Day 4 started with a gorgeous sunrise photo session on the beach in a vintage dress with the ever talented Clara (see her work here!), and I can't wait to share the photos from it!

We sadly said goodbye to our yurt, and headed northeast to Portland!!!  We knew that we were about to be immersed in donuts, books, and hipster things.

Our first stop....Blue Star Donuts.  So so good.  This place is for the donut aficionado.  High class donuts with flavors like "Blueberry Basil Bourbon" are on the menu, and they're priced a bit higher than your average donut shop.  Blue Star boasts "quality over quantity" and uses local ingredients and fries them in rice oil.  They're fun for a treat, but if you're more of a casual donut lover, you might want to stick with Voodoo Donuts instead!

Oh goodness.  Hello Powell's!!!  It truly is a book lover's heaven, and we ended up visiting it twice in the same day.  Clara, Jordyn and I are all hardcore bookworms, so it's not really a surprise.  We still didn't get to see all of the store, and I'm fairly confident I could spend an entire day there and still not be done browsing!

We explored several local shops throughout the day, and walked forever and ever.  Oven and Shaker was our chosen supper destination, and we inhaled some pretty delicious pizza!  After that, we headed back to our apartment, and ran all the way up to the roof to catch the very tail end of the sunset.  It was such a wonderful day, and our only complaint was that we couldn't reasonably fit more meals into our day. Ha!

I had chosen pretty different accommodations for us throughout the trip, and I just knew that I wanted to stay in an AirBnB at some point.  Portland seemed like a great city to try it, and I came across absolutely the most darling apartment in the Nob Hill area.  It was right beside Trader Joe's, and well within walking distance of so many cute shops and restaurants including Salt and Straw, Oven and Shaker, Stumptown Coffee, Blue Star Donuts, and Powell's.  

We had a lovely host, and the apartment was decorated in such a boho-chic manner.  It was so perfect for the three of us, and I would stay there again in a heartbeat!  There's something so special about staying in someone's home while in a new city, and I much prefer it over a hotel!

P.S.  If you want $32 off your first airbnb stay, sign up here!! 

Now, the reason I titled this post 4 and a HALF is because I decided to include the morning of day 5 in here as well, since we were still in Portland!

We walked up to Ken's Bakery for breakfast, and it was divine.  Clara and I may or may not have indulged in some macarons for breakfast!  #yolo

Next, we headed back to our apartment, packed everything up, and then hit up Voodoo Doughnuts on our way out of the city!  It also happened to be May the 4th....so there were some pretty epic Star Wars doughnuts available.  We all might have bought 2 doughnuts each, you know, one for now, and one for later......and then the cashier threw in an extra one since we bought so many.  I'm not sure he realized that all of the doughnuts were just for the three of us, and that we were going to consume them all that day.  Anyway.....they were delicious, and the price was definitely right!

Then we were off to chase waterfalls!  So stay tuned for day 5.

-Kelsey

p.s. In case you missed them, here are the previous entries: day 1: Seattle & more, day 2: Astoria, Seaside, and Cannon beach, and day 3: Cape Perpetua, Newport, and a yurt!