Instead of dutifully slogging through museums, how about pulling up a chair at a sidewalk cafe, sipping chai or a microbrew and asking your server where he'd go? Or renting a bike and seeing how many neighborhoods you could breeze through before happy hour?
And what's not to love about a city that embraces not one, but two, happy hours -- from about 5 to 7 each evening and then a second-wind version from about 10 p.m. to midnight?
And why not? It's one of the key questions of the Portland mind-set, along with its twin, "What if?" Some Portlanders chant the city mantra "Think Different," while others echo "Keep Portland Weird." Weirdness is so institutionalized now that the Visitors Association hands out "Keep Portland Weird" bumper stickers. Codified weirdness -- can an entire city be an oxymoron?
Stand too close to a Portlander and you can almost hear the cogs clicking. What if we redesigned a city around people rather than cars? We'd need some buses, light rail, streetcars, an aerial tram and flex cars -- communal vehicles we could rent for a few hours or days. And oh, yeah, let's rip up the four-lane freeway along the Willamette (wil HAM et) River and make it a park.
For travelers, that means a fabulous Fareless Square -- a 330-block area where it's easy to hop on MAX light rail, shiny new streetcars, a trolley or a bus for a free ride to most of the city's shops, restaurants, museums and hotels. And don't miss the new aerial tram for a great view of the Willamette and the burgeoning South Waterfront District.
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