This week’s spotlight is on Metro’s ‘Walk There!’ guided walks. But before we get to that, here’s a sneak peek of stuff for this weekend — Aroundthesunblog will have your complete list beginning Thursday evening; here are a few to consider:
– Your new Willamette Week Cheap Skate deals for this week include free wine tastings at Zupan’s, Bike Gallery’s Summer Spectacular Sale, Heathman’s new happy hour menu and more.
– Portland Art Museum will be free to everyone this Friday evening, July 24th from 5:00pm – 8:00pm.
– PDX Pop Now! runs this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, an all-ages festival that showcases Portland’s diverse musical talent. Free!
– Portland Center Stage wraps their JAW Festival with a bunch of performances all weekend. Check them out at the Gerding Theater at the Armory in the Pearl district, free.
– Eastside Portlanders, make a visit to the The East Portland Exposition this Friday, Saturday or Sunday. From the web site:
“The Expo is co-sponsored by all 13 East Portland Neighborhoods. The event will feature numerous exhibitors, lots of entertainment and food, and a wide variety of educational presentations and demonstrations designed to enhance quality-of-life for all attendees. In addition, Funtastic will be having a carnival on their property located across the street. Entry to EPO XPO and the carnival is free-of-charge.”
– For those who love their neighborhood festivals, you have a few options: go to this Saturday’s Division Clinton Street Fair , Saturday’s ‘Party in the Park‘ at Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District or head out to Estacada’s Summer Celebration this Saturday and Sunday.
– For something more educational, attend the 4th annual Native American Housing to Homeownership Fair this Saturday from 10:00am – 3:00pm; free and open to everyone, includes a free lunch and a performance by the NAYA Family Center Dancers.
– For other events and happenings for this weekend and next month, we have set up a Google calendar here. And if you know of any upcoming cheapo deals, please email us so that we can list it on the calendar.
– Finally, Restaurant.com has posted a new promotion to get 80% off with every $25 gift certificate order when you use code NAPKIN. Pay just $2 through next Tuesday, July 28th. There are about 100 restaurants to choose from in the Portland area; be sure to read the fine print details on how the certificates work.
POTC SPOTLIGHT: METRO WALK THERE!
Metro has recently published a neat little guidebook called “Walk There! 50 treks in and around Portland and Vancouver.” We recently had a chance to go on one of their free guided walks, which highlighted the homes and arbor features of the historic Irvington neighborhood.
Our walk lasted just over an hour, and was led by local author Laura Foster, who provided the historical details and interesting anecdotes. For our participation, we received a pedometer and other goodies, courtesy of Kaiser Permanente.
Free walks are scheduled throughout the week until the end of September and cover all points around the Portland area, from Hillsboro and Wilsonville to close-in SE Portland and Fort Vancouver. Walks cover a variety of topics unique to the area such as bird walks, wildlife identification, family hikes, ecology, history and more.
We highly recommend taking one of these guided walks. And if your schedule just doesn’t seem to mesh with their outings, then get the book: either check it out from the library, buy it at a local bookstore, or go to the web site and download each walk or the entire book for free. What we really appreciate about the walks is that every one of them begins and ends near a bus or MAX stop. Our favorite walk? The 4 T’s: trail, tram, trolley, train. To make it THE ultimate excursion, we rode the #15 bus from the NW 23rd streetcar stop to Lower Macleay Park, hiked up to Pittock Mansion, continued on the Wildwood Trail to the Oregon Zoo, and followed the route to Council Crest and on to OHSU. Peruse the web site for the guided walk schedule or pick one out to try on your own. Happy trails!
