My traveling companion raved about the coffees! Seeing as I'm not a coffee drinker I took her word for it...

Portland
 

Pardon me, I thought you lived near Portland. I am starting to think that I need to take some time off after the conference to visit friends on the west coast. I hope to have a friend traveling with me so that sounds like a good vacation.

Chad, I neglected to mention most of the posts I refer to about Portland, I posted in the "If You're Ever Here, Go there" thread..

OMG yes Chad do visit Portland by all means!! Unfortunately we had time constraints and couldn't spend as much time as we would of liked. We did make the most of our time tho, was on the go early and never got back to the hotel until late. We left the car at the hotel and used Uber & Portland's transits system for the most part.

We ran into the most helpful and courtesy folks in any city I've ever visited including Chicago, especially once we commented how this was our visit time in Portland. We got recommendations right & left where to go, what to do, see, etc etc!

I can't wait to get back there for a second visit.....:hangloose:

~~~
In today's Sunday Seattle Times, a column ran about a solo trip experienced by journalist Taylor Blatchford of Seattle.

Of course she mentioned Powell's Books, but other discoveries of her's as well included Ecliptic Brewing, Deschutes Brewing, Pok Pok, and Blue Star Donuts.

She also mentioned several nature places she explored and if you're into that and have access to reading the Seattle Times may I suggest reading the article.

Going to be in Portland this week-end?
 

Fremont Fest August 3, Fremont Street Free



Fremont Street is closed from 42nd to 50th for Fremont Fest, including a 10 a.m. parade of pets and kids on bikes, music stages, a kids’ zone, and 125 vendors.

Next Sunday...
 

Bike or walk the bridges August 11, 2019 Portland locations




Bridge Pedal is a 5-mile walk or a 3 to 18 mile ride with stunning views from atop Portland bridges. Register early, and bring a helmet. No dogs or skates.

Event of Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub....
 

BeerQuest Haunted Pub Tour Friday Aug 9th 7pm



Guided tour uncover Portland’s dark side on this spine-tingling walking tour and hear firsthand accounts of paranormal encounters.

For more info contact Kells Irish Pub

Tonight..........
 

Boz Scaggs Tues Aug 13, 7 pm, Revolution Hall

Like mushrooms after rain, vinyl copies of Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees tend to sprout up overnight in people’s record collections. The former Steve Miller Band guitarist’s blockbuster from bygone days, a surprisingly ambidextrous collision of string-laden R&B, gently discofied beats, singer/songwriter introspection, and Springsteen-esque bar-band bravado.

Scaggs has apparently recorded dozens of other albums that you’ve never heard, and presumably he’ll play songs from some of them tonight, but expect those Silk Degrees jams to be the meat of the set list.

Oregon Democratic U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer called for a boycott Wednesday of all hotels owned and operated by Gordon Sondland, who is wrapped up in the Ukraine controversy.

Sondland is the current U.S. ambassador to the European Union and is also the founder of the boutique hotel company Provenance Hotels. The company has six hotels in Portland including Hotel Lucia, The Heathman and Sentinel.
A spokesman for Sondland has responded, saying that participating in a boycott would only harm Oregon hotel workers.

Congressional investigators are interested in Sondland because he and another diplomat had talked to Ukranian leaders about how to respond to pressure from Trump to investigate political rival and former Vice President Joe Biden.

He originally indicated he would cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, but the Trump administration blocked his testimony.

Boycotts can be very effective. I believe in them!:hangloose:

Portland Seafood & Wine Festival...
 

Jan. 31–Feb. 1, 2020 Cost: $13 Oregon Convention Center 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd Portland


Enjoy entertainment, lots of fresh Oregon seafood, wine, craft beers, cider, and distilled spirits at the 15th Annual Portland Seafood & Wine Festival.

Taste some of Oregon’s best wines from over 60 wineries and munch on deliciously fresh seafood at the peak of Dungeness Crab season. Bring the whole family to enjoy face painters, balloon artists, and more.

Portland hit Joe’s Burgers comes to Washington...


