18 replies to this topic

[Austin55]

Spending Sunday-Friday up there.

[Volare]

Which one? Both? Vacation or work?

[Austin55]

Yep both. Vacation.

[RenaissanceMan]

Well, as far as Portland is concerned, ride the streetcar from the university to the Pearl District. Grab some dinner on the east side of town. Go to Voodoo Donuts. Visit any number of their awesome bars/brewpubs. And definitely make a trip to Powell Bookstore.

If possible, make the drive from Portland to Seattle by going west through the forest and up the coast with a stop in Astoria for lunch and a quick visit to the beach.

[mmiller2002]

If you like salmon try Ivar's Salmon house in Seattle.  It's been 20 years, but I didn't think I liked salmon until I had their grilled salmon, tail cut.

[FWFD1247]

I have never been to either city, although I hope to soon. They have a much stronger craft beer scene than us, so I would try to go to a couple ( if you like micro brews). Let us know how you like it, my Wife and I might try to make a small vacation up there this year! Have fun

[Austin55]

I'm actually 20 and going with my mom so craft beer is kinda out the window lol. Or anything to crazy.

Any of y'all know if its better to Amtrak or rent a car? Either way it's beautiful.

Sitting at Love Field right now. The "Dallas" airport. It's very nice though.

[FWFD1247]

Ha well in that case, hopefully you still have a good time buddy!

[Dylan]

You're flying out of Dallas Love Field? Nooooo!

 

 

Ok, I'm guilty of stepping foot in Dallas recently as well (Downtown / Victory and the Arboretum).

[Volare]

Not 21. Yikes!

 

Ok, rent a bike in Portland and ride around. Go up Mt. Tabor just to the east of downtown. The neighborhoods just to the west of there have some of the most incredible landscaping.

 

Check out Pioneer Square and Portland State University in the downtown area. And shopping galore. It's like Sundance Square retail all throughout downtown (without all the chains).

 

Depending on where you are staying in Portland, you may be able to ride the train into town and get around without any car whatsoever.

[elpingüino]

I agree with RenaissanceMan on Powell's bookstore in Portland.

 

In Seattle, Pike Place Market is a must. (Yes, it has become touristy, but it draws zillions of visitors for a reason.) Kerry Park has amazing views. And if you can get to Everett (~25 miles north), the Boeing airliner museum/factory tour is excellent and fascinating. 

 

Enjoy the sub-105° weather!

[Fort Worthology]

Can't speak for Seattle, but in PDX:

 

- Check out the streetcar and the MAX

- Rent a bike and check out the impressive bike infrastructure

- The Pearl District

- the Nob Hill district, centered around NW 23rd

- downtown proper

- Powell's Books

- South Waterfront & the aerial tram

- inner SE side, especially Hawthorne, Belmont, and Division streets

- Waterfront Park on the west side of the Willamette (used to be a freeway) and the Eastbank Esplanade across the river

- Portland Saturday Market

- One of the many ongoing farmer's markets

- Portland State University campus downtown

- North Mississippi Avenue neighborhood

- Mount Tabor

- Forest Park

- International Rose Test Garden

- Japanese Garden

- Chinese Garden

- Goose Hollow neighborhood (adjacent to Forest Park & the Japanese Garden & the Rose Test Garden)

- Old Town / Chinatown

- the countless incredible eating opportunities, both brick & mortar and food truck.  Some things I loved, off the top of my head:  Hungry Tiger Too, Potato Champion, Los Gorditos, Portobello Vegan Italian, Red & Black, Sweetpea Baking Co., Papa G's...I could go on and on.

- Since you aren't going to be doing the beer thing, do the coffee thing.  Stumptown is a fine place to start, and there are only 60,000,000 others.  

- Microcosm Publishing

- I could probably name more but you get the point.

[mmiller2002]

Can't speak for Seattle, but in PDX:

 

- Check out the streetcar and the MAX

- Rent a bike and check out the impressive bike infrastructure

- The Pearl District

- the Nob Hill district, centered around NW 23rd

- downtown proper

- Powell's Books

- South Waterfront & the aerial tram

- inner SE side, especially Hawthorne, Belmont, and Division streets

- Waterfront Park on the west side of the Willamette (used to be a freeway) and the Eastbank Esplanade across the river

- Portland Saturday Market

- One of the many ongoing farmer's markets

- Portland State University campus downtown

- North Mississippi Avenue neighborhood

- Mount Tabor

- Forest Park

- International Rose Test Garden

- Japanese Garden

- Chinese Garden

- Goose Hollow neighborhood (adjacent to Forest Park & the Japanese Garden & the Rose Test Garden)

- Old Town / Chinatown

- the countless incredible eating opportunities, both brick & mortar and food truck.  Some things I loved, off the top of my head:  Hungry Tiger Too, Potato Champion, Los Gorditos, Portobello Vegan Italian, Red & Black, Sweetpea Baking Co., Papa G's...I could go on and on.

- Since you aren't going to be doing the beer thing, do the coffee thing.  Stumptown is a fine place to start, and there are only 60,000,000 others.  

- Microcosm Publishing

- I could probably name more but you get the point.

