This week, WordCamp US nestles into Portland, Oregon for the first time, so I thought I should take a moment to welcome all of you to Portland. Stumptown. Silicon Forest. Bridgetown. Rose City. Little Beruit. Rip City. Portlandia…

Whatever you call it, Portland, Oregon is the big town I call home. Welcome. I’m so glad you’re here.

Sentimentality aside, there are some important things you need to know when navigating the city and surrounding area.

Land Acknowledgement

The Portland Metro area rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River. Indigenous people have created communities and summer encampments to harvest and enjoy the plentiful natural resources of the area for the last 11,000 years. 

You can read the full land acknowledgment shared by Portland Parks and Recreation here.

Getting Around

The most helpful piece of information I received when I moved here 29 years ago…

** Cami looks up to the sky and thinks about the good ol days that were actually pretty crap and then realizes she’s writing a blog post and not shaking her cane at the sky shouting KIDS THESE DAYS **

… is that Portland’s streets are, primarily, on a grid. The city is divided by the Willamette River into East to West and by Burnside Street into North to South. Numbered streets count away from the river, so the higher the number the further from the center of the city you get. (Please note that there’s also a N Portland and suddenly a S Portland. Which are the 5th and 6th quadrants. No lie, we call them”quadrants.” Mathematicians, we’re not. Most of us.)

Use public transit.

TriMet is our public transit system. It features light rail, bus, and streetcar systems to get folks to and from locations all over the Portland Metro Area. There’s a helpful guide provided to tell you all about their services here. Intimidated by the options…? TriMet has a trip planner to help you figure stuff out.

Pro tip: Grab the Hop Fastpass to easily use your phone to purchase and store your Trimet tickets.

Take a bike.

Check out BikePortland to learn about bike riding, safety, and culture in Portland.

Portland has a BIKETOWN program that allows folks to use bikes and scooters all over the city to get around. First, I’ll tell you that you should definitely wear a helmet. Then I’ll ask you to read here to learn more about it how it works here.

Or a ride service.

We have all the major ride service providers as well as local taxi companies.

Or walk.

Portland was planned to be a walkable city. So we have delightfully short blocks. Walking a few blocks here is equivalent to a single block in another city. So please don’t think it’s terribly difficult to walk to something that’s five blocks away.

If you can help it, don’t drive.

Portland is a beautiful congested traffic mess — unless you’re from NYC or LA, then it seems like nothing. I don’t drive. I’m not the person you want behind the wheel of a large automobile if my panic reaction sets in so if you want to know about driving in Portland we should find someone else for you to chat to.

But I am very well versed in parking in Portland. Parking in Portland is, in most neighborhoods, a giant pain in the ass. If you can help it don’t drive, share rides, use our public transit system, walk, or take a bike.

If you do choose to drive, please remember that cars share the roads here. You’ll see families and people of all ages using the bike lanes, and where we don’t have bike lanes, using the same road you’re driving on. Respect their space and make sure you know the local rules of the road.

And one other thing if you’re driving look out for pedestrians. Pedestrians have the right of way here and legally any corner street crossing should be treated as a crosswalk — whether it’s painted as one or not. Every corner is a crosswalk, basically.

What to do?

Hopefully, you’re here for a few extra days after WordCamp wraps up and have a little time to see some of our amazing city. I wish I could tell you all the best things to do, but everyone explores cities differently. Also, I’m a hermit curmudgeon. I’m assuming you’re a lot more fun than I am. So you should check out Travel Portland for a list of quintessential Portland activities, locations, and events.

Guides and Apps

• BuzzCutt features non-alcoholic options for gathering with friends*
• Everywhere is Queer provides a map of queer-owned and queer-friendly establishments*
• Travel Portland App was shared by the WordCamp organizers, so I’m just reminding you
• The Actual Portland is a place to learn about what Portland is really like and what we value. It’s a curated hub to find underrepresented businesses, places, news, resources, and other local recommendations made by actual people who live here.”
• NearHear will help you out if you want to catch a music show while you’re in town*

* These apps are useful beyond Portland. They were just started here, so I like to highlight them.

