I’ll be taking a summer break and may be posting less than usual to the blog for a while. Our family will be visiting Washington state and Oregon - specifically Seattle and Vancouver, Washington, and Portland and Bend, Oregon. Most of our time will be in Oregon. My sister lives in Bend, and we also want to see the famously “sustainable” Portland, noted for its urban planning and public transit. Coincidentally, my wife’s family has scheduled a family reunion at Mt. Bachelor Village Resort, in Bend, so we can see a lot of people in one visit.

Vancouver, Portland, and Bend are also all designated as “bicycle-friendly” communities by the League of American Bicyclists, so I look forward to seeing what they offer in that venue.

I’ve been reading a Moon Handbook to Oregon (6th ed., 2004) by Elizabeth and Mark Morris. (I appreciated Moon’s Handbook to Northern California when we lived there.) In it I came across this info on bicycling in Oregon:

In the wake of the oil shocks of the 1970s, the Oregon legislature allocated one percent of the state highways budget to develop bike lanes and encourage energy-saving bicyclists. In addition to establishing routes throughout the state with these funds, many special parks were developed with bicycle and foot access specifically in mind. (p. 52)

What are the chances that Minnesota and other states could do the same? I also found this:

Portland has long been known as a bicycle-friendly city. Its nationally recognized bicycle program provides a comprehensive, safe bikeway network to increase the number of residents who bicycle to work, on errands, and for exercise or pleasure. To accomplish this, the city has created close to 200 miles of bikeways (bicycle lanes, boulevards, and multi-use trails). As a result, many more folks are riding bicycles. In 1975 about 200 cyclists crossed the Hawthorne Bridge daily by bike; today, it’s up to 2,400. (p. 122)

On a different subject, I’m intrigued by what I’ve read about another part of Oregon: southeastern Oregon. It’s one of the most sparsely populated regions in the lower 48 states. It borders northern Nevada, an area that has also intrigued me since my family drove through it on Interstate 80 when I was a teenager. These regions - along with Bend, which is in central Oregon - are part of the Great Basin high desert. Bend is home to the High Desert Museum, which I hope to visit.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 3:16 pm and is filed under Autobiography, Biking/Walking, Geography, Other Places, Travel, Urban Design.