Before I begin to talk about Portland and the Oregon Coast, I have to first tell the story of how I met my friend Zeycan (pronounced Zey-John, it’s Turkish). There are some people that God hand selects to be in your life, and I honestly feel like Zey was a hand-selected gift from God. I will tell anyone that 2015 was one of the toughest years of my life to date, but 2015 started off a blast. I was in Vegas, with one of my best friends from college, and we were living dreams. As part of our New Years Eve ticket package, we received free tickets to an indoor pool party at the Marque in the Cosmopolitan. While we should have known that the free ticket incentive with the Vueve Clicquot open bar and buffet were too good to be true, little did we know that everyone that had bought tickets to most of the NYE parties had received that same offer. Needless to say, we ended up at the front of a never-ending line that was being held until what seemed like after the buffet and open bar had ended. The tickets had only been $15 to purchase, so imagine our disgust, standing in line for what seemed like hours pissed because we could have just bought tickets.
As we stood in line (wearing swimsuits underneath our winter wear), debating whether to leave and party elsewhere, I see this girl step into the line and ask someone a question. Somehow our eyes locked, and she came over and explained that she had a ticket to giveaway and that if there were only 2 of us, we could walk in with her since they had decided to buy a section. Did I mention that we were supposed to be in group of 4, but the other half of our crew had decided to come later that day? God. And now that I think about it, that’s just like Zey, she decided to give the ticket away versus just sticking it in her purse and going straight into the club.That day we drunk and partied Vegas style, and typical to current day etiquette, we exchanged numbers to send each other photos back and forth all day and followed each other on social media.
I would sometimes talk to Zey via social media, and it was evident through her posts that she was a woman of faith. I can be honest and admit that while I prayed sometimes and was a dedicated CME (Christmas, Mother’s Day, and Easter) church-goer, I was also the type of Christian that questioned the bible. I couldn’t understand how and why so many people would place their faith in this “book” that had been written and put together by man. And reading The DaVinci code didn’t help.
But when times get hard, and all of our human whims fail, it is in those moments that we learn to lean on God, and in order to lean on God, you learn to turn to the bible for validation and confirmation. As I begin my transition to becoming a believer and coping with my pain, I began to find relevance and solace in Zey’s post. I also realized that we shared a common pain, matters of the heart. Even though our struggles were packaged differently, it was through them that we have formed a beautiful friendship sealed in prayer. So, when she told me that Portland was only a short commute from Seattle, I knew that I couldn’t come to the Pacific Northwest and not visit one of what has become one of my closest friends. After spending a couple of days in Seattle, I boarded Amtrak to Portland.
That trip to Portland was my first trip, and Portland has become one of my favorite domestic travel destinations. Since Portland is known for their food trucks, all you have to do is pick your poison, and Trap Kitchen is one of my absolute favorite black-owned gems in Portland.
While the black population in Portland is not very large, it is the home of some trailblazing black-owned businesses like ReLeaf Dispensary and Abbey Creek Winery.
(You can check out my interviews with these three Portland black owned businesses on our Instagram)
Since Portland has become one of my favorite domestic travel destinations, I have had the opportunity to bring many groups of friends to this city that has become almost like a second home. And I take my duty as the unofficial travel guide super serious. A short drive away from Portland’s city center is Multnomah Falls, the second highest waterfall in the United States, and most visited recreation site in the Pacific Northwest.
Multnomah is a great gem to visit on a trip to Portland, but one of my absolute favorite places in the world is the Oregon Coast, which is about 1.5-2 hours away from Portland. On my Amtrak train ride, one of the other passengers told me about a hidden gem called Oswald State Park. Short Sands Beach in Oswald State Park is mesmerizingly beautiful and secluded, and it is only about 5 miles from the infamous Cannon Beach.
Note: Since writing this blog, I have visited Portland a few times, and I recommend these excursions:
My Oregon visits also include a trip to the coast in the middle of what was supposed to be a record breaking storm. You can click here to read about that adventure, as well. And you can’t visit Portland without trying VooDoo Doughnuts and Powell’s City of Books.
Oregon Coast Restaurant Highlight
Since neither of us were familiar with dining on the Coast, on my first visit to Oregon, Zey and I solicited Yelp to aid in our dining decisions. The first restaurant that we visited was closed, so we ended up at the next best selection, Castaways Tiny Tiki Hut. Since I’m from the South, I’m often skeptical of restaurants that boast about their Creole cuisine, but with a 4.5 star review and a growling stomach, I was willing to try it. In reading the Yelp reviews, we knew that we had to try the crab fritters that almost every review stated were one of the best things on the menu. And they did not disappoint. Imagine crab cakes rolled into balls, lightly battered, and fried before being plated in a fruity sauce. My mouth is watering even thinking about them, and again, I was too hungry to get a good picture. Yikes, that seems to be a reoccurring theme! One of the unique things about the dishes at Castaways was their use of fruit in common Cajun dishes. Jambalaya with peaches imbedded and curry with blueberries. The flavors were tantalizing, and I’m honestly looking forward to playing with incorporating fruit into some of my dishes.
On my last trip to the Coast with friends, the owner of Castaways asked them whether they were locals or just visiting the area. When they said that they were visiting from Houston, he pointed to me and said, “But she lives in Oregon right?!? I’ve seen her several times." Long story short, I am a creature of habit.
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