The Rose City: A blast on a budget in Portland(2)
-'Hoods: Trendy 23rd Street in Northwest Portland has tempting shops, galleries and restaurants. The Hawthorn district in close-in Southeast is a bohemian-lite street of coffee houses, hole-in-the-wall restaurants and interesting shops.
And if you wonder how we got this way, visit the Oregon Historical Society Museum downtown. Thoughtful exhibits and a gift shop good for books and more: http://www.ohs.org ($11).
WINE AND BEER: The state has nearly 400 wineries, and some near Portland grow Pinot Noir that has put the French in the shade. Many offer free tours and tastings. Start with http://www.oregonwine.org.
Portland has about 30 microbreweries. Many give tours and tastings, http://www.oregon.com/beer/beer.cfm.
Portland is in love with hefty brews with spine and character. The Oregonian has a beer columnist. At least one restaurant has a beer steward. It has been written that you can get into a fist fight here over who makes the best India Pale Ale. Yet Portlanders aren't all beer snobs. The city is a prime Pabst Blue Ribbon market.
If you prefer water, resort to one of the "Benson Bubbler" brass drinking fountains scattered around town by lumber baron Simon Benson in the early 1900s in hopes that his workers would forsake the keg and show up reasonably sober.
NIGHT LIFE: If you're up for some helling around, or a quiet evening of good jazz, the city is awash with clubs and bars with mostly local entertainment for a minimal cover charge, or none. Major plays and concerts frequently visit. For listings, pick up a free Willamette Week newspaper from a street box or the Friday arts and entertainment section of The Oregonian, or visit http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment.
FOOD: Portland shines with scores, maybe hundreds, of good choices. A list of favorites invites the sin of omission. However:
On a hot summer evening, head east 20 miles to Troutdale and up the Sandy River to Tad's Chicken & Dumplings, which still resembles the classic road house it once was. This is no-nonsense American cooking, featuring fresh Northwest ingredients. Get a seat by the window overlooking the river.
Years back someone shot out part of the neon sign so that it read, "Tad's Chick Dump." It still does on one side. You can buy a Tad's Chick Dump T-shirt.
Downtown there's Dan & Louis Oyster Bar, 208 SW Ankeny St., where Portlanders have gone for fresh local seafood since 1907, or Fratelli, 1230 NW Hoyt St., for an interesting take on Italian food. There are endless pricier places in the Pearl District in the historic Northwest part of town.
Carts around downtown serve inexpensive spicy Indian curries, Mexican dishes, Middle East specialties and more. Line up for a takeaway lunch with students, businessmen or maybe a judge, for a quick lunch. Strike up a conversation. Many Portlanders love talking about their city.
In the 1970s, waves of Vietnamese boat people arrived. Vietnamese restaurants abound, especially along a section of NE Sandy Boulevard. Try the ubiquitous and inexpensive pho, a traditional noodle soup.
Many lesser-known, small places are scattered around town with the fresh local ingredients that the restaurateurs insist on.
LODGING AND GETTING AROUND: Accommodations are in many price ranges, often lower on the east (non-downtown) side of the Willamette River. Or consider bed and breakfasts. They aren't always much cheaper but can be more fun than a cookie-cutter hotel room. Owners usually are helpful.
Staying out a ways doesn't mean isolation.
Tri-Met, the area's light rail, streetcar and bus system, is among the nation's best. A day pass is $4.75. Individual fares vary by zone. Details at http://www.trimet.org. At the airport, Tri-Met serves the city center, vastly cheaper than a taxi.
SIDE TRIPS: Day trips (or one-nighters) out of Portland could include the Oregon Coast and the Hatfield Marine Science Center (free but donations welcome, very kid-friendly) or the Oregon Aquarium, both in Newport, or to Astoria and Fort Clatsop, where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1805-1806. There is a replica of their fort.
Astoria has the magnificent Columbia River Museum with the riveting story of the Columbia River bar, dubbed the Pacific Graveyard for the ships that wrecked crossing it and the men who died.
In late March, free whale-watching stations appear along the coast manned by trained volunteers as gray whales migrate north and often come close to shore. They go the other way in often-stormy December.
Whale-watching excursions, about $20, are often available out of Depoe Bay and Newport on the central coast and elsewhere. Excursions depend on weather so be flexible and call ahead. A close-in pod of grays stays just off the central coast much of the year. There is ample inexpensive lodging; http://www.coastvisitor.com/home.cfm?dir—cat50283.
There is also great day-hiking in the Cascades and the Columbia River Gorge.
About 90 minutes east on Mount Hood there is Timberline Lodge, a stately old pile built during the Depression by President Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration, with good restaurants and fine work inside by WPA artisans, http://www.timberlinelodge.com. Mount Hood is also a major ski destination with late-season skiing.
Multnomah Falls, 620 feet high, about 45 minutes east on Interstate-84, is among Oregon's more-visited attractions. The old Historic Highway heading back to town takes you by other waterfalls and up a time warp of a twisty highway.
