PDX

Portland, Oregon
Voodoo Doughnut

My fiancé and I were fortune enough to spend Memorial Day weekend with friends in Portland, Oregon. We had just gotten engaged the weekend prior, so we were excited to celebrate with good food, good drinks and good company.

Portland's food and beverage scene did not disappoint: we had craft beer and schawarma fries at Base Camp Brewing Company, dinner and drinks at the Doug Fir Lounge, coffee at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, ice cream at Salt & Straw, and obligatory doughnuts at Voodoo Doughnut, among others. We also hiked past waterfalls near the Columbia River Gorge, and found a vista point at Pittock Mansion.

If you're a craft beer enthused, leisure loving, nature baby like we are, PDX is sure to jive well with your soul. Where better to toast than in the city where 20-somethings go to retire? Cheers to you, Portland!

Mount Shasta, California

My boo and I have been lusting over the Pacific Northwest, so we were super excited to finally plan a trip to Portland for Memorial Day weekend. We planned to meet our friends from Seattle -- they took the train in. I found cheap flights, but Richie was disappointed -- he, of course, wanted to drive. "It's supposed to be so pretty!" he said. We left Oakland on a Friday afternoon, and planned to drive halfway to Portland and stay the night in Mt. Shasta City. Mt. Shasta is one of California's tallest peaks, snow covered year round and about an hour from the Oregon border.

We stayed at the Shasta Inn -- an adorable inn complete with house band and bar. We had beverages in the lounge and enjoyed the sounds of Mt. Shasta's apparent own Jimi Hendrix (he played the guitar across the lounge to tell the front desk lady when we arrived). In the morning, we found breakfast just .2 miles away at the Seven Suns Coffee & Cafe. With bellies full of lattes and breakfast sandwiches, we headed onward to our final destination of Portland, 5 1/2 gorgeous hours in the car away.

Whether you need a place to stop on a Bay Area > PDX road trip, or want to spend a weekend hiking some of California's prettiest trails, a trip to gorgeous Mount Shasta is one worth taking.