I'm in love with how green and lush Portland is! Such a beautiful city, with trees everywhere. It actually reminded me a lot of upstate New York where I'm from, tons of trees on every street. I sometimes forget how much I miss all that green. Even though I love our LA palm trees, there's something so magical about green, leafy forests. Maybe that's why I felt such an instant connection to Portland - it made me feel like I was back home. When I found out there was a Portland Japanese Garden, I knew I had to visit.

You guys, I finally made it to cactus heaven. I've been wanting to visit the magical Moorten Botanical Garden for a while now after seeing so many glorious photos on Instagram, and I have to say it's even more stunning in person! We were greeted by Clark Moorten when we arrived, the son of the garden's original creators and now the curator himself - he gave us a little map of the grounds and off we went!