Category: travel

THE Question

What’s been your favorite place!?”

Without a doubt, the most frequent question I get asked when I tell people about all my travels is some form of, “What’s the best place you’ve visited!?”. Now, I’m not claiming to be a champion of travel, having visited every city around the globe – there’s plenty of folks who’ve done lots more traveling than I have. But I talk to plenty of people on the regular who love to get travel and vacation tips, not the least of which is where to go.

I’m going to answer these questions over a series of posts of my favorite places in The States that I’ve visited so far, and hopefully keep adding to it as I go. So stay tuned, my pretties.

Coming up first………Asheville, North Carolina!

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Portland, OR

What’ve been your favorite places!?”

I’m going to answer this, most frequently asked question, over a series of posts of my favorite places in North America that I’ve visited so far, and hopefully keep adding to it as I go. So stay tuned, my pretties.

Next up,

PDX, OREPortland, Oregon
(aka: PDX; Stumptown; THE Portland; Rose City; Rain City)

In less than a week, it was true love. From the weekend-long music festival in the woods, Pickathon, to specialty coffee and brunch heaven, and swimming across the Willamette River with the Mayor, to all the gorgeous outdoors an adventure-nut can handle – there was no denying it.

I lived in beautiful, weird PDX for over 1.5 years split between the Mississippi, North/NE Portland neighborhood and the Brooklyn, SE neighborhood. I took over and ran an Espresso Crawl Meetup group and have given so many tours and recommendations, I’ve found it’s best to give them broken down into the neighborhoods or quadrants of the city, rather than broken down by the type of activity. I’ll try to break it down both ways here.

One thing I don’t have on here specifically, is the stellar food cart pods – they’re everywhere, so just make sure you get to one or two of them during your visit and you’ll have done well.

 (work in progress)

Hikes/Parks/Nature

  • International Rose Test Garden
  • Chinese Gardens
  • Forest Park
  • Powell Butte
  • Frog Lake
  • Mirror Lake
  • Tom, Dick, and Harry Cliff
  • Angel’s Rest hike
  • Oneonta Falls
  • Dog Mountain
  • Opal Creek/Opal Pool

Downtown

  • Kiosko (SW)
  • Oracle (SW)
  • Sterling
  • Commissary
  • Good Coffee (Slabtown)
  • Pépé le Moko
  • 10 Barrel
  • Harlow
  • Tasty n Alder
  • Powell’s Bookstore
  • Planet Granite

North

  • St. John Bridge/Park
  • Prince Coffee

NE

  • Sweedeedee
  • Bollywood Theater
  • Proud Mary
  • Pip’s
  • Guilder
  • Case Study
  • Skidmore Bluffs
  • Ex Novo
  • Kainos Coffee
  • The Movement Center – Free Guided Meditation – Monday

SE

  • OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry)
  • Upper Left
  • Good Coffee
  • Water Ave.
  • Coava (Grand)
  • Coava cupping lab
  • Marigold Coffee
  • Heart
  • Either/Or
  • Tea Chai Te
  • Smith Tasting Room
  • PushXPull
  • Off The Waffle
  • Zell’s
  • Henry Higgins Boiled Bagels
  • Dapper & Wise
  • Fried Egg, I’m in Love
  • Pine State
  • Loyal Legion
  • Aalto Lounge – Monday $3 Happy Hour
  • Om Movement Studio – Sunday Acroyoga – $15
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Cincinnati, OH

What’ve been your favorite places!?”

I’m going to answer this, most frequently asked question, over a series of posts of my favorite places in North America that I’ve visited so far, and hopefully keep adding to it as I go. So stay tuned, my pretties.

Next up,

Cincinnati, OHCincinnati, OH
(aka: The Queen City)

Here it is – the home city. I was born and raised just outside of Cincinnati, so spending a majority of my life here, I claim it as my home city.

Mark Twain put it simply – “When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it’s always twenty years behind the times.” While I  wouldn’t go that far, I’ve always said it’s behind the times. But still, it’s catching up a bit!

It’s a work in progress, but here’s a quick layout of some of my favorite spots around town!

(work in progress)

Fuel Coffee
Reds game
Museum/Omnimax
Fountain Square Summer movies
Symphony at Cincinnati Music Hall
Cyclones Hockey game
Pint Night @ Jungle Jim’s
Loveland Bike Trail/Downtown Loveland
Pompilio’s
Eli’s
Incline Public House
Pavilion top deck
Arnold’s
Arthur’s
Rake’s End
Crazy house across from Coffee Emporium on Erie
Top of the Park
Green Dog Cafe
Sankofa House
Tom and Chee

City Flea

Hikes/Parks/Nature

  • Coming soon….

Downtown

  • Arnold’s (Dine and Drink) (Oldest bar in Cincinnati – get a table in the courtyard if you can) (Live Music)
  • Cheapside
  • Fountain Square
  • Smale Riverfront Park

OTR (Over The Rhine, just north of Downtown)

  • Washington Park
  • Findlay Market
  • Rhinegeist Brewery
  • Taft’s Ale House
  • Deeper Roots
  • Iris Bookcafe
  • Collective Espresso
  • B&A Street Kitchen
  • Taste of Belgium
  • Longfellow
  • Rosedale
  • Japps
  • Urbana
  • Nation Kitchen

Northside

  • Urban Artifact Brewery
  • Melt

Mt. Adams

  • Blind Lemon (named after famous jazz/blues musician, Blind Lemon Jefferson – great drinks, chill vibes, live music – my favorite Cincinnati bar and visited by many famous names like Mel Gibson, Brad Pitt, etc.)
  • Lots of fun bars around, beware it can get college-y, try to get up to the top deck at Pavilion though for sick Cinci views ??

Randos

  • Cincinnati Zoo – consistently-rated a top zoo in America, definitely hit up Festival Of Lights in December
  • Lots of fun bars around, beware it can get college-y, try to get up to the top deck at Pavilion though for sick Cinci views ??