Sunday Parkways

Photo: Benjamin Rue

Even from far away, I still love Portland. Today NE Portland hosted the event Sunday Parkways. The city closed off 7.5 miles of streets to car traffic. I wasn't there. I'm in Nashville right now, but I can imagine the scene. People biked, walked, jogged, maybe even stilted their way around the route. This is Portland's 2nd year to host the event. (See a really awesome movie of last year's event) And this year they added 2 more dates and 2 more quadrants of the city. NoPo hosted the event in June. And SE will host the event in August. Sunday Parkways is aimed at bringing communities together for a fun-filled, relaxed Sunday. The route joins public parks that are hubs for the days activities and food vendors as well as informational booths.

The idea of Sunday Parkways was inspired by Ciclovia, an event in Bogota, Columbia. Every week on Sunday, from 5am to 5pm, the city closes 70 miles of streets to traffic and nearly 2 million people fill the streets. People bike, walk, run, skate, dance and build community. You can watch the Bogota event on Streetfilms. What an amazing and awesome event to bring people out of their homes and bring them together!

Food Carts

I heart food carts! It's a phenomenon here in Portland like no other place I've ever seen...except maybe London. Food carts. Apparently it's pretty easy to obtain a permit to run a food cart. And there are tens of empty lots around the city that lease out their space to the carts. Many carts are clustered together offering a "food court" atmosphere. You might have a snack at one cart, move to another for a main course and then another for dessert. There are carts all over the city operating at all hours of the day and night. On a Saturday morning I like to head over to Flavour Spot, "home of the waffle sandwich," not to mention $1 drip coffee. The lone cart is located at the corner of NE Fremont and Mississippi on a gravel lot with picnic tables, lounge chairs and a covered area. It's adjacent to The Rebuilding Center. So what's a waffle sandwich? A waffle stuffed with bacon or sausage and maple syrup. It's delicious! On weekdays downtown there are tens of carts to choose from at lunchtime. Everything from Nepalese to Japanese to Czech to Mexican to Indian to Thai is on offer.

The late night food carts usually open around 8pm and close at 3am. There are about 5 or 6 carts at the corner of SE 12th and Hawthorne. Tonight we had dessert at Perriera Creperie along with all the single-gear riding hipsters of Portland. It was a lively atmosphere. I had the simple lemon and sugar crepe. Jim had the classic nutella and banana crepe (with a splash of rum). Tim chose the chocolate and pear version. I'll be heading back to this cluster of carts in the future. I'm excited to have the poutine at Potato Champion. Check out the article in this month's Portland Monthly

Grasshopper

Quinn got to spend some birthday gift certificates here today. It's a fun store to visit, just up the street from our house. It has hard wood floors and tall ceilings. The walls are adorned with beautiful, whimsical artwork by Jen Mercede. Owner and designer, Kara, neatly displays her Wild Carrot children's clothing line. There are many display toys to play with and a reading corner. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. We rode our bike there this morning and came home with some super fun finds!