Court and Jeremy s UnAbridged Guide to Portland,

Dear Friends and Family,

the Hood River Valley and Oregon.

What follows is our attempt to pull together something for our friends and family from out of town who are coming for the Wright Berry wedding. There are many great guides out there that will point you to all the cool things that our fair city and state have to offer. This will not be one of them. We kid we kid.... But seriously what you will not find in this guide: 1) 2) 3) 4) A mention of Voodoo Donuts (whoops, okay only 1 mention of Voodoo donuts) Powells Books Food Cart Reviews Exhaustive List of Breweries

What you will find in this guide: 1) 2) 3) 4) Our favorite places to eat, drink and play in Portland Our favorite day trips outside of Portland Kid friendly activities and ideas Cool things to do in and around Hood River, the Mountain and the Gorge

Without further ado...

Portland
Portland is an amazing city. Seriously. Jeremy came here 14 years ago and Courtney a decade ago and we never left. We love this city for many reasons and we hope you do as well.

First off the basics

Our transit system is TriMet. http://trimet.org/ The train system is called MAX or Streetcar. Its very easy, intuitive and dont be afraid of the buses if your smarty phone tells you thats the fastest way. They are easy to use and accept the same tickets. Do yourself a favor and buy a day pass.

Our city is based on a East/West North/South grid. We have 4 quadrants NE, SE, NW, SW and then North Portland does its own thing cartography wise (but has some of the coolest stuff in PDX). Number streets run North/South and go away from the Willamette River. So if you are on 7th and NW Glisan. You are 7 blocks from the river in the northwest quadrant . If you are lost call a cab: Radio Cab 503-227-1212

The Good Stuff

There are four things Portlanders take seriously Food, Beer & Wine, Recreation and Coffee. A few of our favorite things to do in those categories

Food:
As the foodie capital of the U.S. its hard to go wrong. But a few of our favorite Restaurants include: Toro Bravo Great Tapas Ox Argentinian Steak waits can run 2 hours here Higgins The father of the Portland Farm to Table movement Tasty and Sons or the downtown location Tasty and Alder 2012 Rest of the Year Oven and Shaker Pizza...Portland style Hop and Vine The best burger in town Luc Loc Amazing, simply amazing Vietnamese/Thai Fusion Street Food Le Pigeon For a nice night out James Beard Award Winner

These are just a sampling. Every day something amazing opens up and the carts are quite amazing (and covered in detail here: http://www.foodcartsportland.com/ and they have an app). Just do yourself a favor and dont eat at Buffalo Wild Wings or Rock Bottom while you are here.

Beer:
Portland is beer town USA. With over 60 breweries within city limits you can literally overwhelm your liver with the samplings available. There are a couple ways you can attack this problem 1) Take a tour. They are fun and you dont have to drive 2) Just hit the highlights (according to us, see below) 3) Go to a beer bar that has a lot of offerings on tap. So in order 1) Brewvana tours are the gold standard - http://www.experiencebrewvana.com/ although if you are feeling ambitious Brewcycle is also an option http://brewcycleportland.com/. 2) Court and Is favorite Portland breweries are a. Commons - http://www.commonsbrewery.com/ b. Gigantic http://www.giganticbrewing.com/home.html c. HUB - http://hopworksbeer.com/organic-beer/hub-lager d. Upright http://www.uprightbrewing.com/ 3) Beer Bars. There are places in Portland that literally curate beer like wine shops in Napa curate wine Dowtown check out Baileys TapRoom. Some of our other favs include Saraveza, Hop and Vine and Apex.

Recreation:
First go rent a bike. Seriously we have been voted most bike friendly city in the US year after year and even though Court and I own one barely functioning bike between us take our word for it: Biking is a great way to see the city. Rent a bike and just see where it gets you. The best is http://pedalbiketours.com/bike-tours/portland.shtml Some other fun recreation activities in Portland: Go for a hike in Washington/Forest Park largest park within city limits in the United States Walk /Bike the McCall Park/East Bank Esplanade Loop (amazing views of the city from the Esplanade) Go to Mt Tabor Park and head up to the very top, superior views. Mt Tabor is an extinct volcano. The only one within City Limits in the U.S. Bike all or part of the Springwater Corridor

Coffee:
We are also known for our artisan coffee. Forget what you heard about that Fishing Village to the North (Seattle) and their one company corporate dominance..when it comes to really good coffee Portland is where it is at. Some of our favorites: Stumptown Coava Ristretto Roasters Heart

