Portland = Urban Paradise

As an Urban Design major in college I was constantly reading case studies and examples about Portland, OR. This relatively small city is the "poster child" for good Urban Design. It was a Friday afternoon labor day weekend 2008 and Lindsay and I were dying to go somewhere. At the last minute I thought "lets load up the Mini-Cooper and head up to Portland"...and that we did. We drove from Salt Lake City to Boise for the night and then on to Portland the next morning. The drive is beautiful; riding along the Columbia river with Mt. Hood in the background is fantastic. The highlight of the trip however was the city of Portland itself. As we drove across one of the many historic bridges I began to realize why this city was so famous amongst urbanites. Portland has all the ingredients for an urban paradise: Narrow streets, very small blocks (you can fit 9 Portland blocks in 1 Salt Lake City block) and lots of "districts" with varying personalities. We spent the weekend exploring the neighborhood markets, hanging out in the trendy "Pearl District" and riding the streetcars from place to place. The city also has a huge park with the world famous "international rose garden" which was simply beautiful. For this trip we decided to really enjoy our hotel room by renting movies, sleeping-in, etc which felt great because we rarely take the time to do this. Portland is definitely a city worth visiting; for us it was everything it was hyped up to be. If you want a "big city weekend" with a "small town feel" head off to Portland!