How about a little Throwback Thursday today!? I owe you guys the last recap of my time in Portland for #FirstsNeverStop with Under Armour and Samsung. You can check out part one here (a trip to UA HQ + surprise camping!) and part two here (the most awesome “triathlon” experience of dragon boating, running and mountain biking).
I left off with the end of our all-day outdoor adventure “triathlon” that included a 14-mile dragon boat row down the Willamette River, a 5 mile run through Portland and a 12-mile mountain bike ride at Forest Park. It was an amazing day but needless to say we were all wiped out and HUNGRY after it was over!
The rest of our time on this trip was all about rest and recovery, starting with a delicious meal.
We piled back into the vans and were told that the next stop was dinner. We didn’t get a chance to shower (we smelled grrrrrrreat haha) but they did bring our bags to the restaurant so that we could change into fresh/dry clothes. The dinner was held at Skyline Tavern and I loved the rustic feel of the restaurant along with the awesome views.
The dinner was themed around “firsts” as well as recovery foods and prepared by Top Chef Season 12 finalist Gregory Gourdet.
Don’t you love the casual dining room feel going on here? While everyone else grabbed cocktails and settled in, I sipped on some hot tea and then switched to hot water with lemon for the rest of the night. I was so chilled from the day of being outside.
The menu for the evening was SUPER interesting and definitely full of firsts. It included everything from sea urchin to sea barnacles to venison to ostrich eggs to boar sausage and much more! There were a few things I had to skip on due to pregnancy (raw fish + meat) but there were vegetarian options instead.
Here are all of the plates! I especially loved the charred root vegetables (bottom left) and the ostrich eggs and boar sausage (bottom right). The dessert of dorian custard with jackfruit was so coconut-y and amazing.
Big thanks to Chef Gregory for the amazing dining experience!
After dinner we were shuttled to our hotel and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a shower.
We spent the night at the Sentinel and I loved the warm cozy feel of the rooms.
I showered, broke into this chocolate bar that was in our goodie bag and downed a bunch of water before settling into bed. Tanner arrived around midnight to join me for the rest of our Portland adventures.
Sleep was short as our call time was around 7 a.m. the next morning. There was a Starbucks attached to the lobby of the hotel and this latte brought me back to life. (Tip for my fellow pregnant ladies…Starbucks coffee has an obscene amount of caffeine in it but their espresso only has 75mg per shot so you can get a tall drink which comes with one shot and be well under the 200mg daily limit).
Of course our next destination was a surprise, as was everything about this trip, but I was happy to discover that it was a restorative yoga class. Just what we all needed! The class was held at Knot Springs.
Post-class acai bowls and juices.
Our final stop of the trip was back at the Under Armour headquarters for a recovery session led by the two trainers we had been working with during our time there. I LOVED that the importance of rest and recovery is a huge focus for Under Armour and their sponsored athletes.
We started with a session on some super high-powered vibrating foam rollers. Add these to your Christmas list people because OMG, they were incredible. (Slightly cheaper version here.)
The rest of the team did stim therapy but unfortunately I couldn’t participate due to pregnancy. It’s contra-indicated for pregnancy and my chiro is a big no on it. Too bad because I usually really like stim treatments.
Spending time in these Normatec compression leg sleeves totally made up for it. Coming in at a cool $1,395 these things certainly aren’t cheap but HOLY COW. They are amazing! I would be in heaven if I had this at home. We spent about 15-20 minutes in the sleeves and it felt incredible both during and after. This might have been my favorite “first” of the whole experience. Haha.
And then it was time to say goodbye!
This was such an amazing trip and I can’t thank Under Armour and Samsung enough for this incredible #FirstsNeverStop experience. It’s one I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. Also, a huge thanks to our “spirit guide” Colin for all of his motivation and encouragement and for answering my one million questions about climbing Everest and all of his crazy outdoor feats.
After we broke, I met back up with Tanner for two more days exploring (and eating my way through) the Portland area. You can read about it in this post and this post!
Have you ever dined at a former Top Chef contestant restaurant? I was a huge fan of Kevin Gillespie and his Woodfire Grill restaurant in Atlanta and had the chance to eat there twice!
How adventurous of an eater are you? Would you try sea urchin and barnacles? What about ostrich eggs and boar sausage? Where do you draw the line?
What’s your favorite recovery activity? Foam rolling? Yoga? Massage? Something else?
I LOVE experiencing Top Chef contestants restaurants! It’s like my”thing” haha!
Here are the ones I’ve tried so far(all fantastic!!):
Black Market Liquor Bar in Studio City – head Chef is Antonia Lofaso – this is actually my favorite restaurant and I’m constantly suggesting this to friends and for date night with my husband!
Phillip Lee’s The Gardarene Swine – this is closed now but it was a vegetable restaurant in Studio City. All things vegetable!
CJ Jacobsen’s Girasol in Studio City
Richard Blais’s Juniper and Ivy in San Diego
Mike Isabella’s Graffiato in Washington DC
Love them all!
I consider myself somewhat of an adventurous eater but I think I’d have a hard time with barnacles…
My husband bought one of thos foam rollers and it is amazing…and intense! I have to psych myself up to us it, ha!
This trip seemed so extreme (camping with strangers, no shower, etc.) but also amazing. You doing it while pregnant gives you ten million Wonder Woman points!