Other things in the City:

Okay if beer, food, outdoors and coffee isnt your thing here are some other awesome things we love in Portland. 1) The Japanese Garden - stunning 2) The Chinese Garden have a cup of tea in their second floor tea house overlooking the garden 3) Walking/People watching along the following avenues Hawthorne, Belmont, NW 23rd, Mississippi Ave

Activities for Children

Not having children ourselves, I reached out to friends on social media and got some great replies. Lets start with the official sites, http://www.travelportland.com/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/good-for-kids http://www.pdxkidscalendar.com/ http://www.playdatepdx.com/

Now here are what our friends recommended: OMSI (Portlands Kid oriented Science and Exploration Museum Great fun) Willamette Jet Boats Kennedy school soaking pool and movie theater (kids movie matinees)... Oaks Park and Nature preserve Play Date PDX- indoor play space in the pearl with cafe, wine, pizza

Child friendly Breweries Hopworks, Laurelwood, Deschuttes Fountains to play in... Jamison square in the Pearl, Lovejoy Fountain, Salmon Street Fountain Grand Central Bowling Bowling close in. Parks: Laurelhurst park, Jamison Square, Waterfront Park Salmon Street Fountain Slappy Cakes for breakfast or brunch (make your own pancakes at your table) Ride the MAX train or Street Car, Endless entertainment for kids Ride the Max to the Oregon Zoo (but we have an average zoo) Movies in the Park/On the Bricks Oaks amusement park - perhaps lame for some older kids, but sooo affordable and quaint compared to big city theme parks and the put put golf there is great and has a beautiful view of the river DO not and would not recommend Portland aquarium! Small, crowded, expensive and dead animals on occasion Wevillage.com it's drop in playcare in the Pearl with late hours so parents can go out on the town. The Oregon Rail Heritage Museum in Portland has TRAINS! http://www.orhf.org/ Playground Gym on MLK and Kidopolis on SE Foster are good drop-in, air conditioned havens if it's too hot to have the tots outside for too long.

Day Trips
Go to the Oregon Coast if you have never been. It is truly stunning. Cannon Beach is the closest only a hour away and has the stunning Haystack Rock. We would also recommend Tillamook Cheese Factory and the 3 capes loop (including lighthouse), or Astoria (Goonies!) or Newport (sea lions and aquarium).

Hood River, The Gorge Mt Hood

The drive from Portland to Hood River on I-84 is truly a stunning one. Some things to do along the way: 1) Take at break at Edgefield. This is a converted 1920s era Poor Farm (i.e. retierment home for poor old folks back in the day)) that now has 8 pubs, beautiful grounds, chip and put golf etc. Really neat place. http://www.mcmenamins.com/54-edgefield-home

2) Multnomah Falls The most visited site in Oregon http://multnomahfallslodge.com/ 3) The Waterfalls Route/Old Columbia Hwy twisty and winding but spectacular. http://www.columbiariverhighway.com/ 4) Vista House Amazing views. See what Lewis and Clark saw. http://vistahouse.com/ 5) Bonneville Damn. You can actually walk way down into the damn and watch the fish swin up the fish ladders. On the grounds are ponds with the largest Sturgeon you have ever seen. You can also feed trout etc.

In Hood River
Hood River is a charming town filled with seasonal windsurf/kiteboard slackers, great wineries, local galleries and two famous breweries. Some of our favorite things to do: In the summer Hood River is the Windsurfing Capitol of the World. Head down to the main launch area which is West of I-84 when you get off the freeway. Full Sail Brewery grab a pint and sit on the deck overlooking the Columbia and watch the windsurfers/kiteboarders do their thing. http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/ Stroll Main Street

On the Way/Near Cooper Spur The upper Hood River Valley is the epicenter of fruit in Oregon. Pears, peaches, apples, plums, berries all grow here. There is a thing called the Fruit Loop which gives you a guide to all of the stands and u-pick places. http://www.hoodriverfruitloop.com/index.html Parkdale a town of about 1,000 Parkdale boasts probably the most spectacular views of the North Face of Mt Hood. Do yourself a favor and grab a bite at the on the back patio of Solera Brewery http://www.solerabrewery.com/ Skibowl On the other side of Mt Hood (a 30 minute drive from Cooper Spur Resort is SkiBowl. In the summer it converts into an Adventure Playground for kids and adults. Alpine slides, bungee, go-Karts, kids play zone etc http://www.skibowl.com/summer/