Portland-based Joe’s Burgers has expanded with its first Washington-state outpost, located at The Village at Totem Lake. (Pssst, in June, Portland-based Salt & Straw plans to open an outpost in this mall as well.)

$49 dollar flights from Boeing Field to Portland...........
 

According to an article in Sunday's travel section of the Seattle Times beginning April 12th JSX (formerly JetSuiteX) will add a Seattle to Portland route to its roster of public charter flights.

The article goes on to compare various methods of travel to Portland from Seattle such as driving, busing, and of course both train lines.

You know the only time I went to Portland I really lucked out with traffic! Sunday's article mentioned traffic several times throughout and so not wanting to press my luck, next trip I believe I'll take that 45 minute flight for $49..:flying:

Help support Oregon Food Bank, while enjoying a delicious meal
 

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Portland Dining Month March 1st - March 31st

Every March, more than 100 Portland restaurants serve up three courses for just $33 nightly.

by booking with OpenTable through the links at travelportland.com/dining-month.*

Be sure to check out the restaurants serving Portland Charity Cocktails. Your cocktail purchase will benefit our partner agency, Transition Projects.

*Only reservations made through the OpenTable links on Travel Portland’s website will prompt a donation to Oregon Food Bank.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival.....
 

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Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm 33814 S. Meridian Rd. Woodburn OR 97071


Portland’s cherry blossoms are impressive, but an even more colorful burst of flowers appears every spring just 32 miles (51 km) south of the city in Woodburn. There, the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival blossoms each spring, and thousands come to see acres upon acres of tulips in full bloom. The family-friendly festival returns March 20–May 3, 2020.

The historic roots of the Wooden Shoe Tulip Fest.......
 

Every tradition has a beginning, and oftentimes those beginnings are by pure chance. Take Oregon’s largest tulip festival at Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn, now in its 35th year.

If it wasn’t for a neighbor’s suggestion in 1985 for the Iverson family to open their fields to the public, the Wooden Shoe Tulip Fest might not exist. The family started growing tulips in 1974 after a farmer in Canby, who had been contract growing the flowers, decided to hang up his gardening gloves. In 1980, the contractor they had been working with retired, and the family bought the bulbs to start growing them for the wholesale bulb market.

“It was a struggle, so in 1983, we started Wooden Shoe Bulb Company to try and help sell bulbs to the retail market,” said Barb. “We’d go to all these garden shows and we didn’t sell much. After two years we thought, maybe this was a bad idea. But then we thought, you know Easter’s coming and the fields will be in bloom.”

So after taking their neighbor’s advice to open the fields, they purchased an ad in the local paper and opened for Easter weekend. And 35 years later, Wooden Shoe Tulip Fest has grown into the largest tulip festival in the state and one of the three largest in the Pacific Northwest.

Planning for when the stay-at-home ban lifts safely...
 

Hoxton Hotel 15 NW 4th Ave, Portland

Located right in the thick of historic Old Town Chinatown, an area that has an incredible past and exciting future. From here, you can easily hop on a bus to take a hike around Forest Park or jump on the MAX to get to Washington Park for killer views of the city. In Portland, nature is nurture, it’s all here on your doorstep.

Select from 119 rooms with four types to choose from - Shoebox, Snug, Cosy, or Roomy. Cleverly designed to make the most of the space, each is decked out with rich walnut paneling and mid-century touches, plus artwork selected by Upfor, ceramics by Clay Factor and bookshelves curated by our Hox Friends. Find the usual Hox perks too including free WiFi and calls to anywhere in the world.

I found this information and much more about various Portland venues in of all places All Recipe Magazine.

Portland is all right, however, Oregon holds much better places to visit in my opinion than Portland. Multiple towns down the coast, travel east a bit and visit some of the attractions in Central Oregon... The list is endless. And as for nature in Portland... Not so much though more than many large cities admittedly. Either way, Oregon is beautiful.