Food…

This is probably what you’re here for because wow do we have some amazing food options!  I’ll steer away from broad food topics as much as possible, aside from encouraging you to check out the Food Carts. They’re stand-alone in Pods across the city and are an essential culinary experience in Portland.

There is so much amazing food that I can’t even begin to tell you where to go. Thankfully there is a resource for that. Check out Eater and find something amazing and perfect for you.

If you happen to be gluten-free

Most places in Portland will have a gluten-free option available. Not all of them, but most. But if you’d like more than just the one gluten-free muffin sadly sitting isolated in a case with other more glamorous baked goods, try some of these shops that are either dedicated gluten-free or have signifiant gluten-free selections. For a comprehensive list of gluten-free dining check out Find Me Gluten Free’s Portland list.

New Cascadia Traditional – 2502 SE Division – This is the first dedicated gluten-free bakery I ever went to. I’m not embarrassed tell you after eating a gluten-free maple bar from them for the first time that I cried. It was like joy mixed with relief and satisfaction. After all of these years a real fried donut. They also have any number of other amazing pastries both sweet and savory as well as bagels, sandwiches, and really good pizza. They have a large selection of vegan items (that are still gluten-free) as well. They’re definitely my weekend donut run go to. 

Petunia’s Pies & Pastries – 610 SW 12th – Petunia’s is both gluten-free and vegan. Though you won’t know it when you taste their food.

PizzaKat – 2174 W Burnside – PizzaKat is neither dedicated gluten-free nor is it dedicated vegan, so if cross-contamination is a concern to you I recommend you head over to New Cascadia Traditional for gluten-free or Virtuous Pie for vegan. But if having a dedicated kitchen isn’t a concern get thee to PizzaKat now. My partner and I order from PizzaKat far more frequently than I’m comfortable admitting. It is the best GF pizza I’ve had. Not just in town, anywhere. And he seems to really enjoy the standard pizza just as much. I know that I can feed any of my visiting friends here regardless of their food restrictions and still trust that my friends who eat like picky toddlers will have a meal they love. And did I mention the house-made ice cream and sorbet?

Bastion – 6116 SE Milwaukie Avenue – This restaurant is newer to me, I only tried it a couple of months ago for brunch while some friends were visiting and I was delighted. Get a chocolate chip cookie. Trust me.

If you happen to be vegan

Get ready to be happy. Portland is a vegan gourmand’s paradise. Most every restaurant has vegan options. But if you’re interested in exploring wholly vegan establishments, we have a bunch of those, too. And, of course, we have a map for that.

Added bonus

Back in the olden days when WordPress was shiny and new and people were blogging about just about everything a (then) Portland local Justin Kistner decided it would be great to put all the Portland folks who needed help with their blog, wanted to talk about their blog, or just wanted some likeminded folks to hang out with on a Friday evening into a room together and add beer. If I’m remembering correctly it was just him and one or two folks at the beginning hanging out sipping cool drinks and talking about this thing called blog.

We haven’t hosted one in our fair city for a minute. But Portland still loves it blogs and beverages. And Portland also loves you. So our very own local Silicon Florist Rick Turoczy decided that there would be no better way to welcome you to our city than to say hello while you’re getting close to heading out. Granted, he’s not very good with timing. Clearly.

So join a bunch of fine blogging and startup folks for a couple of hours of socialization on Friday afternoon. Locals will start showing up around 4pm which means they’ll be there to greet you when WordCamp US wraps up at 5pm.

Join us for Beer and Blog on Friday, September 20, 2024, around 4pm. See you there?

What am I missing?

Most of the year I’m a homebody, and that is one of my greatest joys. But that means I’m missing out on some amazing stuff happening in Portland that folks might want to check out. So my fellow amazing Portland and Portland adjacent people, please leave one thing in the comments that you think folks should experience while they’re in Portland that the tourist guides would never know to share. In other words don’t say Voodoo Doughnut or the Rose Garden.