Portland Oregon is a beautiful, green,
human-friendly city, filled with excellent architecture, 37,000
acres of open spaces, and a gorgeous waterfront spanned by 9 attractive
bridges. Money magazine named Portland America’s Best Big
City, Bicycling magazine ranked it as America’s Top Cycling
City for 2 consecutive years and Outside magazine listed it among
its “top 10 greatest places to live”.
Portland has something for the whole family. Kids will love the
baby elephants at the Oregon Zoo, the nearby Children’s
Museum and OMSI, Portland’s top-flight interactive science
and industry museum. Older explorers will want to make an appointment
to tour the utterly fascinating Shanghai Tunnels in Old Town,
through which drunken 19th century sailors where whisked away
into virtual slavery from Portland’s infamous docks.
Portland has many lovely parks. Forest Park alone covers 500 acres,
has 50 miles of hiking trails and 11 miles of bike trail along
Leif Eriksson Drive. No visitor should leave Portland Oregon without
wandering through the stunning Japanese Gardens.
Day trips from Portland can take travelers to many great outdoor
adventure spots. Mt. Hood has 4 resorts and North America’s
longest ski season. Oregon has a good wine country, and travelers
can’t go wrong stopping at wineries like Clear Creek Distillery
or Adlesheim Vineyards for a taste. Traveling the Historic Columbia
River Highway provides and excellent view of the waterfalls along
the Columbia River Gorge, including Multnomah Falls, the tallest
cataracts in Oregon and the 2nd largest year-round falls in the
United States.
When in downtown Portland Oregon, be sure to check out the Portland
Building. Many consider its post-modern architectural style an
eyesore, but the 36-ft. copper rouse statue crouching over its
doors, the magnificent Portlandia, is 2nd in size only to the
Statue of Liberty for a sculpture of its kind.
