Planning a Trip to the Painted Hills

One of the seven great wonders of Oregon as Travel Oregon promotes is the Painted Hills. Located 4 hours east of Portland, the Painted Hills are actually just one unit of three that comprise the John Day Fossil Beds National Park. Besides the Painted Hills Unit, you can also visit Sheep Rock Unit (the location of Blue Basin) or Clarno Unit (location of dramatic Palisades). We visited all three March 25-26 2022, and we’re happy to share our tips in planning a trip to the Painted Hills and other units. This post will focus on getting to the area, and future posts will cover visiting each of the park’s units.
Planning a Trip to the Painted Hills - visit all three units that comprise the John Day Fossil Beds National Park in Oregon like we did. From top to bottom, the Clarno Unit, Painted Hills,and Sheep Rock Unit Blue Basin

Timing Your Visit, and Planning the Drive

Because this area is in the high desert, the best times of year to visit this National Park is in spring and fall, when the weather isn’t as hot, and you don’t have to check the weather conditions of the winter passes which could require chains or have limited alternate routes when there are vehicle accidents or poor conditions. During our visit in end of March, we enjoyed temperatures in the comfortable 60s-70s during the day that cooled off to the 50s (Fahrenheit) in the evenings. Even though we went on hikes that had no shade, it was pleasant because of the cooperative weather. We enjoyed partly cloudy skies and sunshine, but even if you get some rain during your visit, it’s a treat because it will intensify the colors you see in the rocks and soils of the Fossil Beds units. There is no entrance fee to enter any of the units, but note that only the Sheep Rock Unit offers a visitor’s center. Each of the units is about an hour drive from each other.
Planning a Trip to the Painted Hills - visit all three units that comprise the John Day Fossil Beds National Park in Oregon like we did. Here's a look at the Painted Hills from the Carroll Rim Trail

If you are coming from Portland, there are several routes you can take to the area depending on what you would like to see. The fastest route is to take Highway 26 through Mt Hood Village and Government Camp, and Madras and Prineville to get to Mitchell. This is the fastest route and has the best access to food options, gas stations, and cell phone service. Taking this route will give you views of driving to and through Mt Hood. It wasn’t open yet in 2022, but this route also can take you pass by Kahneeta hot springs. I opted to take this route on the way back, versus to, the national park – take two different routes to and from to make a circle.

Another route you can take is I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge, giving yourself scenic views there past Multnomah Falls and Hood River and part of the Dalles, and then taking Highway 197 or 97 down. Going this way, you can make a stop by going on Highway 218 to visit Shaniko Ghost Town, and also the Clarno Unit on your way as your first unit of the John Day Fossil Beds. You can also choose to swing up to Fossil to do your own fossil digging at the only legal fossil dig site in Oregon behind a high school (great overview here at YesDirt!)Planning a Trip to the Painted Hills - visit all three units that comprise the John Day Fossil Beds National Park in Oregon like we did. We took a circle route from Portland to and from Mitchell which we used as our home base to the three units

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Perfect Portland Presents

If you are looking for perfect Portland presents – gifts that are perfect for holiday giving or any event giving be it birthday, anniversary, “thinking of you”, putting a welcome package for a visitor or to send a taste of Portland to those farther away, this is your list. Here are my top recommendations of gifts that are from local creators and are excellent representations of the Portland spirit.

Only Child Chocolate

Only Child Chocolate is a local woman owned business with tasty creative chocolate creations. Yana Yakhnes has her regular bars which are available year round, with my favorites like The Sun and the Sea is a equal parts dark chocolate and sunflower seeds and then topped with sea salt, Pita the Great is a dark chocolate with pita chips, hazelnuts and dukkah (cumin, coriander, fennel, sesame seeds, salt and pepper), or the Rosemary and Ginger Walk Into a Bar is a Milk Chocolate with rosemary and candied ginger, or if you are a white chocolate lover the Hedgehog in the Fog, a white chocolate with bergamot and black pepper. The name of this chocolate bar comes from a Russian cartoon from Yana’s childhood, and as a nod to the cartoon the flavor of bergamot references the tea the hedgehog wants to have with his bear friend. Indeed, look at how cute her packaging and the names of her chocolates are!
Only Child Chocolate is a local woman owned business with tasty creative chocolate creations. The Sun and the Sea bar is equal parts a dark chocolate and sunflower seeds topped with sea salt Only Child Chocolate is a local woman owned business with tasty creative chocolate creations. Pita the Great is a dark chocolate with pita chips, hazelnuts and dukkah (cumin, coriander, fennel, sesame seeds, salt and pepper)

