If you want to experience local food and drink in a less crowded and more sedate setting then you might think about joining our Epicurean Excursion. Our tours are limited to just 16 people, so get your tickets early! And if you want to make a full day of it, our morning Epicurean tour starts at 10:00 a.m. and ends around 2:00 p.m. giving you plenty of time to make to Memorial Coliseum for the start of the festival.

To find out more about the hop glut see the recent Oregonian article: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/glut_of_hops_unlikely_to_lower.html

If you want to learn more about IPA’s and Oregon’s craft beer scene in genera then you should book one of our Beervana tours.

Show are 8:00 p.m. on Fridays and 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information visit the Brody Theater Homepage.

Your favorite local company, Portland Walking Tours, landed at number 8 behind Voodoo Donuts, Stumptown Coffee, Powell’s, the Farmer’s Market, and a few other landmarks.

“Tourists and locals capitalize on the Pearl District’s walkable nature and wealth of culinary-driven businesses by signing up for this tour company’s Epicurean Excursion. The 3.5-hour tour packages more than twenty quintessential Portland experiences into one morning or afternoon, from tasting local beer to meeting the baker who turns out the best baguettes in the neighborhood.”

Remember to check our tours out for yourself at our website. Come on, see what you are missing, even if you are a local.

For more information see the Oregonian event calendar.

If you are looking for more family-friendly Halloween activities we are offering nightly Beyond Bizarre Tours. Like the popular show Ghost Hunters we pass out real ghost hunting equipment before hitting the streets to visit some of Portland’s more notoriously haunted locales. The 7:00 p.m. show is our all ages tour. The later 10:00 p.m. tour is for adults-only.

Or head to The Pumpkin Patch On Sauvie Island. Sauvie Island’s original corn maze destination opens its Haunted Field of Screams to spook its guests. Everyone from suburban families to hip, urban couples makes it a yearly tradition; when the mist settles into the field, there’s no better place in town for a scare.

Take the kids on a walk through over 1,000 feet of lighted woods decorated with fun Halloween sights and sounds at Fantasy Trail . There is also a 40 foot castle packed with Halloween scenes. That’s not all, there’s a tunnel, a maze, a crooked house, a suspension bridge, pumpkins, and refreshments.

Other fun ideas include glow-in-the-dark, Halloween mini-golf at Glowing Greens.

Have fun and be safe.

In our humble opinion here at Portland Walking Tours (or at least in the opinion of the 50% of us who love the building), if you think the Portland Building is ugly then you’ve never seen some of the big box stores out in the suburbs. Now that is ugly.

If you want to read more, or maybe catch a look at some of the competition, you can find the whole article in this months edition of Travel + Leisure Magazine.

Or, on the other hand, if you want to see the Portland Building up close and personal, and discover the real story about the building, its architect Michael Graves, and find out some juicy tidbits about Portlandia (that’s the name of the big statue gracing the Portland Building’s facade), then you should definitely come take our Best of Portland Tour. The tour leaves everyday (April through November) at 10:00 a.m. from the Broadway entrance to the Hilton Hotel downtown. The tour stops by the Portland Building for what always turns into a real conversation starter. So, local, or not, come join us for a Best of Portland Tour someday. We might not be able to make you change your mind about the building, but at least you’ll know the real story behind it.

Remember, ghost hunters of all ages are welcome on our 7 p.m. tour where we do not get into murders, suicides, or other controversial materials. Or if you dare, buy tickets now for our exclusive 10 p.m. over-18 night crawling event on Fridays and Saturdays, where no young hunters are allowed, and get all the gory details.

Perfect for Halloween or an anytime bone-chilling good scare. Book now as space is limited.

So if you are looking for some fun family activities this weekend, load the family into the car and head to Sauvie Island. Test your skills in the MaiZE, pick up some pumpkins, and on the way back into town maybe you can join us for one of our family-friendly 7:00 p.m. Beyond Bizarre Tours.

Our Beyond Bizarre Tours are at 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and daily the week of Halloween! We pass out real ghost hunting equipment and take you on a tour of some of Portland’s more notoriously haunted locales. We also offer an Adults-Only 18-years-and-over Beyond Bizarre Tours at 10:00 p.m. if you are looking for some grown up ghost hunting!

So come downtown, cheer on the runners (and walkers), and listen to some great local music.

For more info visit the official Portland Marathon Site.

In fact, if you really want to make a full-day of it and round out your Pacific Northwest food experience, then you join us for one of our Epicurean Excursions either before or after taking in the Wedge.  It’s guaranteed to be a great date for that foodie in your life.

For more information on The Wedge visit Oregon Dairy Farmers.

If you’d like to find out more you can read all about it in the Portlander.

If you’d like to find out even more about Portland’s weird and whacky side be sure to try our Beyond Bizarre Tour!

For more visit the Green Line Art information page at Trimet.

If you don’t want to read about it but see them for yourself, join our daily 10 AM Best of Portland walking tour that gives you the inside scoop on some of these new art pieces.

