Kim and I just got back from an incredible trip up to Portland.  We’ve long romanticized the City of Roses, based on all the good things we’ve read and heard about the place for some time now.  Given our high expectations, it’s kind of amazing that it not only lived up to the hype, but in many ways, exceeded it.

That said, we certainly picked the right time of the year to pay a visit.  As our shuttle driver from the airport told us, “Portland has two seasons – winter and August!”  So we probably didn’t get the full picture in regards to weather.  Honestly, if it weren’t for all the rain and gray skies that the city normally deals with, I think we would be moving there sooner than later.  Why does there always have to be a catch?!

Our reason for finally visiting Portland, was that Kim attended the first all vegan blogger conference, Vida Vegan Con.  Fortunately, we were able to bookend our trip with a few extra days for the two of us to enjoy and explore the city together, but I still ended up with a significant amount of  time on my own.

Rather than mainly shooting stills on this trip, I decided to have some fun filming video whilst on my craft beer tour of the town.  Right before we left LA, a good friend turned us onto the new sketch show Portlandia, which is absolutely fantastic, and I ended up using their opening titles sequence as the inspiration for my own little piece I’m calling – Ode to Portland(ia)