She has lots of fun concepts that stand out as well. At Halloween she offered a oracle board of chocolate, and for Valentine’s a chocolate heart that came with a little hammer to smash. One fun concept currently on offer is a Dino Dig with “dinosaur bones” made out of caramelized white chocolate and crunchy cocoa nibs then buried them in rich cocoa powder blended with cinnamon, cloves, and cane sugar that you can excavate them from. A jar of Sun and Sea Confetti puts together bits of chocolate, bits of sunflower seeds, and flakes of salt are here to top on anything you desire be it ice cream, granola, toast, or whatever you can think of.


Only Child Chocolate is a local woman owned business with tasty creative chocolate creations. Dino Dig offers dinosaur bones made out of caramelized white chocolate and crunchy cocoa nibs then buried them in rich cocoa powder blended with cinnamon, cloves, and cane sugar that you can excavate them from. Only Child Chocolate is a local woman owned business with tasty creative chocolate creations. A jar of Sun and Sea Confetti puts together bits of chocolate, bits of sunflower seeds, and flakes of salt are here to top on anything you desire be it ice cream, granola, toast, or whatever you can think of.

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A Slow Return to Normalcy: Travel around the world with the best takeout in PDX

It’s been almost a year since I updated – as COVID-19 quarantine started in March 2020, I stopped dining out as we all went into lockdown. The last post I wrote was about missing the last time I saw my family in Thanksgiving of 2019, and missing travel. Today is a special milestone: it marks the day that I and F get our first Pfizer vaccination shot now that we qualify. It gives me a lot of hope that we will soon be on the road to a slow return to normalcy. I hope all of you out there are doing as well as you can be, and we can eventually return to sharing stories and experiences again over that universal connection of food and drink. I look forward when these quarantine parties of 2 or less (depending on whether F is eating anything) that I’ve had for the past year can expand to include more then my household. In the meantime, maybe it’s time to prepare for travel by traveling around the world with the best takeout in PDX.
Kacha - Latkes Party set with a platter of 12 crispy potato draniki and toppings. You can keep it vegetarian with the included Endive salad with creamy tarragon dressing, Roasted applesauce with toasted coriander, Maitake mushroom gravy (so creamy and a generous portion you can use on biscuits or turn into mushroom stroganoff!), Smoky eggplant ‘caviar’, Truffled farmer’s cheese spread, and Smetana (Russian-style sour cream) or add assorted seafood including Tsar Nicoulai Caviar and Beet Horseradish Cured Salmon. Latke Parties also come with a Dreidel, chocolate Gelt and instructions so you can play Dreidel at home.  I got the vegetarian version but added some deli meats of smoked Salo and Salami and House cured salmon roe. The horseradish vodka is sold at Aria Urdaneta, basque cuisine takeout feast

It has been a devastating year for Portland food and drink industry. Some beloved establishments have closed, and those in the industry who have persevered are still struggling, most having to pivot to fit these new times. I still have continued to try to be a patron by supporting take-out and delivery from local businesses at least once a week. Everyone on this list is local. That said, it is a limited list. Many of you know that we live in SW Portland and that we do not own a car so I definitely had a limited circle of distance, with only a few exceptions where I rented a ZipCar. Even with vaccinations though, I am definitely cautious of the current atmosphere and AAPI hate incidents that I have fortunately not directly experienced yet, but have heard about happening in Portland second-hand. So you will likely see a very slow uptick of more PDX food and drink highlights from me, but it will be slow. It will still mostly center on take-out and delivery.
Ranch PDX - Sicilian style pizza, this one is the The #4 with Red Sauce, Aged Mozzarella, Sausage, Ricotta, Calabrian Chilies, Pecorino Romano, Fresh Basil Grassa PDX Pork Belly  Mac and Cheese with barbecue pork belly, jalapenos, red onion, cornbread crumbs

That said, I thought maybe I would start with a year in review of the best takeout in PDX I have had in the past year and if you have not had the chance yet, I would recommend you give it a try. Travel around the world with me while still eating in your pjs with these delicious local food creators.

