Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/118686
Falling in love with POrtlAnd P By teresa Bergen Fresh energy and creative innovation make PdX a pleasure for home or holiday ORTLAND IS ONE OF THOSE CITIES VISITORS FALL IN LOVE WITH AND IMMEDIATELY START PACKING TO MOVE, with or without a job in sight. Artists, musicians, bike culture enthusiasts, yoga teachers, writers and idealists all are magnetized by the Rose City. When they can't ind work, they take things into their own hands, selling art on the street or devising unusual entrepreneurial ventures, such as an organic vegan soup business delivered by bicycle. Portland has a well-deserved reputation for rain. While it seldom pours, overcast drizzly days are abundant, averaging 154 per year. Temperatures don't get as low as they do in much of the country, but Southern Californians visiting between November and April should pack warm layers and rain boots, if you own such exotic apparel. Because you'll want to go outside! There's an abundance of urban and woodland terrain to explore within the city limits, and the rain makes everything so green. 1 5 Cool outdoor Adventures Hit the Trails. Mount Tabor in southeast Portland, a dormant volcano whose cinders were utilized in surfacing the park's roads in 1912, is one of several parks where you can get a good hike without leaving the city. There's a picnic area, a multitude of native plants, and trees towering over narrow, forested paths. In the northwest, Forest Park's 30-mile Wildwood Trail is part of a 40-mile loop linking it to pedestrian and trail routes along the Columbia River and back to the Marquam Trail in southwest Portland. Or, rent a bike from Pedal Bike Tours (www.pedalbiketours.com) and follow the Springwater Corridor, a former railway line, for 20 miles of paved, car-safe fun, offering vistas of the glorious Willamette River. 30 Portland.indd 30 2 If you visit Portland in springtime, be dazzled by nine acres of pink, white and purple rhododendron and azalea blooms at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. With paved paths and a large pond just quacking with various ducks and Canada geese, this park is beautiful even when the rhodos aren't blooming. 3 Stroll through art galleries that stay open late on the irst Thursday of every month in the upscale Pearl neighborhood. And don't miss the Urban Art Network Street Gallery; from April through October this nonproit arts group sets up shop along three blocks of the Pearl where you can meet local jewelry makers, painters, sculptors and other skilled artists and artisans. wholelifetimesmagazine.com 3/26/13 1:57 PM