New Year's Walk.

In 2005, I was happy to get Portland Hill Walks for Christmas. The book has 20 walks of 3-5-ish miles all over Portland. My favorite part about it is that Laura O. Foster, the author, loves the hidden staircases that are all over the city and many, if not all, of the walks take you on these staircases. It feels so adventurous. Plus, she gives fun historical information about Portland. Matt and I take these walks every so often and we took one today.

Today we took walk #5, which is called "Portland Heights to Park Blocks and Goose Hollow Loop." Here are some highlights.

When I lived downtown, this restaurant was in the neighborhood over from me, but I never ate there. I love their folding outdoor tables.
I've always loved this house, picking it out as one to buy when I win the lottery. On the walk, I learned that this house was originally a three story house in a different location. It gained the bottom two stories when it moved to the present location, due to the slope of the site. Fascinating!
Here's the first set of stairs we climbed. I'm looking back out over Portland.
And Matt, still sick, is ready to climb the rest of the the 100-plus steps to the top.
It was a sunny day, which was a New Year's treat. The views were gorgeous.
Mount Adams is right below that yellow crane.
The homes in Portland Heights are very fancy. Many of them are also built into the hillside, so they either bump against the street, like this one, or are suspended on stilts.
Another great view, this time of Mount St. Helens.
Imagine if this was your view from your porch each morning.
Down, down, down the last staircase.
We walked back and, having just missed our Max train ate at Pastini Pastaria. The food was wonderful after our walk.