Asia

Khao Moo Dang

Order anything here that includes the crispy pork belly. My favorite is the Ba-Mhee Pi-Set, an egg noddle set with five spice pork loin, crispy pork belly, whole soft-boiled egg, pork dumplings, and yu choy, served dry, and then add on chinese sausage. For the vegs they have soy curl on rice or with egg noodle or in a house curry. Theses dishes bring me straight to eating on little plastic stools along the side of the road in Thailand.
Takeout from Khao Moo Dang Takeout from Khao Moo Dang: the Ba-Mhee Pi-Set, an egg noddle set with five spice pork loin, crispy pork belly, whole soft-boiled egg, pork dumplings, and yu choy, served dry, and then add on chinese sausage

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Portland Dining Month 2020 at Canard

Another home run for Portland Dining Month 2020, this time from Canard, another one of  my top picks from my previous post. Updated March 16: Canard is closed for at least the next 4 weeks in response to COVID-19. They do not take reservations, so I recommend coming in right after happy hour guests are leaving (around 6:15 or so) where I had lots of seats to choose from on my Thursday and evening visit: there was plenty of space of a few chairs between me and others. Canard also has the items from their Portland Dining Month menu listed individually in the menu – you should try calling to see if you can do takeout, as many restaurants are offering that because of the current circumstances. Here’s a look at the options they have for each of the 3 courses for $33 of the Portland Dining Menu.
Portland Dining Month 2020 at Canard

First course starts off with either Duck confit with Meyer lemon-orange marmalade, sweet pickles and green garlic oil or Roasted cabbage salad with ranch, cheddar, rhubarb and breadcrumbs. Both are excellent choices, with the Duck Confit so rich with meaty balanced by bright Citrus and acidic pickle flavors. Meanwhile the Cabbage salad was perfectly dressed so the ranch is not overwhelming and the rhubarb adds an extra punch. 
Portland Dining Month 2020 at Canard Duck confit with Meyer lemon-orange marmalade, sweet pickles and green garlic oil Portland Dining Month 2020 at Canard Roasted cabbage salad with ranch, cheddar, rhubarb and breadcrumbs

 

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Portland Dining Month 2020 at Headwaters

As I covered in my previous post, March is a time when 140+ restaurants offer three course meals for $33 all month long. I shared my top picks in my last post, and today’s post is the first of my dinners: I kicked off Portland Dining Month 2020 at Headwaters.
Portland Dining Month 2020 at Headwaters menu, 3 courses for $33 all month long, with an optional $17 to get a pairing for all 3 courses of local Oregon wines

Besides the $33 for 3 courses, they also offered another huge value: local Oregon wine pairings for all three courses for $17 more. Here’s a look at the Portland Dining Month menu at Headwaters for 2020.

The 3 courses are set – no options from the PDM menu, but your dining companions may also choose to order a la carte from the regular menu if they wish. The first course was Shrimp-stuffed piquillo peppers with goat cheese, mint, almonds and frisée salad in a sweet onion sous vide sauce. I found this a well balanced dish and I was wiping my finger on the bowl to get the last of the sauce. This is paired with a bright 2018 Cremant de Portland brut urbanique by Division Wine Making Company.
Portland Dining Month 2020 at Headwaters menu, 3 courses for $33 all month long, with an optional $17 to get a pairing for all 3 courses of local Oregon wines. Portland Dining Month at Headwaters for 2020 first course of Shrimp-stuffed piquillo peppers with goat cheese, mint, almonds and frisée salad in a sweet onion sous vide sauce

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