The Portland Book of Dates: Adventures, Escapes, and Secret Spots

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Locals and visitors alike cherish Portland, as it’s filled with something-for-everyone treasures to be found around every corner, both indoors and outside. This colorfully designed guide provides an updated tour through some of the smile-making activities that will engage your senses, showcasing what a wonderland Stumptown truly is. Recommended By Aubrey W., Powells.com

This highly visual book marries style and substance to give Portland and the people who love her the guidebook they deserve: a curated and creative collection of more than 130 outings in and around Portland to inspire romance and adventure. Secret spots, beloved locales, and unexpected destinations offer endless options for date night or a weekend getaway.

Finally, a stylish, cheeky, curated guidebook of cool places for Portlanders (and visitors) to go on dates/outings/field trips/adventures. These range from one-hour coffee and ice cream dates in Portland's neighborhoods to multiday expeditions to Hood River and Mount St. Helens. The authors have a bead on the obscure and fascinating, and the descriptions are motivating enough to prompt even the lazy to head out the door. The book will have serious pickup power and will become an essential resource and armchair read for Portland-area Gen X, millennial, and Gen Z couples (and singles with friends) interested in learning about off-the-beaten-path things to do, see, and taste. No more FOMO In-the-know authors and tastemakers Eden Dawn and Ashod Simonian will reveal where the cool and quirky go, while educating readers on this beloved city.

Eden Dawn is the award-winning style editor for Portland Monthly, Oregon's number-one-selling magazine. She's a beloved personality in the community, often seen judging drag queen pageants, sitting on several advisory boards, chatting through live television segments, emceeing fundraising galas, performing at storytelling events, and hosting her own quarterly series Fashion in Film at the historic Hollywood Theater.

Ashod Simonian is a creative director and designer known for advertising campaigns and packaging projects for Focus Features, Columbia Sportswear, and Peet's Coffee, among others. He is the co-owner of Imaginary Authors, a niche perfume house known for its unique branding, and author of Real Fun, a book of photography and stories documenting his decade spent touring the world in a variety of indie rock bands.

Together, Eden and Ashod run the activism-based nail polish company Claws Out. The Portland Book of Dates is a natural extension of their adventurous, overextended lifestyle. They've been married for three years and wrote this book from their slightly creaky 100-year-old house in Portland's Alberta Arts District with their two bossy cats, Ruby and Covered Wagon.

The fun side effect of writing a book full of over 100 date suggestions specially tailored for my fellow Oregonians is that everyone who finds out will ask you what they should do for [insert birthday/anniversary/any random Saturday afternoon] which I genuinely love to oblige...

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