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.
July 31, 2012
July 30, 2012
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?".
July 28, 2012
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!
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!
July 27, 2012
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!
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!
July 26, 2012
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.
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