Top 10 Things About Portland, Oregon

At the beginning of the month I spent a week in Portland, Oregon. Saying there are vast differences between Iowa and Portland would be understatement.

Here are my top 10 favorite things about visiting Portland.

10. Hiking
I found out that it helps to have long legs when hiking, but it is even better to just sit down for a rest and enjoy nature.


9. Unchained
I didn't buy anything from a chain store the entire week I was there. I did visit the North Face, Banana Republic, and Columbia stores, but didn't buy anything. I found it more interesting to go into the locally owned shops because you never knew what you'd find.

8. Japanese Gardens
After the hike, we visited the Japanese Gardens. It was a great place to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

7. Powell's
I was told that I had to go to Powell's books, the largest independent bookstore in the country. The bookstore takes up an entire city block. So we planned to spend a couple hours there. Well, a couple hours turned into 5 hours and we even went back the next morning for 2 more hours. They had an incredible selection of used books, as well as new releases. We ended up buying a dozen books with the more expensive book being $9.

6. Dog Friendly
People took their dogs everywhere. Stores even had water dishes outside their doors for the dogs.

5. It's a Good Day in the Neighborhood
Portland's neighborhoods are thriving. We basically spent our time going from one neighborhood to another to visit the shops. I think that has to do with the Urban Growth Boundary that Portland has. The Urban Growth Boundary reduces urban sprawl and encourages investment in existing buildings and neighborhoods.

4. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
The 3 R's have become part of people's lifestyle in Portland and they don't seem to be suffering much from it. The city provides two large containers: one for yard waste that then is composted and one for all recyclable material, which the city sorts for you.

The coolest place I went to was the ReBuilding Center, which is like a thrift store for used building materials. The goal is to divert construction and demolition materials from going into the landfill and make it available to the public for reuse.


The ReBuilding Center was organized by a neighborhood group and currently has 40 employees that pay $10 an hour with full benefits. They also hold workshops on how to hang doors, lay tile, art projects, and other household projects.

3. Look Ma, No Cars!
The only thing that I did all week that I had to use a car for was when I went hiking. Everything else I walked to or took the train. It would have been even easier if I had a bike. Drivers were very considerate of pedisterians and bicycles.

2. Locally Grown Food
Every restaurant seemed to serve locally grown, organic food. It all tasted so fresh and light. I mentioned this to a waitress and she asked where we were from and we said Iowa. She asked why we don't have locally grown food in Iowa. I said that most farmer's only grow corn and soybeans and there are some farmer's markets, but there aren't many restuarants that serve locally grown food. There is just more demand for fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.

1. No Humidity
It got over 90 degrees a couple days and the Portlander's were complaining a little, but if you were in the shade you were just fine. We got off the plan in Des Moines to 94 degree heat and the humidity about melted us.