[Trip Report] PDX for Work, May 2023
When I started writing this report, I claimed that I was actually getting on top of my trip backlog, but that is not actually true. That’s okay. Having too much travel to write about is a good problem to have. Since I joined my current company, I’ve found lots of opportunities to travel for work. This trip report is another such occasion; in May 2023, I traveled to Portland, OR for my organization’s twice-annual offsite. Even though I spent most of the week focused on work, Ryan and I both had opportunities to have fun, and my team loves to eat and drink well! Like all of my work-trip trip reports, this is another report that will be lighter on details and photos, but will hopefully have enough memories of tasty dinners to be interesting. You can see all the photos from our trip here. Enjoy!
Day 0
Our drive up was uneventful. We checked in to the Moxy, where we received drink tickets that we redeemed at the bar downstairs before getting dinner. Our room was small and let in a lot of noise from inside the hotel. Ryan and I went to Screen Door for dinner, where we forgot to take pictures of our food, but I think dinner involved fried chicken, a delicious house salad, and a bunch of sides. Ryan surprised me by ordering dessert to go while I was in the bathroom. We took a little time to explore Powell’s City of Books on the way back to our hotel, where we spent the rest of the night relaxing.
Day 1
Monday was a planned “travel day,” so I took care of my personal agenda at work. I went to lunch alone at Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen, where the steak roll vermicelli bowl hit the spot.
Ryan went to meet some friends, so I was on my own for dinner. I took the opportunity to go someplace Ryan wouldn’t like: Jake’s Famous Crawfish. I slid in right at the end of happy hour and got a pear cocktail, some oysters, and Jake’s Etoufée - which was rich, deep in flavor, and outstanding.
My coworkers were making their way into town, and we arranged to meet up at Hale Pele for pre-offsite tiki drinks. We enjoyed mai tais, flaming drinks, drinks with whiskey and banana, and snacks and bread pudding. There were thematic effects and fun rituals that went with some of the drinks on the extensive menu.
Day 2
The next day, some of us went to Never Coffee for breakfast. Then we worked, and we ate catering for lunch in the office. After work, we walked as a group down to the Hawthorne Asylum food truck pod. This was a great dinner choice for our group, as there were tons of food trucks to choose from and all the options were affordable. We all had to take a couple of laps around the pod to decide what to order. I ultimately went with a sushi burrito and a seaweed salad, which was light, fresh, and satisfying.
After dinner, we went to Loyal Legion Beer Hall, which had a wide variety of beer taps, but also a number of non-alcoholic and CBD options on tap!
Day 3
The next day, we worked again, and we ate catering for lunch in the office again. We would do this again the next day, too.
For dinner, another manager and I were booked to take our assigned group to Tangier Restaurant, but one of my coworkers was excited to check out Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty after hearing about it on a Netflix show. We ubered over and put ourselves on the waitlist, then walked over to the Mississippi Market food truck pod for a beer and barbecue pre-funk. Dinner at Lovely’s (the Fifty-Fifty refers to the split between pizza and ice cream) lived up to its name, and our leisurely evening left a lot of time for us to bond as teammates. We ordered 4 different (incredible) pizzas - the one that stands out the most in my mind is the sprouting spring brassicas with ricotta. They were all delicious.
After dinner, we met up with the other dinner groups at Rum Club, where we enjoyed cocktails with crushed ice (can never go wrong with a mai tai) and eventually pours of rum neat or on the rocks.
Day 4
We were supposed to have a group social activity before dinner, but everyone was tired, and people decided to play games in the office before we went to Steeplejack Brewing Co, a brewery housed in an old church. We took up a little room off to the side of the main area - there are a few different little rooms like this that seem to be available for group reservations. By this time, we were all pretty tired, and I completely forgot to take pictures during dinner. I think I had loaded fries and a lovely purple cocktail.
Day 5
On the last day, people started to head out. I stopped by Courier Coffee on my way into the office for some cold brew. I wrapped up my tasks for the week and left early.
For lunch, I treated myself to Maurice, which I knew Ryan wouldn’t be interested in. I had tea, rose wine, a salad, an open-faced sandwich with shrimp, and a scone, all of which were delicately and perfectly flavored, and just right for a satisfying lunch.
After lunch, I came back to the hotel to meet Ryan and finish checking out. Then, we went shopping. We stopped by Never again for a pick-me-up (cherry matcha latte for me) and a few bags of whole-bean coffee. Then we went to a few different clothing shops, new and secondhand, as well as gift and furniture shops. We looked around for gifts and souvenirs for our families. I made a final stop at Powell’s to pick up some books and gifts I’d been eyeing before we left town.
We took the scenic route home via highway 101, and we stopped in Seaside for dinner. At Seaside Brewing Co, we got some beers, a pretzel, a salad, and some fish and chips to share (it was just okay). We enjoyed the scenery the rest of the way home!