Welcome to the Portland Parks Project!

The Portland Parks Project is a summer project to explore as many of Portland's beautiful parks as possible. We found ourselves returning to the same parks over and over again, neglecting parks that were too far away or simply unknown to us. As a way to see more of our beloved city, get ourselves out of a rut, have some adventures, and improve the children's writing skills. I hope you will enjoy following us.

Our method is simple: We will be working through the list provided by the Portland Parks & Recreation website here. We will simply visit the parks in alphabetical order, skipping the community schools and the parks that are community gardens only. Afterwards, we will record our thoughts, observations, and photographs here. We have noticed that many of the parks on the list have few or no photos, so we hope others will find ours useful when choosing a park to visit. We plan to visit one park every weekend, sometimes two, rain or shine.

This project has four participants. Each will provide their own thoughts on the parks so that you get several different perspectives, except for one participant who cannot write for herself (see below). Our opinions are shaped by who we are, so you should know a little bit about each of us in order to understand how we might judge a park.

Mom: That's me. I'll be doing most of the writing and photography. Early thirties with a tendency towards sedentary activities (reading, knitting, napping). I like parks with plenty of places to sit and paths well suited to strolling. I'm a terrible driver and am easily confused, so I need a park to be easy to find, and preferably with easy parking nearby.

Bug: Bug is a 10-year-old girl with an artistic spirit. She wishes all trees were built for climbing. She gets car sick very easily, making travel to and from parks interesting. She finds fairies in everything, is obsessed with collecting rocks and pine cones, and likes to press flowers. She wants parks with trees that can be climbed and with gardens for dreaming in.

Bear: Bear is a 7-year-old girl who has been called "The Barbarian" by her teachers. She's fierce and stubborn and sweet. She runs faster than everyone and would travel by jumping from place to place if only people would stop telling her not to. She has a net and loves to catch bugs, observe them, name them, then let them go. She wants parks with open fields for running and playgrounds for climbing.

Thisby: Thisby is a 5-year-old dog. She's very small (13 lbs!) and a lap dog breed, so she's not big on fetching or swimming or running. She's a rescue and doesn't speak "dog" very well, so interactions with other dogs are sometimes unsuccessful. She likes to sniff and explore, but can't be trusted off-leash. HATES getting wet. She likes parks with lots of things to smell, and I like when there are not too many other dogs around. Thisby obviously can't record her opinions, but I can write about how well a park is suited for dogs.

The goal is to update weekly after a park visit, but no promises! I hope you will enjoy exploring Portland's many lovely parks with us.