OT: Portland

[musgravecycles]

Heading out to Portland for a few days this week to catch a wedding. What do we (wife, 22-month old daughter, and I) need to see/do/eat while we're there...

[justinf]

Ride into downtown over one of the bridges, on a decent day it's sublime.

[bigtime]

Peanut Butter & Ellies (http://www.peanutbutterellies.com/)

Alma Chocolate (http://www.almachocolate.com/)

Drive into the gorge, walk up to Multnomah Falls (http://trips.stateoforegon.com/multnomah_falls/)

and of course (http://www.vanillabicycles.com) but call first.

[Moveitfred]

You're about two weeks late (http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=/photos/2007/dec07/USGP07/USGP077/DSC_0274), in my humble opinion.

[dave thompson]

A great experience is the drive out the Columbia River Gorge. Pretty spectacular, real nature, a very easy trip.

http://www.gonorthwest.com/Oregon/columbia/Columbia_River.htm

[nobrakes]

Sounds like you'll be here to see a 'light snow' as well as a wedding.

[shinomaster]

Take the kids to Pix for dessert! Walk around Hawthorne..NW 23rd..What do you like to eat? Visit Vanilla?

[musgravecycles]

Yeah I know I'm late for the frickin' race, major bummer.

Peanut Butter and Ellie's looks like fun for Sydney.

Worked out a visit with Sacha a month ago.

Shino, did you get my pm about the mug?

Eating: we're pretty much vegan, other than that we're flexible.

Is the aquarium in town decent? Syd would love that...

[shinomaster]

Yeah I know I'm late for the frickin' race, major bummer.

Peanut Butter and Ellie's looks like fun for Sydney.

Worked out a visit with Sacha a month ago.

Shino, did you get my pm about the mug?

Eating: we're pretty much vegan, other than that we're flexible.

Is the aquarium in town decent? Syd would love that...


Ummm I didn't know we had an aquarium. We have a really nice zoo actually. It's near the Japanese gardens, which is a must see. Also see the Chinese Gardens for a different take on an Asian garden.
Ask Sacha if that's cool about the mug. I'm super busy this week and may not be able to get up there. I'm working late most nights, but I could swing by on Wed.

[Sasha18]

Eating: we're pretty much vegan, other than that we're flexible.




Vegan... that place is a mecca. I like laughing planet on belmont in SE or on Missippi. Very kid friendly. If you like beer, there are so many places. The Lucky Lab brewery has good cheap pub food, good beer, a great atmosphere, and is open to kids 'til 9 (I believe). It's so Portland in my mind. Don't miss Powells if you like books and River City bikes is a good stop. I agree about the trip to Multnomah Falls. It's a 25 min drive straight shot out of town. I'm pretty sure it's the most visited tourist sight in the state, in a good sort of way.

[Blue Jays]

I was initially going to suggest visiting the place where the finest motorcycle coats in the world are built: Langlitz Leathers (http://www.Langlitz.com)

If the vegan animal restrictions of your beliefs only apply to diet, visiting Langlitz is like taking a tour where the MeiVici is constructed. Langlitz owners can typically identify fellow owners from fifty feet away, the quality is that fine.
They build only six garments per day. I was on a waiting list for months for my customized stuff.

LANGLITZ LEATHERS
2443-A SE Division
Portland, Oregon 97202
Phone: 1-503-235-0959

[pdxmech13]

But I could recommend diner at the bistro at Higgins.....always a vegan soup and entree. Not to mention the best beers in the world. I'd check out powells too, as there are alot of hard to find books on the shelves.

[Sasha18]

What do you mean? They don't put the dogs in the beer. What could be more vegan friendly than a bar adorned with dog pictures and a raft of dogs outside? That, and the veggie bento and sandwiches are vegan and good. I agree, Higgins is amazing. But I was goin for low cost eats.

[pdxmech13]

Gelatin in the beer....most beer company's use it as it helps with shipping and long storing.

[shinomaster]

Gelatin in the beer....most beer company's use it as it helps with shipping and long storing.

Really? Wait till I tell my brother...he'll plotz for sure.

[Sasha18]

Sorry to hijack the thread. I promise to not post anything else on the subject. I am, apparently, a very ill informed home brewer. As far as I can tell, you're right, they do use gelatin. Lots of other breweries do, lots don't. I knew wine makers often use fish eyes to clarify their wine. That's disturbing.

Maybe you could suggest a good vegan brewery in town. I had some friends visit portland once and they wanted to drink some local beer. Without any guidance, they went to rockbottom. It was the easiest option and they were misguided by a hotel concierge. I still agree that Higgins is great, expensive, but worth the visit if you're into food. Greg cures his own prosciutto, often grows some of the lettuce for the restaurant, and has been known to throw his own bowls as well.

[pdxmech13]

I would favor Bridgeport for a good local fair brew and it is vegan. The brewery in the pearl is a good bet for families too ! the ipa is one of the best going atmo !

[bcm119]

The use of gelatin/isinglass for filtering out sediment leaves only trace amounts of non-vegan compounds in the beer... its really splitting hairs to not drink it, but to each their own. Unfortunately a few of the local brewers use it- its a more traditional method of filtering. As for the Lucky lab, theres much better beer in PDX than theirs.

Some of the better Oregon brewers imho are bridgeport, amnesia, deschutes, terminal gravity and ninkasi. The Concordia alehouse in NE usually has most of these in a smoke-free environment.