Sweet Home Chicago

The day Queso Fresca saved my life at Big Star Tacos.

Sunshiney day at the bean

I freaked out and asked for pickled carrots on my grilled cheese. Worked out pretty delicious in the end.

Fuck Buttons at Subterranean. The night I thought my hearing had finally gone.

Me and my yellow backpack enjoying Chi Town art.

Within less than 12 hours of being in Chicago I had my first real travel mishap. I lost my phone. I cried. Several times. I didn't have much connection to the actual phone, just all of the glorious things that I had stored on it, which I might add, was not backed up as I had disabled icloud AND find my iphone to save battery life. Really Appelsin? top work. So here are some photos I stole from my boyfriend's phone.
Chicago really is about 100 times cooler than I first thought it would be. Kinda like a mini and slightly quieter New York city.  We ate the cliched deep dish pizza, I had my first experience with Malt Liquor, we met some very lovely people who took us home to their fire pit and had our second encounter with Mr John C Reilly. Some hiccups happened in Chicago, but we picked ourselves up, brushed ourselves off and drank another beer. Again, having an excellent Airbnb pad and host really can make your stay in a city just that much better.
Wicker Park is where its at Y'all.
www.airbnb.com.au

Pacific North Best - on the train to Portland





I wonder if people in Portland realise how trying beautiful their neighbourhoods are? I bet they ruddy do.







The Tasty n' Sons Philly Cheese



 


The Voodoo Doughnut classic.





Could be the worlds most amazing tree house



Tis the season of the Gourd

Rogue Beer HQ

This little guy was running laps as punishment on our walk home



Hola Olympic Provisions!



The front of our sweet Airbnb Basement flat in the Boise Nieghbourhood

One of the many strip clubs, this one is where Courtney Love became famous

Laurelthirst - many a great conversation was overheard about wood choices when making furniture here

I would love to show you some great shots I got on film while in Portland, especially of the incredible amount of neon signs in the city so aptly portrayed in Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen's Portlandia. I had a whoopsy with the camera and sadly lost a roll of film, so here are some shots I took with instagram.

I would highly recommend making the journey from Seattle to Portland on the Amtrak trains - there is such incredible scenery in betweena nd you wind up right in the centre of Portland, and it was only $50 for the 2 of us.

In short, when in Portland - Drink Rogue beer, sing karaoke at Alibi, get an 'old dirty bastard' at Voodoo Doughnut, buy a book at powells, embrace the beards, spend as much time as you can strolling the neighbourhoods before your heart breaks and you have to leave.

Here's one shot that survived