Wandering the West Coast: Portland

A seriously whirlwind tour of our trip to Portland...

Top tips include:
Brunch at JAM on Hawthorne and be prepared to be full all day
jamonhawthorne.com
Visit the Pearl District for some posh eats and cute shops
explorethepearl.com
The area around Powell's Bookstore on West Burnside has record shops, vintage clothing & the flagship Dr Martens store - as well as Sizzle Pie - before heading down to the infamous Voodoo Doughnuts
powells.com
voodoodoughtnut.com
Pop by Reed College campus if you want to see English boarding school style buildings planted firmly in the American landscape. You can even take a walk round its very own 'canyon'.
reed.edu
Eat at Old Town Pizza (mac&cheese and garlic knots are highly recommended) & soak up the surroundings

oldtownpizza.com

Infamous Voodoo Doughtnuts...

Voodoo Doughtnuts extensive menu and colourful store (there is a LOT of pink)

I went with the 'Old Dirty Bastard'...chocolate frosting, Oreo's and peanut butter !

Powell's Bookstore - you can pick up a map of this wonderful, and very large, independent book store inside. 

Grab a slice at Sizzle Pie across the road from Powell's - perfectly concocted pizza.

Coming soon...back to the city for restaurants, days out, exploring new areas and much more.
Plus adventures down Route 1 / the Pacific Coast Highway and visits to San Luis Obispo.

We also can't wait for Coachella in two weeks time, can you?!

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Wandering the West Coast: Seattle

A while back the girls and I headed North for a little adventure. We crossed state lines to visit Seattle (Washington) and Portland (Oregon). A lot of fun, wandering, and, of course, eating - here's a whirlwind tour of some of the spots we visited in Seattle via photographs...

We drank a lot of coffee and read our books (The first Starbucks was in Seattle don't cha know?) at some beautiful little independents, wandered the infamous Pike Place market, rode the Monorail, visited the space needle and more. 

First ever Starbucks

Seattle Fire Truck !


Infamous Pike Place Market


Fish inside Pike Place Market.
The guys on the 'Pike Place' specific stall draw people in by throwing fish to each other amongst the counters and crowd whilst yelling... We also tried 'Salmon Jerky' - seriously good.


Bubblegum Alley...two of the girls added to this beautiful? wall


Blue trees in the city centre...


Top of the Space Needle

Next stop was Portland, Oregon...
Where have you been visiting lately?
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Lately...

The past two weeks have been crazy busy with parents visiting from England, midterms and deadlines, and it finally getting round to Spring Break ! While every one of these adventures is filled with photos and notes that I'll be sharing with you soon enough - here's a quick overview of some of those moments via Instagram. 

I'll shortly be sharing new purchases, restaurants, tours, travels, and much more with you. Plus tomorrow sees me leaving on a road trip down the West Coast with the girls - another adventure? Always.

Chilling by the pool in San Luis Obispo on a spontaneous trip to see a friend from home (Cambridge) !

One of the highlights of my year long adventure - our Coachella wristbands arrived.

Sharing an incredible pudding at Millenium (Vegan restaurant near Union Sq, San Francisco) 

 Indulging myself on Pink Champagne Truffles from England

 Soaking up the Spring Sunshine on our balcony

Visiting the infamous Alcatraz Island prison with my parents on a sunny day

More soon, I promise.

Or you can find me here on Instagram:

millysampson

How's Spring Break (if you're in the US) and Easter (if you're at home) treating everyone? 

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Outerlands, SF

This little spot is seriously worth waiting for - just sign up on the list and take a walk to the beach in the mean time. It's got a beachy feel but also reminds me of a lot of the fancier little cafes I frequent in London in the summer months. It also features one of my favourite things about restaurants - you can see into the kitchen! We took a seat at the window, looking out onto wooden benches, and I ordered a delicious gingery warm cider. The menu is something that took a lot of contemplation. There's not too much on it but it's all oh so tempting. 

In the end I went for the grilled cheese and soup deal - and luckily it was the perfect choice. Their grilled cheese is to die for, I'd go for it alone. Perfectly full we opted out of any sort of coffee/pudding ideas, but I'd definitely go back. 

