Rest, a daunting task.  But faced with such panic, my boyfriend let the rest of the group know our plan, and we turned around.

The ramification of this decision didn’t hit me until we were back at the fork.  Night was approaching, we still had many miles to cover, and the other trail had only one set of footprints.  For the second time that day, I started crying.  As if on cue, another group of backpackers showed up at the fork.  They also turned around at Cloud’s Rest and would be heading the same way as us.  That gave me a confidence boost to head down the unbeaten path.

Again, the miles came quickly.  After about a half a mile, the snow melted away and the trail was clear.  We were treated to a gorgeous sunset behind half dome as we raced our way to little yosemite valley.  Eventually we came to the Cloud’s Rest fork to find some beautiful campsites.  Too bad we hadn’t planned our meetup with the rest of the group better.

At this point the sun had set and the only light left was that of dusk.  It was officially a race against time to get to Little Yosemite Valley.  I had my headlamp in my pockets, but by this time, both of our moods had soured.  We strolled into the campground about twenty minutes after dark, no smiles on our faces.  Dennis started calling out our friends names and eventually one of them heard us.  It was certainly a relief to see them.  It had been a long, seventeen mile day.  I ate my dinner, drank some whiskey, and went to bed.

Day Three:

It was a much better night than the previous, but not long enough.  At five am, my alarm went off.  The idea was to get to the top of Half Dome in time for the best light of the day.  We left our campsites still set up, and hit the trail as soon as we were all ready to go.  The five or so mile from Little Yosemite Valley to Half Dome are the most boring of our trip, luckily we completed them quickly and mostly before sunrise.  We reached the base of subdome at sunrise.  It was glorious, and we had the best part of our day still ahead.

At the top of Subdome, I had a moment of doubt.  I felt defeated after my panic attack on the ridge of Cloud’s Rest and wasn’t sure if I could muster the courage to climb the cables.  But it was a beautiful day and I wasn’t about to let yesterday’s failures hold me back.  Once at the top of the cables, I was happy I chose to overcome my fears.

It was a perfect day and we had mostly beaten the crowds.  We spent just under an hour taking in the view and taking photos at all the classical viewpoints.  In short, I could not have asked for a better morning with a better group.

But of course, what goes up must come down.  Once again, we were in a race against the clock.  We had to meet the shuttle driver at the trailhead at two pm, and we had eight miles to walk, plus breaking down camp.  My boyfriend and I took the lead.  We got back to camp and had pretty much everything packed before the last of our group made it back.  We filled up our CamelBaks and set down, but not before we got both sets of keys, in case not everyone caught the shuttle.

The trail from Little Yosemite Valley into Yosemite Valley was the first part of the entire trip we could really feel the crowds of the park.  We opted for the Mist Trail over the JMT (Mist-ake) and the last two miles were an absolute zoo.  Dennis and I made it to the meeting point as the clock chimed two, but the shuttle wasn’t there.  I sat down on a curb in the parking lot, happy to trade my hiking boots for Birkenstocks as I waited for the shuttle.

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