Bike Portland, Exploring Waterfalls and the Dunedin Sound

First day on tour and we were greeted with a fine but brisk day in Portland.

We had booked a bike tour for a couple of hours around town to get a feel for the City. Portland has really focused on public transport and

bike access and their setup is brilliant. After coffee at a quaint little bar (which sold novelty T shirts) we headed to our bike shop (which also has a great range of novelty socks!) to meet up with Guthrie our guide.

Guthrie got us moving and we explored the area around the river, up into the university, then back into the city and the Pearl district with a great mixture of history and current issues. Portland is so committed to public transport that their newest bridge is dedicated only to it (walking, biking, bus and MAX trains). When I compare the design here to what’s planned in Dunedin you get the feeling we are missing a trick.

After lunch at Whole Foods we joined our 2nd outing for the day heading out into the Columbia river valley to check out a range of impressive waterfalls and some of the countryside surrounding Portland.

The first surprise on this trip was our guide, Johnny. He turned out to be a professional musician who was a great fan of the Dunedin sound. He knew all about Flying Nunn, the Clean, Chills, Verlanes and Chris Knox. He had even played with David Kilgour in Portland. Certainly confused the couple from Bosnia on the tour with us but they are away now to check out these bands.

The landscape in the valley is impressive. Our first stop was at the Multnomah falls which were threatened by a major fire over the summer. You can’t get all the way into the falls now because they are worried about safety. We met a park ranger from San Diego who was rotated on for a couple of weeks to keep everybody safe.

The falls are outstanding and trying to capture their beauty is a great challenge for Janet’s new camera skills. We then spent the rest of the afternoon on the old heritage highway checking out a couple of other waterfalls and Portland’s most expensive toilet, Vista house, with a fantastic view.

Back in town we had a gentle dinner and an early night with red eye flight in the morning to Anchorage. Great first day on tour.