I took the boys into Portland for the day to explore a couple of neighborhoods. First stop was Hawthorne. The last time I had been to Hawthorne was 2009 with Lola and recall it being a great place to shop. Both of my boys enjoy shopping (Alex/contemporary retail, Ryan/vintage thrift), and this neighborhood has both of those. When we arrived, they had the street all torn up with construction, but most of the stores were open. Some remain closed due to Covid. We arrived on the early side, so we picked up a coffee at The Fresh Pot/Hawthorne. Excellent coffee. Friendly baristas. Cool art on the wall. Perfect start to a Portland day…
Next stop was next door to The Fresh Pot. The last time I was on Hawthorne, Powell’s Bookstore had a smaller store here, dedicated to only Home and Garden books. It has moved to a bigger (I think) location and contains a little bit of everything.
I don’t recall all the shops we went in, but the highlight for Ryan and myself was House of Vintage. It was huge and we could have spent the whole day there. He ended up buying an incredible custom leather jacket from one of the Indianapolis 500 races. Alex found a few items at a contemporary store, but I don’t recall the name of it. It was mostly shoes and accessories and had a nice variety for both men and women.
A few hours later, we were ready for lunch Headed over to the Hawthorne Asylum, a pod of 21 food trucks. It was busy and it took a while to get our food, but it was ‘fummy’ (yummy and fun). I think I just made up a new word…
After lunch, we headed over to the Alberta Arts district, but I think we were all running out of steam. We drove along the commercial corridor and none of the shops jumped out at the boys. There were a few boutiques that caught my attention and decided to come back with a girlfriend later.
We decided to head for home and stopped at Camp 18 Restaurant for dinner. It’s on state route 26, in the middle of the forest. A huge log cabin restaurant. They have a short walking trail loop along the river that we enjoyed after dinner. We also enjoyed watching all the birds eat from the many bird feeders on their decks.
Modeling his new jacket 
