Egods! A veritable rabbit warren of hallways and doorways, each opening into incredibly different…read moreand beautiful worlds. A kaleidoscope of creativity that delights the eye and inspires the creative soul and spirit. In order to access the building, you must befriend one of the artist tenants and/or come during one of the open studio events. This is a working studio complex. But, once you get an invite, you won't be sorry. There is everything from leatherwork, watercolor, photography, encaustic painting & more. Walking through each door to a studio is to explore into the minds eye and artistic expression of another human being. A feast. There are Troy Laundry buildings in Portland and Seattle although my superficial browse of the interwebs didn't come up with a lot of historical info. Do take some time in the staircase at the 11th street entrance, there are some amazing historical photos of the workers and building from back in its heyday as a commercial building.

If you walk around Portland and really pay attention to the art there does seem to be a theme…read more There is a surprisingly large number of statues of small either male or ambiguous figures. This is just one more example (though in a different part of town as most are downtown.) This one is comes complete with a story telling of a fake legend. It is ok though nothing special. Still it is always nice to have some art to look at at a mass transit stop and this one does that job well enough.

A very very creative piece. And I bet you if you are smart, and have the eyes to see and the ears…read moreto hear, there is some pretty cool hidden stuff being expressed.

This is a nice, well preserved piece of history. I recommend reading the plaque about the bell…read more really interesting history. It is huge, It must have been heavy to lift it to the top of its 70 foot pole where it used to hang! Fun Fact: according to the sign, It reportedly could be heard in Oregon City.

Calling all historians!…read more The folks at the Clackamas County Historical Society would love to meet you. After being closed for several years, the Museum of the Oregon Territory spent 2011 rebuilding and they hope to expand hours and resources throughout 2012. At the moment, it is an odd schedule. Open on Wednesdays (11 - 4p) and the first and third Saturdays of the month. I've made several trips here in the past few months and in addition to the museum, they have done a great job hosting events that range from fundraisers (crab feed) to educational (oral histories from the members of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde). They are trying to find someone to be the historian for various cities in Clackamas County and several positions are still open, including West Linn. So if I'm not careful, tag, I might be it! Nice collection of historical objects that range from the mundane to the culturally significant. Of course, there is information about the Willamette Meteorite and the father of Oregon, Dr. John McLoughlin, but I tend to focus on the quirky. One of my favorite sections of the museum is the reproduction of a turn-of-the-century Kaegi pharmacy which was located on 49th and Belmont in Portland. All that vintage glass makes me smile. Admission is free, but of course donations are joyfully accepted. There is also a good view of Willamette Falls from the second and third floors of the museum. What can I say? I'm a museum geek and love places like this. The volunteers are friendly and it is a great snapshot of our local roots. Hope they continue to build on what they've already accomplished.

Nice location for events. I've never actually been there just to view the museum. I've been to a…read moreretirement party here and a wedding. Both held upstairs in the banquet room. It's actually a nice venue for weddings. Catering kitchen, ready room, view, allows candles. It's not huge, I wouldn't suggest a wedding over 60 guests. After the ceremony, when the coordinators want to transition the room to the reception seating, they invite all of the guests to go downstairs and view the museum. It is a very interesting, well laid out museum. Lots of room for guests to wander through without feeling cramped. Friendly, helpful staff, flexible, nice view.

Out of all the freeways in Portland, 205 is one of the newer and more pleasant ones to drive. It…read moreruns from Tualatin up to Vancouver, Washington as an auxiliary route of I-5. If you're wishing to avoid I-5 traffic in downtown Portland or are wanting to merge onto I-84 going east, I highly recommend taking 205 even if there is a bit of traffic. I find that the route is great to bypass the much older and worn down I-5 intersection and also I-405 which backs up due to the Highway 26 intersection. The section from Tualatin to West Linn is probably the smoothest and fastest portion of the entire Portland freeway system- the speed limit is higher (65 MPH vs 55 for most of the surrounding area,) and the grade is actually improved and not pocked with potholes. The only downside is that this route is popular with truckers since it does bypass the entire downtown and inner southeast areas, which makes North Portland and Seattle access much easier and less stressful. While this inherently isn't a bad thing, it does mean that the route does get busy and you'll have to navigate around trucks (and occasionally large accidents do occur.) I mean it's a freeway, how could can it be? But it's still a decent and functioning system, which is good in my book.

