Visiting Portland
I spent a long weekend visiting Portland, starting from Albuquerque Airport. I felt that the airline ticket prices were very reasonable considering my international airport is typically one of the highest to fly out of cost-wise. Last minute (3 weeks) booking cost was about $350 round trip.
Oregon is very beautiful, but you absolutely need a car to get around. There is a lot to see but it would be impossible to rely on the mostly non-existent public transit. Rentals are a bit expensive (45$/day) from a major company. Hotels are pretty expensive as well, 130$+ for a decent stay. There is some availability through AirBnB, and you could possibly get a decent private room in a shared home for around 45$. All of these, do not make it the most economical destination, but Oregon is home to some of the most beautiful outdoor excursions in the world. A gander on glampinghub.com will reveal some cool spots such as Yurts, Tents, Teepee, luxury treehouses to more modest things. The thing to do would likely to be getting out of the city which is quite expensive.
I was fortunate to visit a vineyard and strawberry farm for picking. There are many of these along the outskirts of town in the surrounding old farming communities. They were both beautiful and tucked away in the back countryside. Portland the city is quite nice, bustling but has a very sleepy and calm nature to it. Food is pretty good, and it definitely seems to be a food hotspot with great opportunities for seafood. You can expect a hefty pricetag of around 17$/per person for a decent restaurant. I also found some really great coffeehouses, one served espresso with oure cacao downtown(a south american treat). I ate at a noodle house in Hillsboro which was absolutely divine and only costed about 8$ for a large bowl.
The Rose festival was also going on downtown during my visit and there were some big names on the list such as Sir Mix a Lot (HA).
Locals informed me that although the Portland farmer's market was the largest, that the better and less pricey markets are not in the main city but in the surrounding small towns and that the farmer's who live in those tiny places are typically selling their own produce as opposed to resellers. I had the wonderful opportunity to discuss differences in climate, planting and vegetables with a farmer in one of these small markets outside of town. I also had an ethopian taco, lavender artisan chocolate and bought some traditional artisan gouda cheese from a local stand. Great gifts and reasonable prices. I got two large 24oz local ciders for around $10.
