We started our second day in Portland at the Japanese Garden. It was lush and peaceful and beautiful.

The Japanese Garden, the International Rose Test Garden and the Oregon Zoo are all in the same area. After our time at the Japanese Garden, we were hungry for lunch but not sure if there were any food options around. Turns out, yes! Cascade Grill at the Oregon Zoo is what we found. Bonus? We didn’t have to pay zoo admission to get a bite to eat at the grill.

Afterwards, we headed to the International Rose Test Garden. It was more beautiful than I imagined! The roses were huge and very abundant. We listened in on a tour for a while and learned that they clip their roses a specific way to produce lots of blooms.

Following the Rose Garden, we stumbled upon Saint Cupcake and tried drinking chocolate at Cocoa. The picture below is a little deceiving. The cups are actually demitasse cups and therefore really tiny. The drinking chocolate was pure bliss. Rich + decadent.

Next, we headed to Powell’s Books where we found this Good Night Oregon book which was the perfect souvenir to bring back for Em.

Before dinner, we stopped by the food trucks near our hotel. I found their arrangement pretty smart. In Austin, ordering typically happens from the side of the trucks. In Portland, they park side by side and the ordering happens at the back end of the trucks which all face outwards, thus allowing more trucks to fit into the lot.

Previously – our itinerary / day one