Portland Morning City Tour

Pioneer Courthouse Square, located in the heart of Downtown Portland, is a public space hosting more than 300 programmed events each year. With more than 26,000 people visiting the Square each day, it is the single most visited site in the city. The Square’s features include the Waterfall Fountain, built of granite; sixteen columns with classical pillars topped with carved yellow roses on which crawl pink-and-green spotted bugs; and two brick amphitheaters which provide seats for events.

One of the city’s signature landmarks, located in beautiful Washington Park, Portland’s largest official rose garden is home to more than 10,000 roses including 650+ rose varieties. From May through October, you can stroll amongst the lovely blooms, breathe in the delightful smells, and enjoy the spectacular views of downtown and Mount Hood.

The neighborhood surrounding stylish Northwest 23rd Avenue offers an abundance of terrific shopping and choice eats. In the Northwest neighborhood (also known as Nob Hill or the Alphabet District), century-old Victorian and Craftsman-style storefronts housing unique boutiques stand alongside national retailers, interspersed with coffee shops and on-trend restaurants and bars. In short, it’s a shopper’s paradise.

Loading docks and cobblestone streets hint at this former warehouse district’s past, while stylish bars and gleaming lofts point toward the future. The Pearl District was formerly occupied by warehouses, light industry, and railroad classification yards and now noted for its art galleries, restaurants, upscale businesses, and high-rise residences along with lofts that were converted from warehouses.

You can explore forests around the world through two floors of unique hands-on exhibits. Suitable for all ages, the Discovery Museum’s colorful and thoughtful exhibits include information about tree planting, wildlife, the benefits of wood, outdoor recreation, and forest careers. The first floor focuses on the many roles that forests play in our lives. View the forest as a habitat, a place for recreation and reflection, a critical resource, and more. Much of the second floor takes a global perspective, exploring how people around the world are connected to and dependent on their local forests. We will visit the World Forestry Center from mid-October through the end of April on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

This hidden gem promotes visual arts in the diverse communities of our region, with educational opportunities for artists at all levels of accomplishment. While here, we will visit the OSA Gallery which changes exhibits every month, learn about the amazing history of the OSA (which started in 1926), and view rarely seen works of art by master painters who are part of the amazing history of this important part of the Portland Community. We will visit the OSA from mid-October through the end of April on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Powell’s City of Books is the largest used and new bookstore in the world, occupying an entire city block and housing approximately one million books. Located in downtown Portland’s Pearl District, the City of Books has nine color-coded rooms and over 3,500 different sections, offering something for every interest, including an incredible selection of out-of-print and hard-to-find titles. Dozens of acclaimed writers, artists, and thinkers visit each month to read in the Basil Hallward Gallery (located upstairs in the Pearl Room), and a one-of-a-kind Rare Book Room draws bibliophiles from near and far to browse an impressive collection of autographed first editions and other collectible volumes.

Whether you’re looking to splash in Salmon Street Springs on a hot day, explore Portland’s maritime history, discover Japanese American history in the Pacific Northwest or hike across the river to the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade, Waterfront Park is the perfect place to take in the beauty of the city and the river running through it.

Twelve blocks in length, it is intersected by the Portland Streetcar and forms the Portland Cultural District and the greenspace at the center of Portland State University. The New York Times stated the blocks are "literally at the heart of the city's cultural life.

Home of the 2015 MLS Cup Champion Portland Timbers and two-time NWSL Champion Portland Thorns FC. Both are professional soccer clubs based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer and Thorns FC as part of the National Women’s Soccer League.