We decided to spend three weeks in Portland, Oregon because of the great bike riding here. The day after we arrived we joined a ride with the Portland Wheelmen cycling club.
The folks in the club were really friendly and happy to share their favorite bike rides with us.
This is Dean. He will turn 80 in a few months, but he looks much younger and stronger than his age would indicate. He told us he loves to ride along the Columbia River Gorge. Later we learned that Dean is a four-time national time trial champion!
The next day we went riding at the Columbia Gorge. Vista House is in the foreground. It’s an observatory that was built in 1918 in the art nouveau style.
Pete looks happy as he poses in front of the building because he bought cookies at the bake sale inside.
Located on Crown Point, Vista House provides wonderful views of the Columbia River and valley.
We rode on old Hwy 30, also called the Historic Columbia River Highway (HCRH), which cruises by Vista House and down to Multnomah Falls (and all the way to The Dalles).
The highway has beautiful rock walls and stone bridges that are often covered in moss.
Near Multnomah Falls we got a great look at the sheer walls of the gorge as we went through a pedestrian tunnel.
Pete is next to a roadside sculpture of a family made from old propane tanks, fire extinguishers and doo dads. We especially liked the dog sculptures.
Another day we went further east on the Columbia River and road from Mosier to The Dalles.
It was fun to ride twelve miles on a mixed use (pedestrian and cycling) trail.
Then we rode on the HCRH. Here the road building was an engineering feat.
The views of the Columbia River and surrounding valley were great!
The next week we went to the Portland Wheelmen ride again, and had fun with the dozen or so other riders who came out to play.
Roger, the ride leader, described the rides he chooses as quiet, country roads alongside tree nurseries.
We liked looking at the farmland and farm houses. This was one of our favorite barns, which featured a wonderful porcine weather vane.
We passed many interesting mailboxes and signs. Pigs are popular in Portland.
Here are bird “condos” in the country.
By our third ride with the Wheelmen we noticed they regularly ride through Troutdale and on the Stark Street bridge.
It's a lovely way to cross the Sandy River, which is a tributary of the Columbia River.
Another day we rode up Larch Mountain. From the top we could see five mountain peaks, including Mt Hood. We were at an elevation of 1,257 meters (4,180 feet) high.
The close up of Mt Hood shows lots of bare patches, due to the mild winter and drought that Oregon is experiencing.
Other rides provided different views of Mt Hood.
We saw varied scenery.
One day we rode up to Bald Peak State Park.
It was mostly an exposed ride, but we did appreciate the shade of the trees at the top.
While staying in Portland we had fun riding 15 times for over 950 Km with 10,000 meters of climbing. Krisitna is standing by the Mt Hood National Forest sign, which was the closest we got to Mt Hood, as we rode near Lolo Pass.
The weather was hot and somewhat humid. In this photo Pete has his jersey unzipped and you can see his heart rate monitor. To help beat the heat we started planning rides so that we could cool off at the end. After this ride we splashed in the Sandy River below Pete - it was a perfect way to cool off!
We enjoyed picnics after each ride. This meal included tabouleh, fruit crisp, hard boiled eggs, salami and carrots.
On one of the hottest days we drove up to Scappoose Bay and rented a kayak.
We brought a picnic and ate on the beach.
Then we paddled into the Cavanaugh Slough.
We liked being in the sheltered waterway and we saw lots of birds, including Belted Kingfishers, Bald Eagles, Wood Ducks and Ospreys like this one.
It was lush and green.
We even saw a beaver swimming in the slough.
This old dock was charming with grass sprouting out of the wood posts.
We shopped at a local farmer’s market to buy stone fruit and berries. We have been eating lots of wonderful fruit, and also making fruit crisps like this apricot, cherry and blueberry crisp.
We bought organic Napa cabbage and kholrabis.
And turned them into coleslaw.
And we made cilantro sauce and sautéed fresh spinach with chilis to complement our masala dosas.
Portland is known for their great restaurants, and we had some wonderful meals out. The tasting menu at Bamboo Sushi started with a pickle plate of turnips, bok choy, cauliflower, asparagus and cabbage.
We appreciate that they only serve sustainable fish like this albacore carpaccio.
A signature dish at Bamboo Sushi is “house on fire mackerel” and the fish was seasoned with chili oil and topped with mustard seed relish. The dish was served smoking, with its fire source of charcoal below the mackerel in another steamer basket.
In front of Kristina is imo koroshi, “potato killer”, which is a dish of sweet potatoes that have been press-boxed with garlic butter and sesame chili then covered in fried shallots. It was yummy!
We also like Vietnamese pho, so we took our friend Lance’s recommendation to try HA & VL for breakfast.
