PORTLAND, OREGON.

A.K.A. PDX

There’s something really cool about this place. Flying out here from anywhere other than the Pacific Northwest, the region actually feels pretty distinct. Out the window, you’ll see endless evergreen trees on mountainous terrain, and then a MASSIVE snowcapped mountain. This is Mt. Hood, Oregon's highest point and favorite stratovolcano. Having been born and raised on Eastern Standard Time, the Pacific Northwest was a big fat question mark in my mind during my upbringing. I had some vague awareness that it was supposed to be wild and pretty, but the first time I landed in Portland and saw Mt. Hood out the window, I was taken aback at just how big this thing was. How could it be that I had never heard of this mountain??

And, that’s right: ‘the first time.’ This is actually my 2nd time in Portland. I believe the date of my first visit was ~3 B.B. (Before Blog). And, I loved it! During that trip, I was staying with a friend out in a suburb called Beaverton, which isn’t exactly one of the “cool” neighborhoods. And, even though I didn’t fall in love with Beaverton, the time I spent in Portland proper was really cool! I also got to spend some time surfing on the Oregon coast, which was also really cool. There was an unfortunate episode where our car broke down in the middle of nowhere and we had to hitchhike to the nearest town to find a garage that could get us on the road again… but that is a story for another day.

The point is, I had been here before. And I was REALLY excited to come back. Honestly, the emotions I feel before I travel tend to fall mostly into the “anxiety” category. But this was one of the rare instances where I was just feeling pure, unadulterated excitement. This doesn’t happen very often. So let’s get out into Portland!

An Abridged Introduction to Portland, Oregon 🌲

Portland is the southernmost major city in the Pacific Northwest, and, driving northward from Sacramento, it’s the next major slice of civilization you’ll find on the West coast. Although, I should clarify that Portland is not actually coastal. It is a “port city” because it sits at the convergence of two major rivers that are connected to the Pacific Ocean: the Willamette and Columbia rivers. It’s about a 1.5 hour drive to the Pacific coast, which leads me to another thing that I want to highlight about Portland: it’s proximity to nature. This is a common theme among cities in the Pacific Northwest—including Seattle and Vancouver. All of these places are great gateways to some incredible natural beauty. And Portland is no exception. With Portland as your “home base,” you can (for example) do day trips to 1) surf, 2) snowboard, 3) hike, 4) rock climb, and 5) sail on 5 back-to-back days. For the “outdoorsy” among us, it’s a great place to be.

In writing this article, I learned that Portland, Oregon is actually named after Portland, Maine. The 2 cities are far enough apart that I guess I’d always assumed they shared a name coincidentally. When the little homesteads were founded that would eventually grow into these two cities, I doubt anybody foresaw their future significance. After all, when Portland was founded in 1840, the Oregon Trail was still actively in use. But to purposefully name your town after a different town… that’s in your same country? I guess technically Oregon didn’t join the Union until 1859, but I still think this was stupid.

Anyway, as of 2023, Portland metro has a population of about 2.5 million, which ranks it as the 25th largest city in the U.S. So, it’s definitely a big city—pro sports teams and all!—but not crazy big. Oregon, in general, is pretty sparsely populated—so Portland is home to roughly 50% of the state’s population. There are still huge swathes of Oregon that don’t feel too far removed from the Oregon Trail even today (we’ll see some of that stuff later in this series), but the Portlanders… well, they are blazing a different kind of trail.

Socially, Portland is pretty much the bleeding edge of American society. If you associate anything with Portland, it’s probably “weirdness.” Portland has long been known as a bastion of extreme progressivism and counterculture. To give you some political context, Portland’s registered voters are roughly 55% Democrat, 8% Republican, and a whopping 30% Independent. And you can bet that those 30% are pretty much all in the crunchy progressive/libertarian cross-over zone. One notable way that these politics manifest is in drug policy. In 1973, Oregon was the first state to decriminalize cannabis, and it was among the first to open to door to medical use in 1998 and recreational use in 2014. Portland is actually not the capital of Oregon (that would be Salem), but it pretty much dictates what happens in state politics because of its relative size.

