I graduated from the University of Arizona in 2016. Since then, my entire friend group has spread across the country and we hardly see each other any more. (Luckily though, my best friend happened to move to New York 18 months after I did)

In order to keep up our friendships, and let’s be honest, friends are hard to make in the adult world, we schedule a reunion trip every year. We started in 2018 with Vegas, and in 2019 we picked Portland, Oregon! We chose Portland as a laid-back reunion, to include hikes, beers, and friends.

Saturday

We all arrived in Portland around the same time, early afternoon. We kicked off the reunion by hiking to the Witch’s Castle. The muddy terrain slowed us down, but allowed us to talk and get caught up on all that happened over the past year.

Even though the Witch’s Castle is a half mile of a hike, any exercise deserves a treat afterwards. We made our way to the trendy Salt and Straw for post-hike ice cream. The line stretched around the store, so we waited around 20 minutes before making a selection. The portion sizes are huge, which is not a complaint from me when it comes to ice cream!

We spent the rest of the night going out to breweries and a martini bar and catching up.

Sunday

After a night out and no prepped brunch plans, we made brunch in our little AirBnb. It was the perfect, relaxed way to start the day.  Once we were full and boozy, we decided the next best thing would be tipsy-shopping at Powell’s books.

Powell’s books spans an entire block and 3 stories. They boast of housing around one million books. We spent hours wandering around and peeking into all the different corridors. I found myself some backpacking books and a card game I’ve been wanting. My friends found poetry, cooking books, and good ol’ novels.

Coming down from our buzz, plus the sheer exhaustion of exploring Powell’s, we took a break at the Deschutes pub. We ordered apps and beers, then broke out the new card game I bought. It only took an hour (and I should emphasize we were not drunk) until three of my friends agreed to take this reunion trip as an opportunity to get tattoos.

So then we spent the rest of the night waiting for three of my friends to get tattoos. I’ve never had a tattoo, so I never realized how long it took, but oh man did they have patience! Around 10pm I started to fall asleep, so I left early to be surprised by the results in the morning.

Monday

We started off Monday morning at Voodoo Doughnuts’ second location. This place is a dream. I ordered the Voodoo doll doughnut, which has a pretzel stake and jelly insides. My other choices were more standard; nothing wrong with chocolate or sprinkles doughnuts!

Afterwards, we headed to Multnomah falls for a brisk morning hike. Let me tell you something about Multnomah Falls: if it is icy, turn around. My lovely, intelligent friends did, but I insisted to keep going alone since I missed hiking from living in NYC. Equipped with a bold choice of hiking shoes, Allbirds, I kept trekking up the switchbacks of Multnomah falls, periodically slipping without concern. Just before the 10/11th switchback, the trail was way too icy for me to continue. As I turned around, I noticed the effects of the 2017 fire; there was no vegetation to catch me if I fell off the trail. It’s a lot easier to catch yourself going up a trail; down not so much. I ended up scooting down the trail on my butt to avoid falling. Back near the beginning of the trail there is flatter land, so I tried standing. I was so tired from the adrenaline and cold that my legs shook unsteadily. At this point in time, a nice couple approached me from behind and offered to help me back to the land of no ice and a long jacket to help me warm up. I graciously accepted. Once we were back to the entrance of the falls, I thanked them and returned the jacket. It’s then, to my horror, I felt the back of my yoga pants and touched my own flesh… Yep, sliding down the hill ripped a hole in my pants and this couple was nice enough to not tell me and help hide it. I quickly bought a new pair of pants and then returned to my friends to tell them of my recent near-death experience.

To my relief, we spent the rest of the night indoors, ordered a pizza, and played games like the good old days when we were too young to go to bars.

Tuesday

The last day. Two of my friends had early flights, so we said goodbye to them. Afterwards, the remaining four of us got brunch at Jam. I really liked this place; they make HUGE mason jars of cocktails and their food actually has some spice in it (looking at you, East Coast). The brunch was bittersweet though, soon enough two of my friends left to go home and it was just Stephanie and I left in Portland, waiting on our red-eye flights.

We went to the Japanese gardens in the afternoon and made a reservation to get tea at the little tea house. The gardens were nice and tranquil and the food and tea were relaxing. I really think this is a must-do for visiting Portland.

The Japanese gardens are near the test rose garden. Unfortunately, in mid-March, none of the roses are growing so we only saw trimmed bushes. Maybe another time!

The rest of the day we spent wandering around aimlessly trying to pass time before our red-eye. No one was on the red-eye so we each had a whole row to ourselves to sleep at least.

That’s it for our 2019 reunion trip! 2020 (before Covid19 erupted) was New Orleans, so stay tuned!