Learning that they make two types of pho each day, we decided to go back on a Sunday to try their northern Vietnamese style beef pho that we love. It was excellent.
After riding we also enjoyed Bun Bo Hue, another Vietnamese restaurant. Pete had the signature pork broth filled with all sorts of pork parts including blood sausage, a true homage to porcine pulchritude. Kristina had a southern Vietnamese soup with chicken and rice noodles, topping it with the fresh garnishes of bean sprouts, shizo, cilantro and jalapeños
Lance had also told us about Langbaan, a 20 seat Thai restaurant that has been winning lots of awards. Luckily we like to plan ahead, so we made a reservation six months ago; It was worth the wait! This is Chef Rassamee plating a shrimp dish called miang som.
We sat at the counter so we could watch the cooks in action. We were interested to learn that Rassamee had worked in Bangkok at two restaurants were we had dined, Nahm and Soul Food Mahanakorn.
We watched while they examined and polished these perfect betel leaves as they put them on plates before adding the miang som filling.
This is the finished dish of spiced shrimps served in betel leaves. It was fun to pick them up like a taco, and they tasted like some of the best food we had eaten in Thailand.
This is pla goong kati sod, a salad of spot prawns (including the crispy fried heads), cherries, arugula, radish, lemongrass, and fried shallots.
And the whole dish was topped with some fish roe.
The most memorable dish on the Langbaan tasting menu was a salad called yum mamuang kamu tod. A pig knuckle was slow cooked in duck fat then deep fried and covered in spicy green mango salad - wow!
We stayed in the Mt Tabor district first, in an Airbnb apartment behind this house.
The owners Jeff and Katie had gotten their yard certified as a wildlife habitat.
This is one of the bee houses that Jeff made for the native burrowing bees. He explained how he had better luck attracting local bees to pollinate his garden than he'd had with hive bees.
They had a big crop of blueberries.
Their dozen chickens were a lot of fun to feed and watch. We also enjoyed some fresh eggs.
Each evening we would stroll around the neighborhood to get away from the heat. There were many interesting gardens to admire. This particular front yard garden had espaliered apple and pear trees rather than a fence or hedge row.
Here's a friendly neighborhood tree.
We got this nice sunset shot from the deck. There's Mt. Hood again.
We moved across town to another Airbnb apartment. Here Pete is hanging out in the cozy sleep spot.
The beautiful wooden sliding doors could be closed for privacy.
We love the Japanese style elements like a bathroom sink being made from a hollowed out and polished rock, then mounted on a wooden counter top cut from a tree trunk that still had bark on the side.
The desk in the bedroom had a custom shoji screen wall with lights behind it and a rough hewn log header above it.
The outside was charming too, with rock steps leading up to the apartment.
In Portland it's easy to bike around town. We stayed on Michigan street, which was one of many bikeway streets with speed limits of 20 mph.
We like how a graffiti artist had turned a generic biker into a female super hero cyclist by painting in a ponytail, mask, cape and heels!
Speaking of super women, our friend Mya flew up to Portland to spend a weekend with us. On the 4th of July we rented bikes and explored the Willamette River waterfront.
This woman had her kids in a front trailer with their bikes. We could understand why she needed an electric assist with her load.
The waterfront was a cool place to be on the 4th of July.
We saw people beating the heat however they could.
This kayaker was sporting a flag cape to celebrate the 4th.
Across the river we could see people enjoying live music, with some listening from boats.
After spotting a public piano, Pete took a turn tickling the ivories.
We don't know this man, but we liked his enthusiasm about playing the piano.
This being Portland, we rode our bikes around our neighborhood and found a local brewery for beers and pickles on the patio.
Mya had given us Bananagrams last winter. She got us (and some of our friends and family) hooked on this great game. We played a few rounds at the Liberty Glass Bar, just around the corner from our Airbnb. We could hear fireworks but only saw a few.
The next day we took a yoga class, then refueled at Lardo, an awesome sandwich place. We had a fried chicken sandwich as big as Pete’s head.
Mya opted for the ban mi sandwich and kale salad. Of course beer complemented the food very well.
The best meal we shared was at Ox, an Argentian restaurant that our friends Lance and Laura recommended. We had such a great visit with Mya!
This is a short rib terrine that has been breaded and deep fried, then served with cherries and sauteed vegetables. It tasted as good as it looked.
Mya ordered this beautiful and tasty cocktail called Ox Blood that was bourbon with beet syrup.
And this is braised lamb shoulder that has been rubbed with cocoa. It was amazing!
The sign next to the wood fired spit says “it’s prohibited to touch the meat.”
Our nephew Julian turned 12 on July 5th, so we wish him a very happy birthday! Pete is eating a caramel ice cream cookie sandwich that Julian would have like too.
