A Week in Old Town Portland

Time has flown by since we arrived in Portland, Oregon just under a week ago.  Portland has been a fun, interesting, bustling, arty, hip and happening city.  It has many neighbourhoods lined with diverse and interesting places to eat and drink, second-hand clothes, fancy clothes, antique stores, gift stores, book stores, ice cream parlors, barber shops, food cart pods, buskers, cannabis dealers and showrooms (legal here), large parks and city forests and the odd Laundromat bar. 

Downtown Portland

Decisions decisions...food truck heaven

One of the many popular eateries on Mississipi Ave

It lives up to its name of being the number one bicycle city in America.  Large street signs read “bicycle may use full lane”, roads are closed except to bicycles, street names are boarded with colourful bicycle stencils and bike racks line streets. 

We have been very lucky to stay with our friends Richard and Dara for a whole week in their home.  We have had an amazing time hanging out with the two of them.  They have spent all their free time after work and weekend taking us sightseeing, finding delicious restaurants and food trucks for local food and making sure we were sufficiently satisfied with various desserts (famous ice cream, famous doughnuts, and homemade chocolate pudding). 

Neil was in heaven on day one as we stumbled across a brewers festival – and not just any brewers festival, it was the Oregon Brewers Festival – biggest independent beer festival in North America!  With souvenir mug in hand and sample tokens at the ready, we toured the festival trying some fantastic beer from breweries all over the US and internationally. 

He makes it, I drink it

On Saturday, we were treated to a magnificent hike researched and chosen by Dara in Mt Hood National Forest.   One hour drive from Portland landed us at the base of Mount Hood – Oregon’s tallest mountain.   The four of us hiked 20km along the Paradise Park Trail which runs from Timberline Lodge (winter ski lodge for Mount Hood) along the infamous Pacific Crest Trail for about 15km, before looping back to the beginning.  The trail was diverse, with brilliant views of towering Mount Hood and surrounding snow-capped mountains.  We traversed a scenic canyon, through meadows of colourful wildflowers into moss-covered pine forest. 

After all this indulgent eating we have done in the last few weeks, we are quite excited to get back on the bikes tomorrow and resume our usual bicycle-life habits.  That includes simple meals made on a tiny gas stove, soaked granola and oats, powdered milk, tuna and crackers, muesli bars, beans, tinned tomatoes, rice, lentils, powdered onion, honey semolina and restricted access to Hershey’s Cookies and Cream chocolate.  

We plan to cycle the “Three Capes via the Nestucca River” bicycle route, which runs south-west to the town of Carlton before heading west on the Nestucca River Highway to highway 101 and the town of Beaver.  From there we head south, officially starting the “Pacific Coast Route”.   Will write again soon!

The final stretch