Not many people can say they have a long history with a particular road or highway, but I do, and…read moreI'm not an engineer or anything as I was just a kid. The I-205 Freeway and I go back together to about 1965 and that finally ended in about 1985. It was a very trying relationship in the midst of the hurly-burly of it all, but it ended up quite positively. I was born and raised here in Portland and lived out on 95th & Division. For whatever reason, I remember hearing my parents talk about some freeway that was going to be built when I was in first grade (and it ended when I was a junior in high school). As our house was going to be bought by the state and moved elsewhere to make way for the freeway construction, I'd go on house hunting trips with my folks, but usually we heard back from the Oregon Highway Division that they'd halted the project or made new plans. This went on off and on several times until about about 1965. At that point, the State told us they were going to leave our house as the only one on the street surrounded by freeway columns. After trying to talk sense to the Highway Division, we realized they had made up their minds and nothing short of some kind of nuclear explosion was going to change it (so many stories I won't belabor you about the maze of bureaucracy my folks had to jump through). Anyhow, my dad lost his temper with them and became frighteningly focused on them for the next five years. He made himself an expert on highway construction law, and every time the building crews so much as sneezed wrong, he sent them a letter citing the problem and how he intended to remedy it (this was a clear case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease). Take it from me, being his child, you did not want him focusing on you. After five years and reams of papers and files and telephone calls, they gave up on my dad. The Highway Division finally bought the house and moved it clear out near Champoeg Park (where it is still located to this day). My mom was standing in the bank the day she signed the loan papers and saw them move my bedroom (which had been separated from the rest of the house for ease in moving) out SE Division. Today, our old house's location is a freeway column somewhat near the intersection of SE 96th Avenue & Market Street, across from the Adventist Academy and Portland Adventist Hospital. My brother showed me how to count the columns and figure out our old house location. These days I smile a lot and treasure my dad's focus and stubborness and the teamwork my mom shared with him, how they finally won over the Oregon Highway Division. My brother lives the closest (Oregon City) and sees and uses the freeway the most. I rarely get out that way except to visit he and his family, but still there are happy thoughts and memories there.

The Sellwood Bridge at the edge of Sellwood Park is one of those quiet starting points that feels…read morelike the beginning of an adventure. If you've been following along, today was a bridge loop and this is where it kicked off. Easy parking, clean walkways, and options in every direction. The Springwater Corridor runs off to the right, or you cross over and let the day unfold from there. Simple. Perfect. The bridge itself is something special. The current span opened in 2016, replacing the original 1925 crossing, and it's Portland's only steel deck-arch bridge. That rugged steel underneath paired with the smooth concrete above it's got grit and polish all at once. And those arches? Clean, bold, and built to be admired. Catch it at night and it really comes alive. The arches glow, the river reflects it back, and suddenly it's not just a bridge it's a whole scene. Not the main attraction... but the perfect place to begin.

I like the sellwood bridge (the old one was -1 star). It's neither ugly nor beautiful but is…read morefunctional. The 5pm traffic can get a little interesting at times. This is a great bridge to walk/bike/run as it feels safe and there's room from motor vehicles!

Our original plan when moving to Oregon didn't include Portland. Not that I didn't like Portland,…read morebut our plan was Eugene until we decided on where we wanted to buy. We were in Eugene for almost a year (which I loved, but never really felt a connection to) when plans changed and I needed to be in Portland. After a LOT of research choosing a place to live in/around Portland for the next year or two, we decided on Sellwood. We needed to be close enough to the airport (which I drive four times a month, meaning four times each way), we wanted to be by the river, wanted something very walkable, and wanted a safe/family type neighborhood. We got everything we wanted, and I felt an instant connection here. We've been here about 5 months and we absolutely love it. We can walk to the amazing riverfront park (and play fetch with my dog at the off leash area), walk to lots of great shops and restaurants, not a bad drive to the airport, it's a quick drive to the coast or the Columbia River Gorge, and about a 6 mile drive to downtown Portland with endless options of things to see and do. My only problem now is I kind of want to stay and not sure if we'll be able to. :-(

