MyWestworld

Portland on Foot and in My Stomach

Posted on 25. May, 2009 by Bernice Paul in International

Summer’s first long weekend took my husband and I on a road trip down to Portland, Oregon. It seemed that whenever any friends of family learned about our weekend plans to visit the city, they’d declare with excitement for us, “Tax-free shopping! What are you going to buy?” But shopping wasn’t top of mind.

So why Portland? We’d only ever passed through Portland a few years ago and I think I was there as a kid on a family vacation. But a few weeks ago we were treated to a special screening of the PBS e2 transport film Portland: A Sense of Place (hosted by BEST at Rhizome Café). Inspired by the political will of those city planners interviewed and the lovely scenes of city folk on foot, streetcar, bike and aerial tram, my husband and I decided then and there to see the city with our newly opened eyes. We had also heard about the “new” food scene in Portland; a growing community of food purveyors committed to local and sustainable practices. A walking and eating vacation sounded exactly up our alley!

Arriving at 12 noon sharp, we set out on foot as soon as we checked into our downtown hotel, located in one of the Portland’s “most walkable districts.”

Our first stop was Hot Lips Pizza. Recommended to me through a Twitter connection (not the first time the social media tool has paid off in spades! Thank you, Dave!) because 1. Great pizza would await and 2. The pizzeria is an active practitioner of The Natural Step, a simple and elegant sustainability-evaluation framework. Hot Lips did not disappoint. Enjoying a couple of slices and beer on their patio after a long walk, the experience crystallized what I came to love about Portland: West Coast laid-back vibe, drivers that look out for pedestrians and cyclists and a food revolution being fought by fancy establishments and sweaty taquerias alike.

The next 48 hours saw more gastronomic delight by foot. Lots of walking, eating, drinking and finding coffee shops to pee in. (This is really a situation where having a Starbucks in every neighbourhood came in handy, I must admit!) It wasn’t until the second day that we discovered Fareless Square in the downtown core –- that’s free rides on buses, streetcar, and light rail. What an amazing way to promote ridership (let’s muse for a moment on what commuting in Metro Vancouver would be like if Translink made a similar move).

A weekend simply wasn’t enough to thoroughly explore the city, however. Legs can only travel so far, and at three (stretching it at four) meals a day one can only eat so much. In other words, it won’t be long before we’re back.

Check out the set here: Portland on foot and in my stomach.

Tags: Portland, Sustainability