It's been great to be in Portland! We are heading north to British Columbia next.
The folks in the club were really friendly and happy to share their favorite bike rides with us.
This is Dean. He will turn 80 in a few months, but he looks much younger and stronger than his age would indicate. He told us he loves to ride along the Columbia River Gorge. Later we learned that Dean is a four-time national time trial champion!
The next day we went riding at the Columbia Gorge. Vista House is in the foreground. It’s an observatory that was built in 1918 in the art nouveau style.
Pete looks happy as he poses in front of the building because he bought cookies at the bake sale inside.
Located on Crown Point, Vista House provides wonderful views of the Columbia River and valley.
We rode on old Hwy 30, also called the Historic Columbia River Highway (HCRH), which cruises by Vista House and down to Multnomah Falls (and all the way to The Dalles).
The highway has beautiful rock walls and stone bridges that are often covered in moss.
Near Multnomah Falls we got a great look at the sheer walls of the gorge as we went through a pedestrian tunnel.
Pete is next to a roadside sculpture of a family made from old propane tanks, fire extinguishers and doo dads. We especially liked the dog sculptures.
Another day we went further east on the Columbia River and road from Mosier to The Dalles.
It was fun to ride twelve miles on a mixed use (pedestrian and cycling) trail.
Then we rode on the HCRH. Here the road building was an engineering feat.
The views of the Columbia River and surrounding valley were great!
The next week we went to the Portland Wheelmen ride again, and had fun with the dozen or so other riders who came out to play.
Roger, the ride leader, described the rides he chooses as quiet, country roads alongside tree nurseries.
We liked looking at the farmland and farm houses. This was one of our favorite barns, which featured a wonderful porcine weather vane.
We passed many interesting mailboxes and signs. Pigs are popular in Portland.
Here are bird “condos” in the country.
By our third ride with the Wheelmen we noticed they regularly ride through Troutdale and on the Stark Street bridge.
It's a lovely way to cross the Sandy River, which is a tributary of the Columbia River.
Another day we rode up Larch Mountain. From the top we could see five mountain peaks, including Mt Hood. We were at an elevation of 1,257 meters (4,180 feet) high.
The close up of Mt Hood shows lots of bare patches, due to the mild winter and drought that Oregon is experiencing.
Other rides provided different views of Mt Hood.
We saw varied scenery.
One day we rode up to Bald Peak State Park.
It was mostly an exposed ride, but we did appreciate the shade of the trees at the top.
While staying in Portland we had fun riding 15 times for over 950 Km with 10,000 meters of climbing. Krisitna is standing by the Mt Hood National Forest sign, which was the closest we got to Mt Hood, as we rode near Lolo Pass.
The weather was hot and somewhat humid. In this photo Pete has his jersey unzipped and you can see his heart rate monitor. To help beat the heat we started planning rides so that we could cool off at the end. After this ride we splashed in the Sandy River below Pete - it was a perfect way to cool off!
We enjoyed picnics after each ride. This meal included tabouleh, fruit crisp, hard boiled eggs, salami and carrots.
On one of the hottest days we drove up to Scappoose Bay and rented a kayak.
We brought a picnic and ate on the beach.
Then we paddled into the Cavanaugh Slough.
We liked being in the sheltered waterway and we saw lots of birds, including Belted Kingfishers, Bald Eagles, Wood Ducks and Ospreys like this one.
It was lush and green.
We even saw a beaver swimming in the slough.
This old dock was charming with grass sprouting out of the wood posts.
We shopped at a local farmer’s market to buy stone fruit and berries. We have been eating lots of wonderful fruit, and also making fruit crisps like this apricot, cherry and blueberry crisp.
We bought organic Napa cabbage and kholrabis.
And turned them into coleslaw.
And we made cilantro sauce and sautéed fresh spinach with chilis to complement our masala dosas.
Portland is known for their great restaurants, and we had some wonderful meals out. The tasting menu at Bamboo Sushi started with a pickle plate of turnips, bok choy, cauliflower, asparagus and cabbage.
We appreciate that they only serve sustainable fish like this albacore carpaccio.
A signature dish at Bamboo Sushi is “house on fire mackerel” and the fish was seasoned with chili oil and topped with mustard seed relish. The dish was served smoking, with its fire source of charcoal below the mackerel in another steamer basket.
In front of Kristina is imo koroshi, “potato killer”, which is a dish of sweet potatoes that have been press-boxed with garlic butter and sesame chili then covered in fried shallots. It was yummy!
We also like Vietnamese pho, so we took our friend Lance’s recommendation to try HA & VL for breakfast.
Learning that they make two types of pho each day, we decided to go back on a Sunday to try their northern Vietnamese style beef pho that we love. It was excellent.
