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 The
Portland Visitors Association Events Calendar tracks just about every
event in the city. Visit the
Events Northwest
Web site for events in the Pacific Northwest.
Downtown Visit Pioneer Square,
Tom McCall Waterfront Park (along the Willamette River),
Powells City of Books (largest
independent bookstore in USA) where you can buy out-of-print and used books
at great savings,
Chinese Garden,
and Saturday Market.
Visit the
Portland Central
Library. Completely renovated in the late 90s and now complete
with computers. The county library system is one of the most used
libraries in the nation.
Hop on a
streetcar
and take a trip over to Northwest 23rd Avenue (or NW 21st) for lunch or dinner.
This is an area with numerous sidewall cafes and shops.
Hubers Restaurant at 411 SW Third Ave If
you been out on the town at night and looking for a place to end the evening,
stop at Hubers and have a some Spanish coffee prepared and flamed beside
your table or at the bar. They are also famous for their turkey dinners.
Pearl District Thinking about living in an
city/urban setting? Stroll through the Pearl District - located on
the northwest side of downtown. This is one of the fastest growing
areas in Portland. Note the lofts and condos . Visit shops
and art galleries.
Museums The
Portland Art
Museum and the
Oregon History Center are downtown. The
Oregon Museum of Science
and Industry is located on the east side of the river. The
Children's
Museum is located in Washington Park next to the Oregon Zoo.
Art, Music, and Theatre Events The
Portland Center for the Performing
Arts has three building offering music and theatre events.
First Thursday One of the best times to explore
Portland's galleries is on the first Thursday of every month during the
aptly named First
Thursday Gallery Walk. On these nights, galleries and shops
in Portland's Old Town, Pearl District and downtown neighborhoods stay open
late, inviting the public to mingle with the artists and explore the city's
rich art scene. The streets are abuzz with performers, sidewalk artists
and enthusiastic crowds. Most art dealers use First Thursday to stage new
exhibitions and artist receptions. The Portland Art Museum participates,
as well, by holding its exhibits open until 8 p.m..
Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade Tucked between Interstate
5 and the Willamette River, the
Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade is 1.5 miles long, extending from the Hawthorne Bridge to
the Steel Bridge with connections to eastside neighborhoods as well as across
the river. Primarily a pedestrian/bicycle corridor, it offers a dramatic
view of the downtown Portland skyline. You get a whole new perspective
of the river and downtown as well as the eastside. We recommend you
start your walk on the Steel Bridge and head south towards the Hawthorne
Bridge. You don't have to twist your head to see the downtown skyline that
way.
Trail,
Tram, Trolley, & Train The
4T is
a loop through roughly nine miles of the city's hilly west side by
trail, tram, trolley and train. The 4T showcases a few of the city's
attractions. The first leg of the 4T began
with a hike from the zoo to one of the city's highest peak, Council
Crest and then continues to the tram at Oregon Health Sciences
University (OHSU) for a total hike of about four miles. The trail is
well-marked with signs. You board the
tram at OHSU
and down you go to the river into the South Waterfront neighborhood. After exiting the
tram walk over to the
Portland
streetcar stop and board the streetcar. The trolley followed the
waterfront to Harrison Street and swings uphill through Portland State
University before coming to a stop about 20 minutes later at Southwest
10th and Morrison. A last leg of the 4T is aboard a MAX train bound for
the zoo. Plan for about a three hour excursion. The trail is free,
and so is the tram ride from OHSU to the waterfront. A two-hour
TriMet
pass for the trolley and train portions of the route is $2, an all-day
pass $4.75. Click
here
for a 2-page guide.
Washington Park Within a five minute
drive of downtown is
Washington Park. Make certain you visit the
International Rose Garden and if you love gardens, also the
Japanese Garden.