However we couldn’t help laugh when KATU (Channel 2) skipped right over Fall and leapt into Winter by proudly proclaiming that a light dusting of snow at Mt. Bachelor “marking the beginning of a snow season”. When you check out the small article, be sure to notice that it’s listed as the #1 Most Popular Story. I guess we’re not the only ones to find the optimistically early news noteworthy.

CU there?

Who ranked last? Atlanta of all places.

We’re not much for quotes, but this statement from U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley hit a note: “ReVolt’s revolutionary technology is a great addition to Oregon`s clean energy community. With market leaders in solar, wind, bio mass and wave energy located here, Oregon has emerged as a clean energy hub.” We couldn’t say it better ourselves.

ReVolt Technology LLC is still searching for an actual location, but they expect to be operating by Dec. 1st. They said they will employ about 75 the battery development phase and possibly 250 employees in subsequent testing and manufacturing operations. To ease their landing here in the U.S., ReVolt is applying for $30 million in research grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and they intend to apply for an Oregon Business Energy Tax Credit.

On our “Best of Portland” tour, we show off electric car parking spots in the heart of downtown as we delve extensively into all kinds of alternate forms of transportation as a central theme to what makes Portland unique. Come join us and get the inside scoop.

The new World Music Stage has a variety of music, and the education pavillion has hands-on art activities for children and adults. There is also delicious food for sale.

Visit the website for more info.

This year the Street of Dreams is in the Pearl. It is featuring 4 different condominium developments with nine different penthouse for you to tour. All of the buildings and designs will feature LEED -standard and eco-friendly materials and products.

For more information, or to see about how to get tickets, visit http://www.streetofdreamspdx.com/home/home.php

Remember this is your last weekend. The Street of Dreams closes on August 30th.

See Festa Italiana for more details and all the celebrations. Ciao!!

The new Van is a team effort with Urban Opportunities that provides job-readiness training for homeless and at-risk youth and all proceeds from Voodoo Van sales go back to Urban Opportunities. How perfect is that? And any guilt you feel towards your diet, melts away knowing that you have done something to help someone else.

Do you accept this mission? The van pops up around town in unsuspecting locations serving many of the same delicious treats. Here’s a clue.

Since our “Best of Portland” tour walks by the Green Line tracks every day, you would think that this is the end of the story for us. So (in typical Portland Walking Tours fashion) we’re looking forward into the future. As far as we’re concerned, it’s only 6 more years for the opening of the MAX Orange Line going down to Milwaukie!

On Saturday, August 15th from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., the BridgePort Brewpub & Bakery in the Pearl are throwing a free outdoor event commemorating the brewery that has been serving thirsty Portlanders since the beginning. Partygoers will also be supporting a good cause with one dollar of each beer sale going directly to the event’s official charity, The Audubon Society of Portland.

Did you know that the their Blue Heron beer was first brewed 22 years ago as a special release for the Audubon Society, and is named after Portland’s official city bird. Well, if you didn’t then you haven’t been on our Epicurean Excursion! Our 10 a.m. tour goes behind-the-scenes at Bridgeport every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

There will be food, music, and BEER!!!

According to the website, Walk Score, the website ranked the largest 40 cities based on how easy it is to live a “car-lite” lifestyle. And the most walkable neighborhood is the Pearl District, followed by Old Town-Chinatown, Downtown, Northwest, Lloyd District, Hosford, Buckman, Eliot, Richmond, and Kerns.

As for top cities, San Francisco ranked first followed by New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

We’ve come a long way. We remember the days before Tony Hawk was a household name and the Burnside Skatepark was illegally built and people thought it was a public nuisance. Now, it’s sanctioned by the city and has been featured in videogames and movies. To further show how integrated skateboarding is into Portland, local movie director Gust van Sant’s fictional Paranoid Park was partially filmed there and delves into skateboarder culture.

Check out the article at the Wall Street Journal article.

The all ages series is free to the public and will feature movies chosen by the NW Film Center, including winners from last year’s festival and a few other surprises. Bridgeport will offer food and beverages for sale and will donate a portion of proceeds to the NW Film Center.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring low-backed chairs or blankets to sit atop the astroturf that will be rolled out for each event. And just as a reminder, no outside food and beverage allowed.

Whether you are into Rock, R & B, Salsa, Jazz, Blues, Calypso; or Funk; make it a picnic or just a fun night out in the park. For the list of this summer’s headliners and parks, please visit the 2009 Portland Neighborhood Concerts site.

Urban farming is not a new idea and the fine city of Portland was ahead of it’s time…as usual. The city completed an audit of urban land a number of years ago in a study performed by a group of Portland State University students. The study called “The Diggable City” is available on the website of Portland’s Office of Planning and Sustainability. Multnomah county took it one step further and is making urban farming a reality in the Portland area with real tangible projects like County CROPS and County DIGS.

A few of us chat this up on our Epicurean Excursion tours since it’s not just about trying to eat & drink about 25 things; it’s about rethinking food while having some fun.  We also serve extra knowledge.