29th Birthday Trip

My wish of being able to have my 29th birthday trip came true.  Last month my brother and I made it out to Portland and Seattle as well as the coast.  I have to say this ties as my second favorite trip I've ever taken.  I have zero negatives about this trip, everything worked out as close to perfect as it could have.  One of the main reasons being because my brother was able to join me and we travel very well together.  Another reason was the weather.  End of August was a great time to visit the Pacific Northwest.  In the 70s and sunny the entire time except when we drove out to the coast.  It was a bit chiller with some fog and mist which made for great photos.  It was so nice to escape the Florida heat and humidity for a week.  Another highlight for me was the amount of gluten free food they have on the west coast.  We had some great food throughout the week.

My first round of photos is from Portland, OR.  One of the reasons this trip got pushed back wasn't just due to covid but also due to the amount of riots and protests that have been going on in the Portland area.  I'm so so glad we went when we did because getting to witness and photograph a city that is trying to rebuild from what felt like a former war zone was quite the experience.  Majority of downtown is still boarded up and most businesses are still closed.  And the few places that are open had limited hours.  Not very many people were on the streets either.  I don't even have that many final shots from Portland because of this.  We still were able to do most of the things we wanted to though.  One being the food truck scene.  We had some Korean tacos and they were delicious.  We also were able to take the lightrail around the city for free to see Washington Park, the waterfront, the walking bridge over the river and to Powell's Bookstore.  One of my favorite meals was from a restaurant in downtown Portland called Hubbards and the salmon was amazing.  Overall, we really enjoyed the couple days we spent there but this was a one and done for me.  Here are the photos...