Located in the same general area is the
Oregon Zoo,
Forestry Center,
and Children's
Museum. Take a hike in the Washington Park
Hoyt Arboretum and enjoy trees from all over the world. You can
take bus number 63 from downtown to Washington Park - a shuttle bus operates
in the summer between the gardens and zoo area. For
a complete guide to the park click here.
Oaks Park Go roller skating at
Oaks Park or take
a ride on their carrousel. The Oaks celebrated its 96th consecutive
year of operation in 2001, making it one of the oldest continuously operating
amusement parks in America. The Oaks is on the eastside of the Willamette
in the Sellwood neighborhood.
Summer Zoo Concerts On evenings during the summer, the
Oregon Zoo music
lawn concerts are in session. Sneak a blanket out of the hotel, visit
a deli and pick up some picnic food, and spent an evening listening to the
likes of Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Ricky Skaggs, and Jerry Jeff Walker.
I suggest you take the light rail from
downtown to the Zoo as parking can be a challenge.
Sports Teams Like basketball or hockey?
Visit the Rose Garden and watch the
Blazers (NBA) and the
Winterhawks (Western
Hockey League) play. Baseball or soccer? Go to PGE Park and
catch a Triple A baseball game with the Beavers or Timbers soccer game.
Southwest Montgomery Historic Drive Take a
driving tour of Southwest Montgomery Drive located in the West Hills of
Portland.
HGTV (Home and Garden TV) recently did a special on the historic homes
located on Montgomery Drive. It's just minutes from downtown and easy
to find. Find SW Vista Avenue on your map (just north of downtown
- it crosses over highway 26) and drive up to Montgomery - sharp right turn
just after the Vista Bridge. Another way to locate Montgomery Drive is visit
Mapquest and use the
address of 2300 SW Montgomery Drive, Portland, Oregon 97201-2387 to obtain
a map.
Tours
 Big
Pink Sightseeing Trolley Tours A hop-on, hop-off tour that
offers sightseers an easy way to see the city’s major, mainstream
attractions. One dollar from each ticket will go to breast cancer
research, thus the pink. The route begins at Pioneer Courthouse
Square and visits, among other stops, the South Park Blocks, the Oregon
Zoo, the Chinese Garden, RiverPlace, OMSI and Salmon Springs. The
trolleys run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and serve each stop every half
hour, thus the loop needs to be as geographically compact as possible.
Cost is $24 a person. Telephone (503) 241-7474.
Portland Walking Tours The Epicurean
Excursion, Best of Portland, Underground Portland, and Roses Gone Wild
tours are available seven days a week and there Chocolate Decadence and
Beyond Bizarre are every weekend year-round. Group/Private Tours are
available. Visit the Portland Walking Tours Web site by clicking
here.
For Kids
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Kidzlist The online resource for all things kids has
a "Places to Go" page along with sections on "Children &
Education" and "Services & Resources."
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Oregon Zoo
and Children's
Museum They are located in the Washington Park area. You can
take bus number 63 from downtown to Washington Park - a shuttle bus operates
in the summer between the gardens and zoo area. The
MAX Light Rail line has a stop at the zoo.
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Oregon Museum of Science
and Industry is located on the east side of the river a short
distance from downtown.
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Oaks Park
Visit one of the oldest continuously operating amusement parks in
American. Oaks Park in southeast Portland (just across the
Sellwood Bridge) has been in operation for over 100 years.
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Ira Keller Fountain On one of those rare summer days when
the heat becomes unbearable, splash in the Ira Keller Fountain at SW
3rd Avenue between SW Clay and Market Streets.
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Bronze Tree Sculpture The tree at the Portland Library
teaches children another way of living. The tree's bark combines
images from Oregon's natural history with subjects found in the
Dewey Decimal system. The objects are clustered at different
levels so children of all heights will have something fascinating to
explore.