 

All of that is in the Portland Airport?

[mmiller2002]

I'm actually 20 and going with my mom so craft beer is kinda out the window lol. Or anything to crazy.

 

Check their laws.  if your mom allows, you may be able to have a beer if your mom is with you and the restaurant is OK with it.  That's TX law...

[dangr.dave]

Austin, look through my Seattle album (https://www.flickr.c...57632968924441/) to get some ideas.  If you see something and want to know where it is at, just let me know.

 

The Space Needle is neat to see.  You can ride a monorail there from downtown somewhere (you can Google it) - it's pretty cheap.  While near the Space Needle, they have the Experience Music Project (EMP), which is a neat Gehry building full of rock music stuff (Jimi Hendrix's coats, a guitar sculpture, etc.).  There is also a Chihuly garden there.

We ain't in Kansas no 'mo by dangr.dave, on Flickr

Experience the building by dangr.dave, on Flickr

Kerry Park will get you this view:

Steal my heart by dangr.dave, on Flickr

Smith Tower has a cool observation deck from which to see the city (you can walk outside):

Smith Tower by dangr.dave, on Flickr

The Olympic Sculpture Park is very cool:

The eagle has landed by dangr.dave, on Flickr

 

Pioneer Square has a ton of old buildings/architecture:

 

The Waterfront:

Big wheel keep on turnin' by dangr.dave, on Flickr

 

The downtown library (a must):

Reading is a trip by dangr.dave, on Flickr

All the happy people by dangr.dave, on Flickr

 

Queen Ann Avenue.

 

All of the neon signs around town.

 

Public Market and surrounding streets (including the original Starbucks...though I don't drink Starbucks):

Public Market by dangr.dave, on Flickr

[Austin55]

Good to be back had a great vacation and got to see a lot. I'll share some Fort Worth related impressions.

 

PORTLAND

-My mom is an Arlington women, not a big fan of public transit and has never used any before besides a trip on the TRE once. But even she was impressed with how easy to navigate and how convenient Portland was to navigate by the light rail and streetcar. We never used a car. Got off the plane at the airport, got right on the rail and got a hotel right by a station by he convention center. Everyday we rode just one or two stops into downtown or wherever we wanted to go. Only very late did we ever feel uncomfortable with other passengers. Perhaps a Fort Worth system could be better policed. But otherwise a great experience to see how an effective streetcar system works. 

 

-Public parks- Are Fantastic! Pioneer Square, Directors park and Jamison square are all awesome examples of public squares, but the park blocks downtown are also amazing, mostly because of the huge northwest trees that must be 15 stories tall. Chapman Square in prticular was memorable. 

 

-The waterfront was a very interesting area, in particular the Naito fountain area, which I think would be prefect for General Worth Square. A good solid fountain. 

 

-Pearl District should serve as the basis for W7/Cultural district area . It's a great area, very upscale, safe, and pleasant. 

 

-Dedication to blocks-Skybridges are rare, and superblocks are non existant except for parks. Fort Worth could learn from this. 

 

-Urban Highways-The way 405 does run through downtown is nearly completely unobtrusive. It's sunken, lined with trees, and rarely takes up more than a block at a time. Very little wasted space. 

 

-The south waterfront should be a model for Panther Island. 

 

-Powell's has every book ever. 

 

-Homelessness- It's a big issue. Portlanders seem to embrace and attempt to care for the homeless, however the homeless seem to take advantage of this. Beggers are at all the busy corners downtown. All the parks have campers in them. Some of them are very aggressive and at one point while walking along the waterfront one man actually attempted to chase us down while yelling obcene words and threatening us. At one point we witnessed two of them get into a fight, resulting in one getting busted over the head with a glass bottle, he left in an ambulance and the other in the back of a police car. Getting asked for money while on the train is very uncomferable, should a confrontation occur, you'd have no place to go. Unlike FW, police and security presence downtown is very slim. I would not feel comfortable being in downtown after sunset. This issue left a very sour taste in my mouth. 

 

I'll post my Seattle thoughts later on, to tired to finish now...

[Fort Worthology]

I'm surprised by your "would not feel comfortable being in downtown after sunset" thing - we never felt any more uncomfortable there than we did in downtown FW, day or night.

[dangr.dave]

I kinda had the same feelings about Seattle's Pioneer Square area.  Great old architecture, but a lot of loitering, homeless folks.  I, obviously, went out at night, but I was always carrying my Bogen tripod with a heavy metal head.   Once, when a bum started following me and yelling things, I did put my camera back in my bag, and started holding my tripod like a large club (swing batta' batta') while walking away very fast.  So, I can empathize with Austin's experience...being in a strange place can be a bit scary especially if you find yourself on a dark street with not a lot of other people around.  When traveling, best to stick to the more frequented areas at night if you have any doubts.

[Austin55]

Dave's got it down. I think there was some more homeless folks out there than usual because of the warm weather. My friend who lives there noted that there was more and the that usually there's not such a problem with aggressive types. My unfamiliarity didn't help. I didn't spend much time in Seattle after dark but the Pioneer Square area did have a much higher abundance of homeless during the day when I visited to.