Oregon Trail

I recently returned from a trip to the US Pacific Northwest. It was a great time. This post is about my time in Portland, Oregon; expect other posts on Seattle and Olympic National Park later.

Pioneer Square

This is Pioneer Square in downtown Portland. With the prevalence of red brick, along with things like a fondness for farmers' markets, nice walking/biking trails and parks, and a history of forestry, I sort of felt like Portland is what Fredericton could aspire to be—with a whole lot of economic growth to get there.

One of the places I went in Portland was the World Forestry Center's museum. It is not a huge museum, but very well laid out, and in a fantastic building. There are a lot of cool interactive exhibits. It is located in Washington Park, which also contains a zoo, an arboretum, and a large test garden for different varieties of roses.

Forest Museum

As I mentioned above, Portland has a nice trail system (along with bike lanes on many streets). I rented a bike for half a day and did a loop along both banks of the Willamette River, from the Steel Bridge down to the Sellwood Bridge and back.

Portland waterfront

Portland is known for its craft breweries, so I went for a tour at one of them while I was there: Widmer Brothers. The tour guide was really engaging.

Brewery Tour at Widmer Bros.

Oregon has no sales tax, and Portland has a wide variety of interesting non-chain stores (perhaps these two factors are related?). During my time there, I did some shopping at Powell's books, considered one of the best independent bookstores in America, and at Canoe, a design store with select products from around the world.

Powell's Books

Canoe design shop

One my last day in Portland, I rented a car and drove out on Interstate 84 along the magnificent Columbia River. I went as far as Cascade Locks, Oregon; the first image below is of a canal channel at the marine park there. The second image is of Multnomah Falls.

Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia River

Multnomah Falls

The only minor problem I had out there was that public transit was slow (apparently it's known for running slow on hot days, and the weather was sunny and hot—very nice—while I was there). So I didn't include enough time to get from place to place and nearly—but didn't!—missed a couple of things I had booked.

The title of this post, of course, comes from a game you may remember from childhood (if you're from my generation). It can be played online (along with other games from the early days of home PCs) here. You're welcome.

Permalink