Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland

Travel Portland’s annual visitors guide was published this week — and it’s yours for the asking!

In addition to the latest on the city’s great neighborhoods, shopping, family, outdoors and nightlife offerings, this year’s magazine includes features about Portland’s hot culinary scene; nearby destinations (think wine country, Mount Hood, the Columbia River Gorge and more); and attraction-packed Washington Park (home to the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden and Oregon Zoo — to name a few). In short, everything you need to know to plan your trip to the Rose City.

Request your free copy today, or download the PDF. We hope it serves you well!

Travel Portland’s annual visitors guide is hot (well, medium-warm) off the presses and yours for the asking! This info-packed magazine includes detailed guides to the most happening neighborhoods, lots of restaurant recommendations, stories about fun activities outside of the city and much, much more.

Request your free copy today, or check out the PDF — and let us know what you think!

Photo courtesy of Portland Japanese Garden/Adam Royer

Like those around the world, Portlanders have been shocked and saddened by the recent disaster in Japan. Portland has a sister city relationship with Sapporo, and below are just a few of many ways that our community is supporting our friends in Japan.

• Japan-related organizations in Portland have joined forces to provide financial aid to survivors of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The newly formed Oregon Japan Relief Fund will contribute 100 percent of donations raised through the fund to Portland-based Mercy Corps’ relief efforts. The local humanitarian agency is working with a Japanese partner to provide emergency assistance to earthquake survivors in Japan. The donation website can be found at: http://www.mercycorps.org/fundraising/oregonjapanrelieffund

• The Portland Japanese Garden has set up a “Wish Arbor” as a place to reflect, visit and remember victims of the recent disaster in Japan. Visitors are invited to write wishes and condolences on cards that can be hung on the memorial. The arbor is located just outside of the garden’s admission gate, open during operating hours, and does not require admission to the garden. http://japanesegarden.com/japandisaster

• There will be a candlelight vigil held for Japan on Fri., March 18th from 6-8 p.m. in Portland (venue TBD, please check www.vigil4japanpdx.org for updates). Donations will be accepted to send to Japan via Mercy Corps.

• Hellion Gallery, which presents contemporary art shows in both Portland and Tokyo, will be donating 20% of profits from this month’s art sales in Portland (the current exhibition is of paintings by Ai Ohkawara) to the relief effort in Japan.

• Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort will donate $5 from each night-ski lift ticket purchased ($15 on-site or $10 in advance online) to ski on March 23rd and 24th (Wednesday and Thursday) from 3-9 p.m. to Mercy Corps’ Japan disaster relief fund. Tickets are normally $29, thus offering both a discount and a donation.
http://www.skihood.com/Store/Products/Tickets-and-Equipment-Rentals/Tickets/Japan-Disaster-Relief-Night-Ticket

• Rapha Performance Roadwear is organizing fundraising bike rides (Rapha Rides for Tohoku) in Japan and the U.S., and will match donations of $10 or over on their website. The ride in Portland begins at Albina Press at 9 a.m. on Sat., March 19th. http://www.rapha.cc/rapha-rides-for-tohoku

• Beast restaurant is serving a fundraising dinner on Tues., March 29th. Tickets are $200 per person, and reservations can be made through their website. http://www.beastpdx.com/reservations.htm

• Portland Design Collective will be staging a fashion show on April 1st from 7-9 p.m. Originally a fundraiser to send teenage design students from Mt. Tabor Middle School to Japan, it has evolved into a joint effort to do so, and raise funds to help friends and family in Japan. Ticket sales will benefit the students, but other donation opportunities will be available at the event.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portland-Design-Collective/157191524322470

• Mercy Corps has a constantly updated list of events held around Greater Portland to benefit the Japan relief cause, which you can check here: http://www.mercycorps.org/events.

The Broadway Bridge in central Portland is scheduled to be closed from July 6 to Sept. 3 to all motorized vehicles due to streetcar construction. The south sidewalk of the bridge will remain open to bicyclists and pedestrians.

http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/?c=29385&a=306046

A quick note on a couple of upcoming transportation closures:

• The Portland Aerial Tram will be closed May 25-31 for maintenance, reopening on Tuesday, June 1.
• To make way for the Portland Streetcar’s new eastside loop, motor vehicle traffic on the Broadway Bridge will be restricted to a single lane in each direction through June 30, 2011. A full closure of the bridge to all motor vehicle traffic is planned from July 6 to Sept. 3, 2010.

You can always find the latest updates on construction projects and other closures at www.keepportlandmoving.org.

TriMet, the Portland region’s public transportation agency, just launched a cool transit-to-trails guide that makes it even easier for visitors to enjoy the outdoors. 

This new online resource, which highlights more than a dozen outdoor experiences throughout the region, illuminates — and exemplifies the very spirit of — The Intertwine, Portland’s system of interconnected parks, trails and natural areas. 

In other Intertwine news: Oregon Public Broadcasting recently aired an interesting piece about the mural that looms, like a large-scale field guide of sorts, over Southeast Portland’s Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge.

Sun and rain over west downtown, Portland in spring

OK, it’s no secret that we have … some rainy days in Portland. However, even locals tend to go overboard when describing the weather here. April is one of our rainiest months, but even now we get our share of sunshine.

Portland actually has what’s referred to as a Mediterranean climate. Yes, we have unpredictable winters that inevitably include rain, and a bit of snow (and some wonderful sunny days!), but we have beautiful summers that are relatively dry.

Wikipedia has a good climate table about Portland…

Oregon.com also has some good information.

Burnside Skatepark (photo courtesy of XLR8R)

The hipsters at XLR8R — an online magazine “Accelerating Music and Culture” — sure seem to love Portland. They’ve done individual profiles of Portland artists and musicians in the past, and now they’ve added Portland to the short list of cities they’ve produced guides for.

XLR8R’s City Guides are consumable in eleventeen (well, at least four) ways:

• On the main XLR8R website (Note: The online guide is not compatible with Internet Explorer — use Firefox or Safari.)
• As downloadable video podcasts (Note: There’s some strong language in the video City Guide to Portland.)
• As an iPhone app
• As an Android app

The video City Guide to Portland has a lot of focus on one of our favorite topics — the local food cart scene.

Check out the XLR8R City Guide if you are looking for an alternative take on Portland from what traditional travel writers offer up. Since one of my many disguises is “alternative scenester,” I think the rough-around-the-edges approach to a regular guide to our city is pretty cool.

Like many Portlanders, I’m often proud of what my city has accomplished and what it stands for, especially in terms of sustainability. That’s why I can’t let the city’s recent Climate Action Plan go unheralded on the Portland Spoke.

Released in early November, the Climate Action Plan is an aggressive road map to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the city while expanding programs like efficient energy use, public transportation and bike lanes throughout Portland. (more…)

Here’s the final version of our new video, which we’ll use to promote Portland to convention delegates, meeting planners and tour operators.

This being the age of YouTube, we’re also hoping the piece grows legs of its own and introduces our fair destination to travelers around the globe.

And this being Portland, the hardest part of the project was culling 70 hours of film down to less than four minutes. (A scratch behind the ears goes to our friends at Sockeye Creative, which produced the piece.)

Tell us what you think — and if we missed any of your favorite spots.

Enjoy. We hope to see you soon in Portland.