<p>My DS and I are going to visit L&C next week. I just made our reservations at the Ace Hotel downtown. We are excited to see Portland. We are from San Diego. Any suggestions for us.... beside the obvious, Powell's and Voodoo's. I'm thinking my down to earth, unpretentious, earth loving, alpinist, rock climbing, music loving DS is going to LOVE IT.</p>
<p>If you have some time, you might want to do the “4T Loop.” This is the trail, tram, trolley, and train loop that takes you all around Portland:</p>
<p><a href=“http://library.oregonmetro.gov/files/trailtramtrolleytrain.pdf[/url]”>http://library.oregonmetro.gov/files/trailtramtrolleytrain.pdf</a></p>
<p>There are lots of music venues in the downtown area and something is going on almost every night. Berbati’s is next door to Voodoo Doughnuts, and the Roseland and Satyricon are also close by. To find music performances in town, pick up a copy of Willamette Week, or go online at:</p>
<p>[Willamette</a> Week : Portland News, Music, Movies, Events, Restaurants](<a href=“http://www.wweek.com%5DWillamette”>http://www.wweek.com)</p>
<p>If you are here on a weekend, hit the Saturday Market (both Saturday and Sunday) at Waterfront Park for food and craft vendors. Also on Saturdays is a large Farmer’s Market, just up Park Ave from the Ace Hotel at Montgomery Street. </p>
<p>You will also be close to the Pearl District, the area that surrounds Powell’s Books. That is a recently developed area of shops and cafes. An older area that appeals to the college crowd is along SE Hawthorne Blvd, across the river from where you are staying. </p>
<p>Have fun!</p>
<p>Thanks Mamakin! I’m getting so excited. It sounds like Portland is a happening place. We live in a suburb of S.D., so don’t get the experience of walking around a town at night. We will be there on Saturday, for the most part, but are leaving Sunday morning for Walla Walla… that should be a sharp contrast town wise.LOL!</p>
<p>You might want to check out the Japenese Gardens and the Rose Gardens in Washington Park. They’re both quite beautiful, and this is a great time of year for them. There’s a fun neighborhood not far from there – 23rd avenue – with lots of trendy restaurants and shops. Also, since you’ll be at L&C, you can visit Tryon State Park which is just down the road and has some good hiking – nothing too challenging, but it’s close by and lovely.</p>
<p>I’m from So. Cal. as well, and I can’t get enough of Portland!</p>
<p>The Chinese Garden and Tea House in the Chinatown area are also must sees. If you have a car you can drive to Multnomah Falls for a beautiful hike.</p>
<p>Saturday Market is also open now on Saturday and Sunday downtown. Lots of arts and crafts stalls plus food. Open 10-5 Saturday and 11-4:30 Sunday.</p>
<p>Well we are back from out visit and absolutely LOVED Portland! Our hotel was in a great location right downtown, we could walk to dinner and of course POWELL’S!!! I had a hard time extracting my S from the this amazing bookstore. WOW!! Also went to VooDoo’s. S had to get a t-shirt and a few crazy doughnuts. Of course it was raining the entire time we were there so some things we didn’t get to do.</p>
<p>Anyway, we visited Reed College, L&C and drove up to Salem to see Willamette. We were also going to see UO and Whitman but the weather was too bad.</p>
<p>The surprising thing was that we visited Reed first and my S feel in love. The vary first college visit and now he is trying to only visit schools that are similar to Reed. We went to Willamette next and it was like, for him, going to Disneyland and then going to the downtown amusement park. It just didn’t have the same energy or excitement. He will not apply there. The next day we went to Lewis and Clark. It was still raining but we were very impressed with the admissions office!!! WOW!!! So beautiful. We did the info session and tour. Our tour guide looked like he just rolled out of bed and was pretty unenergetic,didn’t seem to bother my S. My S liked enough to apply, but Reed still has his heart. I think that Lewis and Clark would be easier for him admission wise so I was happy he liked it. It was a Saturday morning so the campus was pretty empty. My S really liked the outdoor club and the radio station. The dorms we saw were typical. Long hall with rooms off of it. Dorms seemed pretty spacious though. The cafeteria and small coffee shops looked good. Overall he gave it a 7 and Reed a 9.</p>
<p>Different things resonate with each individual. DD1 visited Reed and fell in love. It was her first choice but she was waitlisted (and just as a warning for your S, she was a very competitive applicant with great grades and NMF). DD2 visited Reed and didn’t like it but did like L&C (her #2 choice - she was waitlisted at her number 1, Carleton). Keep working on maintaining his expectations. I think Reed has a 32% acceptance rate.</p>