Portland Highlights Tour: Pittock Mansion, Rose Garden & Local Pastries

4.65

(141 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

First thing — our guide, Sam, handed me a cup of strong coffee right there outside Pittock Mansion. I could smell the rain on the grass (classic Portland) and powdered sugar from these little donuts he’d brought. The view over Portland with Mt. Hood in the distance looked almost fake, like someone painted it. Sam pointed out old neighborhoods tucked into the hills and told us how this city grew up around forests and volcanoes — I didn’t expect to care about geology before breakfast but here we were, talking about cinder cones with pastry flakes on our fingers.

We wandered through Washington Park next, where the trees actually do look bigger than anywhere else I’ve been. The International Rose Test Garden was just waking up — a few early joggers, some gardeners chatting quietly in the mist. The roses smelled different depending on which patch you leaned into; one was spicy, another kind of like peaches. I tried to pronounce a variety’s name (in French?) and Sam just grinned. It felt unhurried, which is rare for a city tour.

After that it got livelier — we drove through Hawthorne with its thrift shops and murals (someone had painted a giant blue cat on a wall), then Alberta where people were already setting up for some street fair later that day. There was this moment in the Pearl District when we stopped for five minutes just to watch people walk by Powell’s City of Books — locals with tote bags, a guy playing accordion for change. It made me want to stay longer than just this day trip around Portland.