Several months into the pandemic, we decided to not renew our lease, and find a silver lining by moving out west. Many days couped up in a studio apartment we dreamed of green hikes and snow. We moved to Portland for a 10 week period, but ended up coming back for another 10 weeks after Colorado, and ended our west coast adventure in Portland after a road trip to California - so 5 months in total.

Some of the special things about Portland include the breweries, food trucks, and great transportation (Nike bikes, Limes, trams). The Portland Timbers have a fanatic base - we wish we were there to see some games! McMenamins is a chain of pubs - they buy historic buildings and convert into pubs with a very good and standardised experience. You will find them everywhere in Portland (and outside Portland), and offer same great beers and atmosphere but forgettable menu.

Portland is a liberal city with strong LGBT communities and political activism. However some activism has been confrontational with proud boy and antifa involvement. There is also a higher than usual amount of homelessness. We felt safe in Portland but we did need to be aware of protests, large groups and walking in unfamiliar areas at night.

We’ve put together a list of our ‘best of’ for Portland centered around four topics;

• Pearl district
• Boise / Mississippi
• Other parts of Portland
• Daytrips

Pearl district

Pearl district was my favourite area of Portland. It has some of the best access to parks, variety of restaurants and a nice city feel.

I had several trips to Washington Park, either for an afternoon smoke and stroll, tennis, or a longer hike. Washington park has a few cool features. Situated on the hills it has some occasional but breathtaking views back onto the city and mount hood.

Take a Nike Bike up the first section then walk up to the large international rose garden. From here you could do the longer hike to the south/west, play some tennis in the rose lined courts, visit the Japanese Garden, or take the nearby shortcut to the Arboretum. For a longer hike (3-5h) go past the arboretum to Pittock Manor for the best views, then continue through to Lower Maclay park.

In Pearl District you can find some great food and drink basically anywhere on 21st or 23rd streets. A couple of our favourites include:

• Goose Hollow Inn - Best Ruben sandwich I’ve ever had, a must visit!
• Phil's Meat Market & Delicatessen. They do a daily bento box BBQ for a good price with top quality meat.
• Stepping stone cafe. A low key diner good for a big breakfast and brunch.
• McMenamins Blue moon. Tidy pub with good beers, games and sports.
• Portland City Grill. A reasonably good restaurant and cocktail bar, with some of the best views over the city and Mt Hood. Book for sunset!

Boise / Mississippi

Mississippi Ave is well regarded for a reason; several breweries, great food, food trucks, nice community and neighbourhood atmosphere.

• Por Que No, popular Mexican restaurant always a queue, order online and sit at tables.
• Stormbreaker brewing. Nice large outdoor beer garden sprawling over the local streets.
• Ecliptic brewing. Tidy brewery tucked just off Mississippi with some of our favorite beer.
• Italian at Cartside Food Trucks. A bit of a surprise but excellent food truck selling home made pastas, burrata and Parma sandwiches.
• Mississippi Pizza. No nonsense reasonably good pizza and lunch specials.
• Alberta Ave had some good coffee shops although i don’t remember the exact one!

Other parts of Portland

McMenamins Edgefield. Converted historic grounds and buildings into a hotel. Good for a night (or two’s) stay; has a nice set of grounds to walk around, a few pubs with different atmospheres, and most importantly a good soaking pool where you can enjoy some drinks.

McMenamins On the Columbia, North Portland/Vancouver. Just over the river north of Boise, good place to have a meal on the river.

McMenamins Bagdhad theatre, east Portland. Pub for meals and beer; and a large cinema to do it all at once!

Rocky Butte in the east is a good target for a bike ride with 360 views across the city, moderate distance east from Boise.

Food and restaurants:

• Mad Greek Deli also in the east. Sports nut bar with good Greek fare, although not as good as Melbourne’s Greek food ;)
• Stammtisch in the east. Nice German restaurant.
• Keeper Co Coffee south east. We spent way too much money here over the 4 weeks we spent in Woodstock, very nice coffee!
• Otto’s, another great butcher in south east. They are famous for great sausages. They had a daily BBQ. Pick up some of their jerky!

Day trips

Columbia Gorge trip. This heads out east from the city towards Mt Hood, but along the Columbia River. Vista house is a good first stop for some views along the valley. Two good spots along the way for hikes and views of waterfalls: Latourell Falls and Multnomah falls. Keep on down the road until you get to Thunder Island Brewing Co for some beers, lunch and walk along the nearby popular bridge.

Mt Hood. Some surprisingly good snowboarding and fresh powder. Take off from Portland no later than 6:30 and get to the parking lot uncontested by 8:30 in time for the first runs. But be careful on the roads, there are facebook groups dedicated to the bad drivers and antics.

Bend. We’d love to return here for the town atmosphere during a ski trip. We stayed at yet another McMenamins which included a soaking pool. Great walks along the river and many pubs and bars to have fun just in time for our vaccines.

We made a trip down to the beach to the west and visited Tillamook. It’s a nice scenic drive with lots of opportunities for hikes. The beach walk and much of the coast has some famous photo spots.

That’s all for our suggestions. We thoroughly enjoyed living in Portland for the five months we were there and would happily live or visit again!