Portland, Oregon

Contrasting cityscape in Portland, high, wet, cold Mount Hood area, sunny dry desert, Indian Trail, and the nice Fruit Loop on Highway 35. Nice city policy to welcome the cycling community where the light rail and bus are designed to take on bicycles.

Oregon is the first "normal" place in USA I visited besides the man-made Las Vegas. Nice.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Take the 450 feet elevator up to the park. I skipped the zoo which requires a separate ticket. Then take the shuttle bus to the Rose Garden. The proper name is "International Rose Test Garden".

Lots and lots of roses. Thousands. Different species, colours, and sizes including hybrid tea roses too. Name plates for differnt species. A shop selling many items related to rose, too.

Best to take females who are into roses there. Remember to bring a good camera and tripod if you fancy close-up pictures. Most bees have been attracted to the hot dog shop. So, little worry. The poor Oriental girl working with a dozen of bees constantly humming around her.

Next I walked to the Japanese garden just nearby. Get an exotic feel. Some of the little streams is drying up a bit but mostly it is not a bad garden. The best part is the view to see Portland from a different angle.

If you do not like to walk uphill for 5-10 minutes, get on the shuttle bus to the Japanese garden.

Both the Red and Blue light-rail lines stop by there. Right near the Burnside Bridge on the map.

They even have their own website. Everything you would expect from a prosperous local weekend market/flea market. Music and food are naturally available there.

Lots of creative arts & crafts. Items made from cutlery, artistic daily items with unusual materials, pottery, leather, Oriental arts & crafts, fortune-telling, etc. I think my ex-landlady, who is into arts & crafts, would love to visit there, too!

I bought two nice metal hairpins, only as I cannot carry too much with me.

The stalls are split by the rail line/train stop--walk across it with care.

I first reached the Salmon Street Spring. Have dinner at the pub/cafe/restaurant there. I saw a newlywed couple taking wedding-gown pictures by the spring around dinnertime.

There are horse-drawn carts available for hire from the Residence Inn area near the marina. The horses will take you from that posh hotel area, along the waterfront park to the spring area. Some people prefer to take a ride on the Portland Spirit from the dock right next to the spring.

A relaxing walk.