Smell the Roses
 The
Portland Rose Festival, an annual event, started
in 1907, though
the city's first rose show, organized by pioneer and avid gardener Georgiana
Pittock, actually took place 18 years earlier. It's a good reminder to us
that even when roses aren't parading down the street, they're easy to find
in Portland, both our private and our public gardens. To read more on
Portland's roses, rose facts, recipes, history and more, check out the Portland
Bureau of Parks & Recreation's Rose Gardens Rose Garden Web page
by clicking here.
Outdoors
Ski
Mt.
Hood Timberline where skiing is almost a year-around activity.
The high-speed Palmer lift begins operations each spring and it whisks skiers
close to the summit. Mt. Hood is 50 miles from the city.
Join
the Mazamas,
Audubon
Society of Portland, or the
Oregon Nordic Club
for a hike, bike, ski, or climb. The Mazamas hike every Tuesday and
Thursday in the early evening.
The
Portland
River Company offers guided tours around Ross Island (Willamette
River) daily. Once you get a feel for the area, venture back with
a rental kayak or canoe − the island has a large population of
herons as chances are good you may spot a bald eagle.
Pedal Bike Tours
offer sight seeing tours of Portland, the wine country, and the Columbia
Gorge. Their most popular is the 9-mile tour of the historic
downtown area. Portland Bike Tours also offers bike rentals at
their downtown location at 133 SW 2nd Avenue.
Salmon Viewing
To catch a glimpse of a Pacific Northwest spectacle:
the pink and silver flash and swirl of migrating salmon and steelhead on
a misty fall day is well worth your time. Steelhead can spawn without
dying, but for the salmon, they turn battered, mottled and a bit ghostly
before they die after spawning.
While most runs are in the fall or spring the show will last into
winter.
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Eagle Creek One of the best places is
in the Columbia River Gorge: the popular
Eagle Creek Trail which is just west of Hood River and
accessible off I-84. While hikers may not have paid much attention
to the stretch of water between the trailhead and the hatchery,
right now there's a decent chance of seeing spawning coho splashing
around in shallow water, especially if you cross the wooden
footbridge labeled "Gorge Trail." In the spawning season, which
usually happens in their third year, the sides of the coho can turn
a deep pink or reddish, especially on the males, in contrast with
dark blue or greenish backs. Coho like smaller streams with clear
water, which can make for good viewing.
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Herman Creek Another good spot is the
lower stretch of
Herman Creek, on the eastern edge of Cascade Locks. The closer
you are to the mouth, the more you'll see fish. Coho will keep
spawning until January, and you may see hundreds of them. Access the
mouth of Herman Creek off Herman Creek Lane, which intersects
Northwest Forest Lane just west of Interstate 84. You can also hike
up the Herman Creek Trail about a mile to a footbridge over the
creek.
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Clackamas Wilderness For a little
more adventure, head up the Clackamas River to the Big Bottom unit
of the new
Clackamas Wilderness, designated in 2009. Try going in from Road
4651 along the south bank.
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Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade
Primarily a pedestrian/bicycle
corridor, it offers a dramatic view of the downtown Portland skyline.
You get a whole new perspective of the river and downtown as well as the
eastside.
36 Hours in Portland
If you only only
a few hours to explore Portland, this is a must read. If you have
a longer time, it still worth your time.
Oregon Children's
Theatre
Professional stage adaptations of classic and contemporary
children's literature.
Land of the
Midnight Sun
Not
quite but daylight stretches
languidly from
5 a.m. to almost 10 p.m.
in midsummer.
Portland has the same longitude as Montreal Canada.
Washington Park
A statue of Sacagawea
(also known as Sacajawea),
the Shoshone American Indian who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition,
greets visitors to Washington Park. Mounted on a rough boulder, it was
first unveiled on July 7, 1905, at the Lewis and Clark Centennial. Among
those present at the unveiling were Susan B. Anthony, Abigail Scott
Duniway, and Eva Emery Dye.
Summer Weather
The
average daytime temperature from June through September is in the 70's.
The average rainfall is usually one inch per month.
Bronze Tree Sculpture
Portland Library
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