If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw that my friend Natasha and her husband, Ryan, visited Cam and I in Portland this weekend! Natasha and I met through blogging! back when we were living in Tahoe but haven’t seen each other since Cameron and I moved to Portland last year. When we first met, she was pregnant with her first baby; she’s now pregnant with her second baby and I’m pregnant with my first (and we’re both having boys!) – it’s crazy how time flies. It was so much fun to catch up on life and talk about all things pregnancy while she was here! Plus it was really great timing for them to come visit this past weekend – Natasha and Ryan got to have some time away together before becoming a family of four and Cameron and I got to take a break from our all our baby prep to enjoy all the things we love about Portland. And we all ate a ton of delicious food!
You can see Natasha’s post about their visit here, but I thought I’d share a recap as well…
We usually take out of town guests to Blue Star Donuts, and so that was one of our first stops during their visit. They always have good seasonal flavors, but the Valrhona Chocolate Crunch is my all-time fav! (And getting some Stumptown coffee during a visit to Portland is always necessary!)
Heading out to dinner on Friday night 🙂
We ended up going to Double Dragon, a quirky little restaurant that’s quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It’s not too far from our house and I love their very Portland fusion take on Asian food.
After dinner, we had to hit up Salt and Straw since it’s another place we always take out of town visitors! (Plus, it gives Cameron and I an excuse to try their current seasonal flavors!) This month, they’re featuring their Thanksgiving flavors and they are SO GOOD! I got a waffle cone of Spiced Chevre Pumpkin Pie and Sweet Potato Casserole with Maple Pecans – it was amazing!
Spending time with blogger friends means you can take lots of photos like this and they understand 🙂
Another great thing about the weekend is that they happened to get some gorgeous weather, along with the peak of color for the changing fall leaves, while they were here. Everything looked so pretty!
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Ryan and Cameron seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves this weekend commiserating about the tribulations of being blogger husbands…ha! We had a great brunch at Broder (our go-to neighborhood spot despite the perpetually long wait…) and then couldn’t resist getting a photo by this nearby sign…
Seriously, how perfect is that?! 🙂
Saturday, we also made stops at Schoolhouse Electric (which was already very festive!) and the Rose Garden, along with a bunch of other fun little stores. One of the things I love about having visitors is that it gets me out to places in Portland that I love but don’t go to nearly enough!
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I couldn’t have a blogger friend visit me and and not go to Nuvrei for macarons! Their new Mac Bar is fantastic and I love all the seasonal flavors they have right now- the Chestnut macaron is awesome!
(Not pictured – the delicious pizza we had at Oven and Shaker before getting macarons!)
Saturday night, we went out to dinner at Olympic Provisions in Southeast Portland!
Although I’ve tried a wide variety of their delicious meats at Feast and the Farmer’s Market, Cameron and I had never tried the restaurant itself before. We had heard lots of good things though, and it definitely did not disappoint! It was fun to try a new place with friends visiting and we all loved it.
We started with the Chef’s Choice charcuterie and cheese plates – I’d definitely recommend them!
I ended up ordering two small plates, the honeycrisp apples and the spatzle – both were so good!
I haven’t posted many restaurant reviews here on the blog lately (and my Portland page desperately needs updating!) but if you’re looking for a great meal, I’d highly recommend Olympic Provisions!
Sunday’s weather was rainy, but we still managed to pack in some delicious eats before Natasha and Ryan headed back to Tahoe! We started with breakfast at Pine State Biscuits and then made a stop at Pip’s Original for donuts and coffee before heading to the airport. If you haven’t been to Pip’s, I’d highly recommend it – their donuts are amazing, but their drink menu is also really solid! I ordered a Ginger Molasses Latte, which normally is not something I’d like, but it was so good and didn’t have any sort of fake-y taste at all. Plus, it’s just such a cute and cozy spot to go on a gloomy day!
We had such a great time showing our guests around Portland this weekend, and I’m so glad Natasha and I got to see each other while we’re both pregnant! I’m really hoping Cameron and I can take a trip down to Tahoe some time next year to visit them once we both have our babies! 🙂
