The city is nicely compact and generally very manageable to navigate. It is sensibly divvied up into geographic quadrants and bisected by the Willamette River. The street names in the NW area and extending into downtown are arranged alphabetically, making it easy to know, for example, how many streets over a restaurant is on Lovejoy if your hotel is on Vaughn.
Portland's skyline reflects both its industrial past and revitalized present, including both heavy old and sleek modern bridges spanning the river. I believe one of Portland’s nicknames is Bridgetown. And for a not very big city, it has a surprising number of freeways going in and around town. Listen carefully to your Google navigator and be ready for quick exits!
At the same time Portland is a paradise for cyclists and pedestrians. The city doesn’t just talk the talk when it comes to prioritizing safety and access for those getting around with 2 wheels or 2 feet. Their transit isn’t bad either, and at least one of those bridges crossing the Willamette was constructed just for non-automobile traffic. We rented bikes from the helpful folks at Cycle Portland and had a great day touring -- from the riverfront and downtown to the Japanese gardens to the famous city-block large Powell’s Bookstore. Coincidentally, during the week we were visiting, Portland rolled out its bike share program with bright orange bike stations (sporting the Nike swish) popping up all over the city. Biking in Portland (in July at least) is a beautiful thing!
Why do so many restaurants close at 9 pm, while the bookstore is open until 11?
Portland has a serious homeless problem. Except in Portland, the homeless have tents and are politely called “campers.” What’s up with that?
Areas in and around Portland are gorgeous. If you love the outdoors, you could spend your whole life hiking different mountains, volcanoes, and forest trails in the state. Check out Oregon Adventures. We did one incredible walk on snow-capped Mt. Hood, strolled through the city’s 6,000 acre Forest Park (one of the largest urban green spaces in the U.S.) and explored some of the rugged coastal areas. (Don’t expect to go swimming at Oregon’s beaches… unless you have an insulated wetsuit!)
The weather… hmmm… well, it was perfect during our visit with blue skies and temps around 80 degrees each day. We are told that everything you hear about the dreary, drizzly winters is true and that summer doesn’t begin until July 5 (hard for an Atlantan to imagine), although it doesn’t seem to slow anyone down. Quite a change from the month straight of 90+ degrees we've been having here in the SE.
I’m a big fan of gardens, and Oregonians have incredible flowers! Huge colorful roses, lilies, even the wildflowers are beautiful. Portland is apparently also known as the City of Roses.
Yeah, the coffee is good. Even the bar food is good. We seriously got taken to a bar whose food menu was exclusively vegan. Only in Portland!
Portland apparently lacks great ethnic diversity. But we found it to be a generally friendly, courteous and environmentally progressive city with a counter-culture undercurrent and an accent on acceptance and tolerance. There’s a lot to be said for that. We look forward to going back -- there are 2 more floors of Powells we never got to and at least a dozen other hiking trails on our list to explore! #PDX, #BikeTown, #RipCity