Another, more recent example, was Portland’s variant of the BLM protests. These riots pretty much destroyed downtown Portland. When I arrived, it had only just recently started to get cleaned up, but it was still clear that the events of COVID had done a number on this part of the city, compared to my first visit. Ironically, while I think Portland was in near-unanimous agreement that what happened to George Floyd was evil and unacceptable, the protests that happened in response were actually quite polarizing. As much as I love how passionate this city is about social justice, I’m also not 100% clear on what was accomplished by destroying their own city. But it’s definitely on-brand for Portland, and from the outside looking in, there is still something endearing about the dynamics.

One funny quirk of Portland’s progressivism is the specific set of social norms it imposes on its residents. One afternoon during my visit, I was grabbing tacos with a couple of friends that definitely fall into that “30%-independent-libertarian-ish” category, and they were bonding over how they get dirty looks when they drive around Portland in their pick-up trucks. Neither of them is actually a conservative per se… but in Portland, this sends a message. When it was time to return to our respective vehicles, we put on our best superhero voices and jokingly exclaimed, “To the Republican-mobile!” 🦇🦹🏻‍♂️

Oh, and last but not least, Portland is the inspiration for Portlandia, which provides a hilarious yet endearing caricature of this city. I’m sure locals have mixed feelings about it, but I am going to be using as many Portlandia/Fred&Kerry GIFs as possible today. I love them.

Wandering Portland’s Neighborhoods

Whenever I visit a new place, I am always very interested in what it looks like day-to-day for people who actually live here. As Portlanders go about their day, what are they seeing? Well, as it turns out, Portland has big neighborhood vibes. Honestly, this city has some of the most charming neighborhoods I have ever seen. Every street was leafy and cozy, boasting many beautifully landscaped lawns. Each house seemed to be unique and reflective of genuine personality. There were all varieties of public gardens tucked away throughout the city; from rose gardens to vegetable gardens. There were homemade signs advertising community organizations and events hanging from seemingly every other telephone pole. It was a place that really had a lot of quirkiness and personality. I was creeping the Zillow listings hard.

I stake no claim to be the expert on all the many distinct neighborhoods that exist within Portland, but I can tell you that during our stay, we had an Airbnb in an arena called Hawthorne. This was an extremely charming area, but we got all around the east side of the city and it was all great! If you head west towards Beaverton, I think that gets a bit less picturesque from a neighborhood perspective, but the spirit of Portland permeates all things.

Anyway, I think the best thing I can share with you is just a selection of the many pictures I took. I don’t have all the information on the contents of these pictures, but at some point, I walked past them and appreciated them enough to whip out my camera. Please enjoy this meandering visual tour for what it is.

Washington Park

Portland has a lot of parks. Among them, Washington Park is probably the most notable because of the many things contained within it. All told, Washington Park encompasses a zoo, museums, an arboretum, a rose garden, a Japanese garden, an amphitheater, various memorials, an archery range, a few tennis courts, a soccer field, numerous picnic areas, numerous playgrounds, some works public art, and a whole lot of wild forest which can be explored via a network of hiking trails. And the entire thing is built into a steep hillside, which provides some great views over the city with Mt. Hood towering in the background. It’s really a gem of a park. I would love to live close to this.

A lot of these individual elements of Washington Park function as independent entities, with their own entry fees and hours of operation, so it’s a tapestry of many different things. We’re going to shell out the entry fee for the Japanese Garden shortly, but first, we’re going to enjoy some of the free elements of this part, such as the rose garden. If you come here with no money other than some change for a parking meter (assuming you can find a parking spot), it is still quite a worthwhile endeavor. This park definitely seems to be the crown jewel of Portland.

Forest Park

Washington Park isn’t the only park in the game. Portland has many of them, but its biggest park is, by far, Forest Park. During my visit, it felt a bit ambiguous where Washington Park ended and Forest Park began because they are adjacent to one another. To a bird flying overhead, there would be no major discernable break in the forest canopy. But to navigate the roads and trails around these parks, they are quite distinct. So, Washington Park is the tourist attraction, and Forest Park, its counterpart (or, should I say, counterpark???)… well to visitors it’s just a giant unexplained forest that juts into the center of Portland. Here’s a map for context. 👇

Forest Park is just that: a forest. It’s 5,200 acres in total, which is ~3x the size of Central Park and Golden Gate Park combined. It’s one of the largest urban forests in the United States, and it is unique from most other parks that I have experienced because it feels very decentralized. To the casual visitor, this park is just an isolated network of forest trails. That was certainly my experience with it. We were a bit aimless in our attempts to penetrate this expansive hiking area, and when we did—well it was great, but I have no idea if we picked “the best” path or not. It just felt like a walk through the forest.

