A Northwest Portland Adventure

A holiday tradition that my sister, my Grandma Biggs, and I have is to venture down to Northwest Industrial District, spend the day shopping, and we usually stop by somewhere fun and grab a bite to eat. We usually eat, then shop, and in the past we have been to St. Honore, and Slappy Cakes (not located in Northwest, but still in Portland), but today we ventured somewhere different. My Grandma Biggs recommended it because she has previously eaten there, and she recommended it highly. This morning, I was looking through eateries on Yelp, and I cam across Besaw's, but online, it didn't look too appealing. When we were in the car, on our way to Northwest Portland, she suggested Besaw's, and it set our whole day straight :). Parking is horrible in Northwest Portland, but we managed to find a spot, and we were lucky that Besaw's actually had a  small parking lot! Most shops and eateries in Northwest Portland do not have parking lots. When we arrived at Besaw's, there was a 25 minute wait, not bad at all. My philosophy is that if you have to wait a few minutes, the food must be pretty darn good. It was! 

My Grandma Biggs and I ordered the Farmer's Hash (delightful!) and my sister ordered the biscuits and gravy. I didn't get a chance to try her meal, but it sure looked scrumptious. On the table at Besaw's, they have a glorious jam, and a house ketchup. I put the jam on my toast, and the house ketchup on my hash. It was pretty good! No complaints or disappointments. It was just great. 

The atmosphere is what was fun about it. They made a little annex area, it was their porch dining, outside dining area, but for winter they surround the area like a tent, and let the natural light be the light, and they put in heating lamps to keep it warm. It was quite cozy, and I sure did like the natural light for taking photos. I am the crazy girl who always takes pictures of her food. :) If we were inside the actual building, where it was dimly lit, I probably would not have captured a great photo of the hash. The semi-outdoor, cozy dining is what I enjoyed. Of course, I enjoyed the company of my Grandma Biggs and my sister, but the atmosphere added to it. 

After we were done eating, we went en route down NW 23rd St, and perused the shop windows, debating whether or not we should go inside the shops. We did end up venturing inside a book store. We had driven past the book store on our way to Besaw's, and we had seen a line out the door. We wanted to check the place out. Before you walked into the door, they had a couple of tables outside with bargain books on them. We browsed the table, and Grandma Biggs and I found a couple of wonderful books. I picked up a beautifully illustrated book that I want for my babysitting bag, and possibly for my future children. It is such a wonderful book, teaching young children about nature, and the importance of the rain forest. The artwork in this book is absolutely stunning. I couldn't pass it up. I am going back there before Christmas and pick up another book and give it as gift. 

We then ventured inside the book store, and it is a very hippie, peaceful, yoga place. I do like those things, but not for worship purposes. I like yoga for exercise, health, and recreation. They had many books on yoga, meditation, and other things. We came across the book store's childrens' section, and I was in love! I love childrens' books. Usually in a childrens' book, the artwork is exquisitely stunning, the pages totally capture you, and the words are precious. I know that when I have children, I want them to have a large book collection, and I want them to love to read! Anyway, the childrens' section had many wonderful books, but the one that caught my eye was one about Oregon. I, being a lover of my state, picked up the book, and started to read it. They were so specific, and detail oriented with the words, and with the illustrations. They had photo of OMSI, they had a photo of the Vista House at Crown Point, they had a cowboy riding a bucking horse at the Pendleton Round-Up, they had Multnomah Falls, the Portland Rose Garden, night skiing on Mt. Hood, it was just beautiful, and incredible. I had to buy it because it had a lot of my favorite spots in Oregon, and it wasn't a generic book, it was specific to things that are popular, and important to Oregonians. 

Something told me to look at my work schedule, I thought I had the day off, but something told me to look at it, and low and behold, I had work this evening. I had a previous engagement, but my wonderful sister covered for me for my previous engagement so that I could make it to work. This cut our day with Grandma Biggs rather short, and it was so disappointing to cut our time short. I really do enjoy spending time with my Grandma Biggs, and my sister. It is fun going shopping at places you don't normally get to go to. Grandma Biggs, my sister, and I have decided that we are going to have another day in Northwest Portland, after the new year, and we are going to continue our Northwest Portland tradition, and continue the day that was unfortunately cut short.