Portland : locations saisonnières

On this tour, you'll join me as we explore the city and food culture through the medium of donuts. You'll learn history of Portland, each donut location, how they fit into the larger food scene, as well as try some amazing donuts. We start near the PSU campus where we begin at Sesame Donuts and try some of their amazing sesame donuts as well as many others. We then take a nice walk through central Portland over to Fills Donuts to sample some of their daily specials. Their menu changes often. From there, it's off to NOLA Doughnuts where we'll sample beignets and some of the best chocolate donuts you've ever had. We'll finish the tour at Voodoo Doughnuts, where you can even skip the line (sometimes a 30-60 minute ordeal). We hope you can join us! Other things to note Currently, many of these shops do not have gluten free or dairy free donuts available. We will try to accommodate allergies, but it has been difficult recently. We still welcome you to come on the tour though.

Beautiful bikes, beautiful rides, and all our neighborhood secrets. On our tours we'll smell roses, taste treats, ride across bridges, and along rivers; it's the best way to experience the diversity of culture, art, poetry, nature, parks and neighborhoods in Portland. Our approach is to spend more time riding, but lots of time stopping at gardens, art installations, sculptures and poetry beaches. We start in the inner Eastside at our shop at 833 SE Main St #120, where we will fit you for a bike and helmet, ready for a 6-10 mile ride. We head out into Ladd’s Addition, to our fave rose garden, into an art-heavy industrial district, across the sexy Tilikum Bridge, and onto Portland's waterfront. We’ll ride along the water before we head over another bridge back to our shop! Portland is not just a city of seamless bicycle infrastructure and friendly relations between cyclists and motorists, but also a city of poets. Literally, figuratively, our bike ride is a poem; a series of poems; to our city. We'll read poetry written on murals, in sidewalks, and carved in rocks. There is, too, the whirling poetry of wheels on pavement, the sweet suspension of effort that is cycling on the streets and pathways in this place we love. Portland mornings are cool -- bring layers! It rains often in Portland; rain jackets are wise. Minimal bike experience is ok; none, is not.

Meet downtown and head to the Columbia Gorge to enjoy 3 amazing waterfalls. All of the waterfalls are located in the Columbia Gorge which is about 30 mins outside of Portland. Each of the hikes will be about a mile or less. We will have the opportunity to get as close as you like to the falls and learn about this amazing part of the world. This experience is appropriate for all fitness levels. Other things to note It might be a good idea to bring some shoes with decent traction but it's not absolutely necessary.

Multnomah Falls and other waterfalls and vistas of the Columbia Gorge are astonishing icons of geology, the sort that have inspired mythology and lore of warriors, gods and passions in every world culture. Meet the tallest waterfall in the state, and a few of the shorter but even more stunning ones, too; falls which could only be the daughters and sons of legend. In this half-day experience, we will explore wonders in our customizable small-group, half-day experience with short hikes (up to 3 miles/5 km) and visits to overlooks and vistas that will have you gasping in awe. While Multnomah Falls and its iconic Benson Bridge are together the most-visited tourist attraction in the Portland area, they are only a part of our experience. We will meet at our shop in inner SE Portland, where we'll ride in our Mercedes Sprinter vans to the nearby gorge. Depending on weather conditions, we could visit a few small hidden waterfalls or spectacular plunge-style falls whose columnar basalt has us learning words for "amazing" in other languages. We'll also tell you stories, geology, botany and oft-repeated tales of pioneers and road-builders, but also the old stories we've learned, of gods and wild spirits and about the oldest North American civilization, forever altered by “manifest destiny." Please note we book directly as well as through AirBNB, and your group may be up to 10.

At our shop location in the thriving SE industrial district, you'll be fitted for a bike and helmet before heading out on a culinary experience through some of the more than 60 food cart pods in Portland. You will sample favorites spanning a range from Oregon farm-to-table delights, to snacks appropriate for late-night cravings. Your guide will learn about your food preferences and the group will visit the real deal: the first permanent food cart pod anywhere. It's the beginning of a neighborhood ride of 8-12 miles (13-19 km) to three of our favorite food cart pods, as we unfold the fascinating (and only told by us!) tale of how Portland came to be the epicenter of the food cart craze. After the story, the group will bike up a gentle hill to the Hawthorne neighborhood, part of Portland's hometown story: the heart of all that's delicious, funky, and hippie, a thoroughfare with a street food soul! You will ride into the city's foodie history (going back over a century!) and stop at a special coffee food cart made in a unique vehicle. Here you and the group will get a caffeinated beverage, if you like, to begin the day. Your guide will select food for the group to sample at each pod, with an option for you to purchase beer or dessert, and some stops that tell a bit more to the food cart story. We'll return to the shop at the end of our ride, full of street food and fun. Other things to note Portland mornings are cool -- bring layers! We have raingear to borrow; or (Sept - June) bring your favorite rainjacket. We wear everyday clothes to ride our bikes, but it's easier in comfortable footwear, with no long skirts or wide legged pants. Minimal bike experience is ok; none, is not.