Vancouver, WA

It was cloudy with a touch of drizzle, but that didn’t stop me from grabbing a coat, backpack with lunch and my just-in-case umbrella and heading out for my first walking tour of Portland. There’s only one thing I’d do differently next time: I wouldn’t take a group of five fifth graders along for the ride. Just my own will do, thank you.

Of course, this time I was chaperoning a field trip, so I really couldn’t escape my responsibility. It did, however, put a little pressure on me to successfully navigate my photocopied map so I wouldn’t get all six of us lost, so I paired up with another mom and together with our ten charges, set out for what turned out to be a fast-paced morning of sight-seeing on foot around the streets of West Portland. If you have a full day, you can do more in-depth exploring of each site.

We started at the South Park Blocks (SW Salmon and Main) where we admired several stone and bronze sculptures, including a 10-foot bronze of Abraham Lincoln and another 18-foot tall equestrian statue of Teddy Roosevelt. The kids oohed-and-ahhed, and so will you.

Just a few blocks northwest is the Multnomah County Library at 801 SW 10th. With its history dating back to 1864, this is the oldest public library west of the Mississippi and the largest one in the state. This three-story building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and features 125,000 square feet of space, and 17 miles of bookshelves. If you’re with kids, settle into the children’s area for a while and enjoy some reading together.

From there, we crossed the street and caught the Portland Trolley (free in what’s known as Fareless Square) down to SW 10th and Burnside, where we checked out an unusual public art project called the Pod. This kinetic piece of art was created in 2002. If you’re tall enough (or can put a kid on your shoulders), push the bottom counterweight and watch as the upper and lower sections swing in different directions.

Across the street is world-famous Powell’s Books. Founded in 1971, Powell’s is the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world, taking up an entire city block. They’re open 365 days of the year, so if you love books, plan to stay a while and see why they call themselves the City of Books.

From there, head east down Burnside to the North Park Blocks. Here you’ll find what looks like a giant elephant statue. This is Da Tung Xi’an Bao Bao, a replica of a wine pitcher from the late Shang Dynasty. Head farther north and keep an eye out for the Dog Bowl. Yes, this sculpture is an actual dog bowl fountain, designed by dog photographer William Wegman and unveiled in 2002. It resembles a patch of checkerboard floor with a bowl of bubbling water. Along the way, there’s a big playground to let any kids you may be with burn off some energy. We detoured there, and at a nearby public restroom, for about 10 minutes before heading east again, making our way to NW 2nd and 3rd at Everett and the Portland Classical Chinese Garden.

This walled garden encloses a full city block in Chinatown and features more than a hundred trees, orchids, water plants, bamboo and unusual Chinese shrubs. My fifth grade companions and I didn’t get to go inside this time, but a peek through the gateway gave me a taste of what’s inside and necessitates another visit in the near future.

Making our way south through town to our final destination, we passed a number of bronze four-bowl water fountains, known as the Benson Bubblers. Commissioned in 1912, the first 20 fountains were installed around the town. There are now 52. Each flows freely from 5 am to 10 pm, but thanks to recent water-restricting devices, they now use less than 1/10 of 1% of the city’s daily water demand.

Our group’s final stop was what is known as Portland’s living room, Pioneer Courthouse Square, between SW 6th, Morrison, Yamhill and Broadway. Aptly named, it sits across the street from the oldest federal building in the Pacific Northwest, and the second oldest west of the Mississippi. In the square, there are several landmarks to seek out. These include the Weather Machine (be there at noon to catch the next day’s two-minute forecast amid musical fanfare and the revealing of one of three weather symbols); Allow Me, a bronze, life-size sculpture of a man offering his umbrella; and the Mile Post Sign, showing distances to nine sister cities, among other destinations. Wrap up the day with a picnic (or coffee from Starbucks, located right on the square) on the steps of the Echo Chamber. If you stand on the stone in the center of this corner amphitheater and face the steps, you’ll be amazed at what you hear.

The cost for all of this fun: free. We did most of it on foot, but you could hop on Max light rail, the trolley or a bus, also for free and see everything we did and more. You can even take Max across the river to shopping or the Convention Center, and still not pay a cent. Check out Tri-Met’s website for more information about Fareless Square at http://trimet.org/fares/fareless.

It was quite a feat to accomplish so much with so many kids, and along the way we all discovered places we’d like to return to again with our families. This trip was an easy walk, stroller-friendly (if needed) and has a myriad of food options along the way if you didn’t pack your own. The city of Portland certainly does have something for everyone.