Walk There! 50 treks in and around Portland and Vancouver [Paperback]

Laura O. Foster (Author, Editor), Eben Dickinson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2009

Each of the 50 Walk There! routes begin and ends near a bus or MAX light rail stop. Users can access TriMet's Trip Planner to plan a trip to find exactly when the ride is coming. The legend clearly illustrates where there are schools and universities, parks, libraries, picnic areas, restrooms, and points-of-interest. With Walk There!, the little pocket-sized guidebook in hand, people can locate their walking destination. If they need to arrive using transportation, Walk There! has figured that into the map's details. People will see how much closer they live to places like movie theaters, antique shops, historic neighborhoods, a friend's home or a farmers' market. Walk There! delivers gratifying discovery as people see first-hand the difference between driving by and walking within an area they thought they knew. The history of place and the secrets uncovered are inspiring as people see open spaces belong to those who walk them, step after step, while getting healthy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Walk There! maps won the highest honor in the July 2009, Environmental Science Research Institute (ESRI) International User Conference. This is the world's largest event dedicated to geographic information system (GIS) technology. The maps took first place in this particular category and later went on to win best overall, beating out all other first-place finishers and prevailing over 2,000 entries. --Publisher

Dear Metro: Today, around a year after I started, I completed the 50th walk in Walk There. Without question, this has been the best project I've ever undertaken to learn about the Portland Metro Area. Along our walks, we've discovered homes, neighborhoods, cafes, vintage theaters, art, wildlife, and other beautiful scenery. Thanks for putting out such a great guide. --By John Andersen

About the Author

Laura Foster writes about Portland, Oregon in her three books, Walk there! 50 treks in and around Portland and Vancouver, Portland Hill Walks, and Portland City Walks. Each book leads readers and walkers on urban excursions of two to six miles, telling the stories of neighborhoods' geology, human history, and architecture, along with offbeat tidbits ranging from how Native Americans used local plants, how to look for geological signs of the past, to the story behind those glass squares embedded in old city sidewalks. Portland Hill Walks, released in 2005, has been called a treasure of information; one of the best guidebooks in years by the Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal. Walk There! was published in April of 2009 by Metro, Portlands regional, tri-county government responsible for watching over landuse.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Metro; First edition edition (April 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966247396
• ISBN-13: 978-0966247398
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 4.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #538,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laura O. Foster writes about Portland, Oregon and the towns around it. In her books, readers take long walks into urban neighborhoods: through streetcar districts and parks, up and down stairways, beyond dead-ends, along river beaches, atop volcanic peaks and anywhere that a curious person would want to explore. She crafts routes designed to get urban walkers to places others often miss exploring, and her walks weaves geology, architecture, history, ethnobotany and horticulture into a story about each place. Every walk also passes through a local commercial district where coffee, beer, books, and other joys of urban exploring will be found. She designs her routes so that each one makes for a small urban holiday, good for locals and visitors too, who want to get beyond the tourist highlights of one of the nation's most walkable cities.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I've completed all 50 walks, September 5, 2009

By 

Unconventional Ideas (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walk There! 50 treks in and around Portland and Vancouver (Paperback)

This is without question, the best undertaking I've ever done to learn about the Portland/Vancouver area.

Looking back, I'm thrilled to have discovered so many diverse neighborhoods, and so many interesting homes, coffee shops, restaurants, historical sites, trees, wildlife, vistas, and last but not least, people.

If you want to "go on vacation" every weekend for the next year, and spend a pittance, this is the book for you.

I continue revisiting many of the walks. Some I've done more than a dozen times.

This is made possible by connecting these walks with my daily schedule of carpet cleaning (I have my own business). If a job is in North Portland, for instance, I just go a couple hours early (before rush hour) and catch a Walk There walk on the way.

It's a splendid start to each day.

I simply can't thank Metro enough for creating such a great little book.

Mine is highly dog-eared.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Covers the entire metro region, August 2, 2009

By 

J. Male (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walk There! 50 treks in and around Portland and Vancouver (Paperback)

What a great book! The entire metro region is represented. Forest Grove to Troutdale. Vancouver to Oregon City. Each walk has an easy to follow, colorful, detailed map. Bits of history and trivia and included. The book is compact...it will fit in your pants pocket or small purse.

Note: This book is probably not ideal for tourists or first time visitors to Portland, as many of the walks are away from the city core. Residents may find it the best of the Portland walking books and a great excuse to get outdoors.