Post Punk Kitchen Forum

hello all

my husband & i will be in Portland, OR for roughly a week (sharing the week with Seattle) in September. we will have a rental car as we're flying into Seattle then driving down to OR. how is the parking situation in PDX??? i just now see there is something called the "big pink trolly" for sightseeing. wondering if this would be easier than driving around and having to find/pay for parking. I dont know a dang thing about PDX and just thinking about having to do that in Boston (as a comparison) im feeling vomitous but i also know Boston is stupidly laidout and "newer" cities seem to actually follow a plan rather than a big mess.

also is the Museum of Science and Industry worth it??
we dont have any really solid plans but so far this is a rough sketch of our idea:

one day we are doing a bike tour of Columbia River Gorge
probably 1+ days at Mt St Helens
couple days bumming around the city itself.

my husband really likes craft brews so we will probably do lunch at vegan restaurants and dinners at different brew pubs (as long as they have a vegan option for me)

i visited portland with a car and had no parking issues. it's not anything like NYC or what i imagine boston is like, parking-wise. there are lots and street parking. really, i found it quite easy.

i liked OMSI but i went when there was a big einstein exhibit and a cool oceans IMAX movie. it might depend on what the exhibits/offerings are?

If you're parking downtown, you'll have to pay but it's usually not that hard to find a spot. It's $1.60 an hour though, so I would suggest picking a park and ride, parking on the eastside somewhere (no charge once you get east of Grand/MLK) or leaving the car at the hotel. The big pink trolley is somewhat new and I would love to check it out! It seems to cover a big distance, which is a plus. Portland city center is actually somewhat small and easy to navigate, once you learn (most) even numbered streets go north, odd numbered streets go south.

OMSI is fun, but definitely check out the exhibits online and avoid the weekend crowd. Unless you like kids, of course :-)

Every single brewpub I've been to offers something vegan. Hopworks, Deschutes and Bridgeport have the best menus, methinks. New Old Lompoc's beer isn't vegan, but their food is tasty and according to funks they have vegan bloody marys. You will definitely not be wanting for choice!

Don't forget that we now have TWO fully vegan bars, Bye & Bye on NE Alberta and The Sweet Hereafter on SE Belmont...

Yes yes yes of course! Obviously I have some favorites and tend to put on the blinders.

I just got back from Portland and parking was really a breeze, at least compared to my city.

If you go to the Bye & Bye, make sure you hit up Back to Eden bakery for some soft serve!! They have happy hour soft serve from 4-7, seriously the best place ever.

thank you! i will not stress about the parking now! sounds like i will be ok :-D

Parking is really easy. Though driving around downtown and parking there annoys me, it's not so bad and there's several SmartPark garages that are about $1.50/hour. If you really want to make it easy and less stressful, park for free at Lloyd Center (it's a mall) and take the Max (what our trams are called) that's right outside the mall into downtown. The Lloyd Center stop is included in our Fareless "Square."

Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) has a really great vegan menu and I love their radlers! (radler is part lemonade, part beer) Yum! They now have 2 locations, one on Powell in the outer-inner SE and one on N Williams, near Pix Patisserie (which has a yummy vegan marzipan stuffed chocolate covered fig!).

Hello! I'll be in PDX next week and I am inquiring about transportation to/from the airport to downtown. I know the MAX will run downtown, but it doesn't stop too close to where I'm staying and I need to be somewhere within an hour of my flight landing so I'm hoping I can take a taxi. Does anybody know how much this will cost? How long this will take around 8:30-9pm? Thanks!
Jenn

I would recommend calling Radiocab for an estimate. http://radiocab.net/ Where is your downtown hotel? Downtown is actually pretty small, so your hotel may be walk-able from the MAX...

I would also recommend looking into airport shuttles - they're usually cheaper than cabs.

Thanks! Google maps tells me it's about a 15 minute walk from the MAX stop, which is normally no problem, but that doesn't give me enough time to check into my hotel and get where I need to be - especially if i have to wait 15-30 minutes for the train to get to the airport. I'll give the cab company a call to get an estimate.
Thanks again! Your blogs have been extremely helpful in my Portland/Seattle trip planning!
Jenn

There is an express shuttle from the airport to downtown which may work for you. http://www.bluestarbus.com/downtown-express.php

I'd skip that museum, too. Actually, I think I'd skip all the museums. Portland is great for so many things, the museums aren't one of them, and you'd probably have a better time just strolling around.