Find them at: outerlandssf.com
4001 Judah St @ 45th Ave

Hope you're having a good week! 

xxx

Berkeley, CA

2013 is full of travels, but let's start with some day trips. 

Living in San Francisco Berkeley is but a mere BART ride away [kind of like the underground for you Londoners, basically just a fast train]. The sun's really getting out right now so while its cold and we're wearing a thousand layers it's still best to be outside rather than inside [where, student-wise, it's equally cold]. 

Berkeley established itself as a quiet, chilled out sort of town, with its main focus on the UC Berkeley campus. Having walked through the stunning campus, checking out the luxe buildings and redwood trees, we headed down Telegraph Avenue - which can easily be compared to San Francisco's Haight Ashbury area. 

Street stalls of tie dye tees, dream catchers, jewellery and pottery confronted us, along with a ton of delicious food spots [it's really hard to walk down the street without stopping to eat...], some cool art work and vintage-style stores. 

I'm not sure I'd have the patience to live in such a place, although it's undoubtedly more lively during term time, but it's real pretty for a day trip. 

UC Berkeley Library

Berkeley Student Notice Boards...paper thick.

TieDye

Pottery stalls

Art.

Amoeba Music Store

 [infamous, there's one in SF and one in LA too]

Wall, Berkeley. Hello 2013.

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A Day in the Marina District

When you have six essays, one exam, and really just want it to be the holidays already its good to take a break and do a little city wandering. Having passed Fillmore St many times on the Muni, heading to Marina Green for America's Cup and what have you, it was time to explore the area properly. I also knew one of my favourite online stores was hiding on a street nearby...We actually went to some other areas afterwards too - but more on that later!

First stop was Brandy Melville, one of my personal online favourites, and also popular with other bloggers like Rosie of thelondoner.me and hellonikki.net. Apparently it recently opened back home on the Kings Road, London.

One of the rooms. I've already got my Christmas and post-holiday wishlist prepared. I'll be sharing my items with you soon. 

Cute signs for your home, these ones are personal to San Francisco.

These cute hearts are dotted around the city with different designs on them.

My favourite pizza place in SF: Extreme. We shared half Pandora's Box (spinach,artichoke hearts,sundried tomatoes, garlic & feta) & half Holy Cow (four cheeses and walnuts)!

The San Francisco-based French bakery: La Boulange. Everything from pastries to quiches and coffee.

A little treat in a pretty blue bag.

Passion fruit macaroon. Chocolate macaroon.

What did you all get up to this weekend? 

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Travel Essentials

This year has seen me move myself from England to San Francisco for a year. In this time I'll also be hopping around the West Coast and, although I had to pack for a year, I thought I'd share a few of my travel essentials with you... before I share my actual travels.

Lipbalm: I've been using PawPaw for over two years now ever since my Australian flat mate introduced us... I use it religiously on dry lips, but its also great on chapped skin and cuts etc.
Neutral Nail Colour: This is a new purchase and a great colour. It's good to have a shade that will go with almost anything when packing light.
Mini Hand cream: Crabtree and Evelyn is not too greasy, and this one smells delicious!

Moleskine planner - trying to organise interning, school, socialising and travelling can be tricky. This makes sure that (in the main) I don't forget anything.
Journal - I would never be able to keep up with a daily diary, but I love to fill this little book with photos, tickets, notes and so forth from my travels.

Book - I'm currently reading Patti Smith's Just Kids. I highly recommend you read it too. 

Travel guide - before I settled into the city this book was super helpful. A lovely little gift from my sister, Rough Guides provide some of the best travel books in my opinion.

Smartphone - while I am in love with my DSLR sometimes I just need a quick snapshot or something lighter. The camera on this little one is brilliant, and it has all the apps I could ever need without costing so much $$.

I've already visited Southern California once - and I'll shortly be sharing my adventures with you. Next up is the Christmas holidays where I'll be revisiting SoCal, heading to LA, and plans are in the works to head North to Portland and Seattle.

What are your travel essentials? Or if you've been to these places any hotspots I should visit?
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