The coolest thing about this park, to me, is that there are many miles of neighborhood that just give way to this forest. There are residential streets that dead-end into trailheads. This has got to be so therapeutic to live near. If I lived here, I’d hike these paths every day. Here are a few pictures from our hike, somewhere in Forest Park.

Portland Japanese Garden

*Drives back over to Washington Park*

Before I arrived in Portland, the Portland Japanese Garden was pretty much the only thing on my list of things to do. In the past year or so, I’ve also visited the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco, the Seattle Japanese Garden, and the Nitobe Memorial Garden in Vancouver. Little by little I’m working my way through all the Japanese Gardens on the West Coast, apparently. 🤷🏻‍♂️ So I was looking forward to checking this one off my list as well.

Japanese culture is not something that I associate with Portland in the same way I do with San Francisco (for instance), but this garden is actually quite impressive. At 12 acres in area, and encompassing 8 separate garden styles, it has got some street cred within the Japanese garden niche. Apparently, the former Ambassador of Japan to the United States (His Excellency Nobuo Matsunaga) visited this garden at one point and was quoted as saying that the Portland Japanese Garden was “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan.” So, I assume that guy knows what he’s talking about.

I’m no Monty Don, but I’ll say this: the Portland Japanese Garden is by far the largest of all of the West Coast gardens I have visited, and I think is only narrowly beaten by the Vancouver garden for being my favorite of the group. The Vancouver garden just has a certain je ne sais quoi about it… but the Portland garden’s entry price of $19.95 was still well worth it to me. I’d highly recommend this place to anybody.

Here are some pictures from around the garden. I may have gotten a little carried away taking pictures of the koi pond and the light on the mossy hillside…

Remember how I told you that Washington Park is built into the slopes of a steep hillside? Well, this holds true for the Japanese Garden as well. I confess the real reason why I wanted to come to the Portland Japanese Garden was less about the garden and more about the views of Mt. Hood. This is a place where I knew for certain I could get a shot of the mountain and the city together. Pretty nice view, right?

More Views of Mt. Hood 🏔

+ 1 View of Mt. Adams

I was almost satisfied with the shots of Mt. Hood that I got from the Portland Japanese Gardens. That square building in the way was kind of annoying. So I went out in search of alternative viewpoints. And by “I” should really attribute a lot of that work to my BFF Buddy because he was the one driving. But, if you’re in Portland and want a really great look-out point for Mt. Hood, go to this address:

6400 SW Parkhill Way, Portland, OR 97239

It took us some serious sleuthing to find this place, and we probably would not have been successful if somebody had not pulled over—unprompted—rolled down their window, and told us where to go for a great shot. Thank you, kind stranger. ❤️

Of course, we also saw this mountain from lots of other angles throughout our time in Portland. Not only that, but we also got a good look at Mt. Adams at one point. The 3rd mountain that is sometimes visible from Portland is Mt. St. Helen’s, up in Washington—but I did not see that one during my time in Portland. Here’s a gallery of my favorite mountain shots that I did manage to snag. Going left to right, the 2nd mountain shown in the gallery below is Mt. Adams (I think).

THAT’S PORTLAND! Or, installment 1 at least. In the next article we’ll be exploring some of the street art that this city has to offer, but there’s a twist: it’s going to be STICKERS only. One super odd quirk of Portland is that, in some areas, nearly every street sign, telephone pole, and public surface of any kind. is absolutely PLASTERED in stickers. And of these stickers… well, you’ll just have to see them.

After that, we’ll be headed East out to town to Bend, and the Sisters’ wilderness. It’s gonna be sick.

ONWARD?

ALRIGHT LET’S DO THIS!

The track of the day might seem like a random pick, but it has a strong association with Portland for me. The first time I flew into Portland, I had this song playing as we made our final descent. It was the first time I had ever visited the Pacific Northwest, and I was pretty excited as I looked out the window. I liked Portland and I still like it now. And every time I hear this song, I think about Portland. I think it’s actually pretty fitting.