What To See and Do in Portland

Portland was such an unexpected treat for us! We had heard very little of Portland before we came here and had almost no expectations. We spent a month here, and now Portland is one of our most favorite cities in the US. I posted here on the numerous reasons why Portland is so cool. In case you decide to check out Portland for yourself, here is where we'd recommend you visit (most of the items are free!). I'm grouping the places by neighborhood, in case you don't have time to visit them all.

Oregon Brewer's Festival, Drink Up!

We started the day by biking around Portland on the greenbelt trails, along the river and to Gresham and back. I like to start my tastings at a negative calorie count, that way there is no guilt involved. :o) During our time here in Portland there have been three beer festivals: North American Organic Brewer's Festival, Portland International Beerfest and now the Oregon's Brewer's Festival. We were too cheap to participate in the first two, but when the Brewer's Fest rolled around, we finally figured "why not?".

How to Make Friends in New Places

One of the disadvantages of traveling is not being able to bring your friend circle with you. Friday and Saturday nights can be a bit lonely sometimes when its just the two of us walking around a new city. We see big groups of friends walk by and remember what it was like to be the ones part of a big group heading out to dinner and drinks, looking to cause some trouble.

The other Friday we were poking around trying to decide what to do when I remembered seeing a link on the Couch Surfing website that I had meant to check out before. If you're a member, you will find the following links in the banner at the top: Surf, Host, Activities and Groups. I clicked on Activities, typed in Portland, and found a whole selection of events posted by local Couch Surfing members. One of the activities was an open invitation to a birthday party at a pizzeria in Southeast Portland. I RSVP'd yes, and all of a sudden we had plans for the evening!

East of Portland, Part 2: A Trip to the Hood

This entry is part 2 of our trip east of Portland (click here for Part 1).

Monday night we drove into the city of Hood River to eat dinner. We drove down to the waterfront park, and as we crested a hill, what seemed like a thousand kites and sails came into our view of the Columbia River. Since Hood River is known as the Windsurfing Capitol of the World, I was not overly surprised at the number of surfers we saw. There were so many people out on the river that I'm not sure how they all didn't crash into each other though. Their boards were going in every which way and direction, at high speeds!

East of Portland, Part 1: Columbia River Gorge and the Waterfalls

Monday we left the trailer parked at the RV park, packed up the tent and our pups and headed out to explore east of Portland. We decided to do a three day, two night loop, starting along the Columbia River Gorge, driving along the waterfalls route, an overnight stop in Hood River, then through the Fruit Loop to Mt. Hood, with one more overnight stay on the mountain. I had originally planned to make this one big post, but we saw so many amazing things that it was not possible to squeeze everything into one. I decided on the two part approach, so hence, this is Part 1.

Dental Hygiene in the Trailer

Now wait a minute...just 'cause we live in a trailer don't mean we don't brush our teeths. (All said with a heavy drawl). We brush and floss daily. Its almost a necessity since we don't currently have dental insurance. Chloe and Sammy on the other hand, yeah they talk so much trash that they have the smelliest breath around. So we finally decided to do something about it.

A Visit to Mt. St. Helens

Mt. St. Helens is an active volcano in Washington state. In 1980 there was a 5.1 magnitude earthquake that caused the largest landslide in recorded history, which caused the eruption. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens is now known as the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the US history. The mountain used to be shaped in the normal triangular fashion, but the landslide and eruption broke the peak, and caused the mountain to cave in on itself, leaving a massive crater site on the north face of the mountain. The landslide that flowed from the mountain also completely changed the landscape of the valley below. It wiped away old growth forests and left behind charred and barren fields and newly formed low points, that later became new ponds and lakes.

Down Days in Vancouver, WA

We have been here in Vancouver Washington (just outside of Portland) for just over two weeks now. Living somewhere stationary has been a very nice change, and it has lived up to what we were hoping it would be. Portland being the very cool city that it is has certainly helped, but Vancouver has really turned out to be very nice as well.

Why Portland Rocks

On our trip we have come across two cities that we had no expectations for, and but where we came away very pleasantly surprised: Austin and now Portland. Portland has smitten us with its waterfronts, bridges, expansive downtown and multitude of walkable city districts. We have been here just over a week, and have put only a small dent in the long list of things we want to explore in this city.

Portland, Our Home For The Next Month

Our home for the next month is not actually in Portland, but across the Columbia River, in Vancouver Washington (our 10th state on this trip!) We figured we would have no problem booking an RV park in Portland proper. A few days before leaving Eugene we started to call around to the numerous RV parks in the area, and found nothing in the near vicinity! Turns out there was a Barber Shop Harmony Society convention going on, and those folks had everything booked solid. 

Recipes From The Road- Panini Sandwiches

There are a million ways to make a panini sandwich. If you think about it, a grilled cheese sandwich qualifies as a panini, so really, we've all been making panini sandwiches since we were children. There is nothing new about this recipe, I just really enjoyed making this set of sandwiches the other day, so I thought I would share it with you.