After riding we also enjoyed Bun Bo Hue, another Vietnamese restaurant. Pete had the signature pork broth filled with all sorts of pork parts including blood sausage, a true homage to porcine pulchritude. Kristina had a southern Vietnamese soup with chicken and rice noodles, topping it with the fresh garnishes of bean sprouts, shizo, cilantro and jalapeños
Lance had also told us about Langbaan, a 20 seat Thai restaurant that has been winning lots of awards. Luckily we like to plan ahead, so we made a reservation six months ago; It was worth the wait! This is Chef Rassamee plating a shrimp dish called miang som.
We sat at the counter so we could watch the cooks in action. We were interested to learn that Rassamee had worked in Bangkok at two restaurants were we had dined, Nahm and Soul Food Mahanakorn.
We watched while they examined and polished these perfect betel leaves as they put them on plates before adding the miang som filling.
This is the finished dish of spiced shrimps served in betel leaves. It was fun to pick them up like a taco, and they tasted like some of the best food we had eaten in Thailand.
This is pla goong kati sod, a salad of spot prawns (including the crispy fried heads), cherries, arugula, radish, lemongrass, and fried shallots.
And the whole dish was topped with some fish roe.
The most memorable dish on the Langbaan tasting menu was a salad called yum mamuang kamu tod. A pig knuckle was slow cooked in duck fat then deep fried and covered in spicy green mango salad - wow!
We stayed in the Mt Tabor district first, in an Airbnb apartment behind this house.
The owners Jeff and Katie had gotten their yard certified as a wildlife habitat.
This is one of the bee houses that Jeff made for the native burrowing bees. He explained how he had better luck attracting local bees to pollinate his garden than he'd had with hive bees.
They had a big crop of blueberries.
Their dozen chickens were a lot of fun to feed and watch. We also enjoyed some fresh eggs.
Each evening we would stroll around the neighborhood to get away from the heat. There were many interesting gardens to admire. This particular front yard garden had espaliered apple and pear trees rather than a fence or hedge row.
Here's a friendly neighborhood tree.
We got this nice sunset shot from the deck. There's Mt. Hood again.
We moved across town to another Airbnb apartment. Here Pete is hanging out in the cozy sleep spot.
The beautiful wooden sliding doors could be closed for privacy.
We love the Japanese style elements like a bathroom sink being made from a hollowed out and polished rock, then mounted on a wooden counter top cut from a tree trunk that still had bark on the side.
The desk in the bedroom had a custom shoji screen wall with lights behind it and a rough hewn log header above it.
The outside was charming too, with rock steps leading up to the apartment.
In Portland it's easy to bike around town. We stayed on Michigan street, which was one of many bikeway streets with speed limits of 20 mph.
We like how a graffiti artist had turned a generic biker into a female super hero cyclist by painting in a ponytail, mask, cape and heels!
Speaking of super women, our friend Mya flew up to Portland to spend a weekend with us. On the 4th of July we rented bikes and explored the Willamette River waterfront.
This woman had her kids in a front trailer with their bikes. We could understand why she needed an electric assist with her load.
The waterfront was a cool place to be on the 4th of July.
We saw people beating the heat however they could.
This kayaker was sporting a flag cape to celebrate the 4th.
Across the river we could see people enjoying live music, with some listening from boats.
After spotting a public piano, Pete took a turn tickling the ivories.
We don't know this man, but we liked his enthusiasm about playing the piano.
This being Portland, we rode our bikes around our neighborhood and found a local brewery for beers and pickles on the patio.
Mya had given us Bananagrams last winter. She got us (and some of our friends and family) hooked on this great game. We played a few rounds at the Liberty Glass Bar, just around the corner from our Airbnb. We could hear fireworks but only saw a few.
The next day we took a yoga class, then refueled at Lardo, an awesome sandwich place. We had a fried chicken sandwich as big as Pete’s head.
Mya opted for the ban mi sandwich and kale salad. Of course beer complemented the food very well.
The best meal we shared was at Ox, an Argentian restaurant that our friends Lance and Laura recommended. We had such a great visit with Mya!
This is a short rib terrine that has been breaded and deep fried, then served with cherries and sauteed vegetables. It tasted as good as it looked.
Mya ordered this beautiful and tasty cocktail called Ox Blood that was bourbon with beet syrup.
And this is braised lamb shoulder that has been rubbed with cocoa. It was amazing!
The sign next to the wood fired spit says “it’s prohibited to touch the meat.”
Our nephew Julian turned 12 on July 5th, so we wish him a very happy birthday! Pete is eating a caramel ice cream cookie sandwich that Julian would have like too.
It's been great to be in Portland! We are heading north to British Columbia next.
