PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — There’s no place like home — especially if your home is Portland.
Portlanders have a lot to be proud of and aren’t shy about telling people about them. From smelling roses at the International Rose Test Garden to tasting Spanish coffee at Portland’s oldest bar, there are so many things that make Portland unique.
Many of those iconic activities are named in a love affair of a book by a local public relations executive — “100 Things to do in Portland before you Die.”
“I would say coming up with them wasn’t the hard part,” author Ann Smith said. “It was a matter of even paring them down that was difficult.”
Some of the 100 things are no brainers — like taking in a Blazers game at the Moda Center and sampling Portland’s countless craft beers.
Smith, who wrote the book with Allison Symonds, loves the Portland food scene, so there are also a lot of food mentions.
“Hopefully it spurs people forward to do a few of those things that they haven’t yet had the opportunity to do,” Smith said.
The second edition of the book has updates on events like the Eagle Creek Fire, which affects hikes in the Columbia River Gorge.
And even as Portland deals with more traffic and the homeless problem, Smith said she’s not surprised people keep moving here.
“It doesn’t change Portland from being an amazing place to live and work and get to experience fun things,” Smith said. “All of those certainly outshine any of the negative.”