11 Years Ago: Oregon tops my list of places in the US that I'd like to visit. Got cultured…read more(CULTURally EDucated) by a Physics student from Portland while studying Billiards, Non-Profits, and Rock Concerts at Cornell. Spent four years learning about food, music, outdoor activities, film, and Oregon. Promised myself that one day I'd visit (It was second on my list after Prague). 9 Years Ago: Involuntarily left Cornell (was supposed to have been studying Engineering) and returned to Hawaii. Visited Seattle, fell in love with the Northwest...trees,mountains, and rivers everywhere! 5 Year Ago: Got married to my beautiful better half who loves to travel (and has), but had never lived off our island. 4 Years Ago: Debated moving or traveling...chose the later (finally made it to Europe...and put to rest my weird fixation with Prague) 9 Months Ago: Found out my brother (who lives in Portland) was marrying a Salem girl. Booked tickets to visit ORegon for the reception. Again began discussing leaving our comfortable island lives and maybe moving. 5 Months Ago: Decided we needed to stop talking about and stop looking at www.Johnlscott.com till we actually visited. 3 Months Ago: Finally made it to PDX. When we left HNL we were 80% staying 20% moving (liked our jobs, most of our friends and family lived there, and it's Hawaii). After a little over a week here we were sold on moving to one of the few places in the world where the grass really is greener. Loved the progressive ideas, the food, the culture, the Saturday Market, the charming hoods, and the eclectic people.Decided to wait a week to make our final decision. A week less then 3 Months Ago: Rolled the dice and gave ourselves a two month time frame to move. Two Weeks Ago: Had just finished leaving our jobs, selling our material possessions, and shipping what was left. Went on a Yelp hiatus (13 days is a long time for a Yelper). A Week and a half Ago: Bid Aloha to the Aloha state and Arrrived in Seattle with Madison (our canine dogther ). Just over a week Ago: Picked up tRAVis Blueberry (our RAV4) and drove down here. The last few days: Visited neighborhoods, went to concerts, and spent more money then two jobless people should stocking up at New Seasons, Trader Joes, Target, Costco, Uwajimaya, Ross, and IKEA. Right Now: Writing my first Portland Yelp which has turned into a circuitous, verbose, meandering, somewhat introspective piece that hasn't even gotten to the point yet. Two Weeks from Now: Hopefully working for a non-profit somewhere or at least getting paid to do something fun. Three Months from Now: Hopefully living somewhere in Sellwood, Hawthorne, Alberta, Belmont, or Mississippi (NW23rd is nice too, but too expensive). We spent an afternoon walking up and down SE 13th ave. in Sellwood and were blown away by all the affable dog-friendly outrageously cool shops, restaurants, parks, and people. This place rocks. Anyway, who really knows what'll happen next? 3 months ago Portland was just a pipe dream. Now...we're here (and loving it...and not just cause we're unemployed with time to goof around).

OMG the only thing better than being able to climb aboard this vintage attack sub for less than $10…read morewas the five star quality of the tour! The sub itself was awesome but unlike self-guided ship visits I have been on, this guided tour made the sub come to life! Probably because it's a guided tour you're able to actually visit the cool parts of the sub like the control room and the torpedo room, as well as sit down in the dining booths in the kitchen and hear about their not-bad-at-all menu. So so so worth $10 whether or not you're seeing the rest of the museum. Actually we came just for the sub, after getting sammies at Baker's Mark nearby but that's another story....

As an ex-navy submariner, old museum boats naturally draw my interest. During my latest trip over…read morethe hill to Portland, on top of my to-do list was visiting the USS Blueback. I was not disappointed. The submarine is in great shape (not a given at other museums featuring navy vessels) and the guided tour was excellent. Mind you, I didn't need a guided tour and was a bit apprehensive when our guide turned out to be a young woman who was clearly not a navy vet. Here again, I was not disappointed. Although she had no personal experience on submarines, she had just as clearly been trained well on the history, workings and life on the Blueback. Her mentors were the volunteer navy sub vets who help maintain the boat and who are to be commended for what they do, both in keeping the Blueback in fine condition and ensuring the tour guides know their stuff. Highly recommended.