National magazines have voted it top walking city and top bicycling city. They could have added top city for strangers to use mass transit! However you choose to get around, be sure to leave time to see some of the many enticements of Portland. And September is the perfect time to be here - perfect weather, perfect venue.

All About Portland & Things to Make an Engineer's Heart go "Zing"!

• See the fabulous Pacific Northwest - one of the leaders in efforts to control combined sewer overflows and resolve stormwater management problems. At the same time it has addressed special ecological concerns such as endangered salmon populations.
• Visit the Oregon History Center to get all the information on Portland and the area.
• Walk the Esplanade along the river and read the many signs along the way that describe what it was like since the city's beginning.
• Visit Powell's City of Books, the largest independent bookstore in the world, with more than 1 million volumes. Be sure to include Powell's Technical Books!
• Bridges and more bridges - marvel at the 5 bridge crossings over the Willamette River, all lit at night.
• The Oregon Museum of Science & Industry - OMSI. The fifth largest science museum in the country, this museum can help explain to your kids what you do (and the big kids will have fun, too)!

Portland's Softer Side

• Art or crafts anyone? Portland is alive with galleries and shops that feature one-of-a-kind items. And don't miss the Saturday Market (open Sunday, too!) which is like a crafts festival every weekend, complete with street food and entertainment.
• Did you say shopping? Did we mention that there's no sales tax in Oregon?
• Not one, but two Nordstroms grace this city, and one is right across the street from the conference hotel!
• Nike Nirvana - visit NikeTown - the Nike flagship store.
• Columbia Sportswear - the self-proclaimed "Mother Ship" of its stores
• Gardens - this is, after all, the Rose City. Visit one of the many, many fabulous gardens in Portland.

And It's Outdoor and Active Sides

• Water sports dominate, with rafting, sailing, fishing and boat cruises aplenty.
• Care to hook some salmon, steelhead trout or sturgeon? "Steelhead Trout"
• Ride the Scenic Sky Chair or the Dual Alpine Slide at the Mt. Hood Skibowl, only one hour away
• Hit the Links. Golf Digest has rated two of Portland's courses - Eastmoreland Golf Course and Heron Lakes Gold Course - among the nation's top 75 public courses.
• Make sure you visit Multnomah Falls, 620 ft of water cascading from Larch Mountain's natural springs and melting snows.

A Bevvie or a Bite

• If it's coffee you want, you'll find that Portland is home to oodles of independent coffee purveyors. Get your latte on any corner!
• Something stronger? Oregon wines have become world famous. Make sure to sample some Pinot Noir or Chardonnay.
• Brewpub, you say? Choose from dozens scattered around the area.
• Portland is home to countless award-winning restaurants, cafes, ethnic eateries and streetfood opportunities. World-class chefs are drawn to this magnetic city!

More for the Littler Attendees

• Visit critters large and small from around the world at the Oregon Zoo, where more Asian elephants have been born than in any other North American city.
• CM2 - Children's Museum 2nd Generation, is opposite the Oregon Zoo. The hands' on exhibits sound magical: splash in Water Works; babies and toddlers have their own magical forest; Have a Ball! gives kids a chance to see things go up, down and every which way; and they can create their own fairytales in Once Upon a Time.

Just the Facts

• The greater Portland metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1.6 million and is the third largest city in the Pacific Northwest. The city is situated on the Willamette River near its confluence with the Columbia River, 125 km upstream from the Pacific Ocean. Portland is also just 100 km west of beautiful 3,400-meter Mount Hood, between the Cascade Mountains to the east and the Coast Range to the west, an area boasting every imaginable urban and natural recreational amenity.
• Portland's international airport has connections to every part of the world.
• POPULATION: 1.8 million within the metro area; 509,610 within the city limits
• AREA: 130 square miles
• ELEVATION: 173 feet above sea level
• LONGITUDE: 40 miles east of the 122nd meridian west
• LATITUDE: 30 miles north of the 45th parallel north
• MILES TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN: 78
• MILES TO A GLACIER: 65 (Mount Hood)
• AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN SEPTEMBER: 24?C, with typically sunny weather.
• AVERAGE PRECIPITATION: 37" (less than Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston or Seattle - and without that nasty humidity)
• ACRES OF PARKS IN METRO AREA: 37,000, including the 5,000-acre Forest Park
• NEWSPAPERS: The daily paper is The Oregonian
• TIME: All of Oregon is on Pacific Standard Time, except for the Ontario city area in Eastern Oregon, which is on Mountain Standard Time. Daylight Savings Time is observed from the first Sunday in April until the last Sunday in October.
• DRIVING: The speed limit is 55 miles per hour on most highways. Where posted, the freeway speed limit is 65. Oregon law calls for drivers and passengers to buckle up for safety in both the front and back seats. Oregon law also requires that drivers carry proof of insurance.

For advance information on Portland's outstanding public transit system, go to http://www.tri-met.org/. Don't forget that you can get to the conference hotel from the airport by hotel shuttle or by Tri-Met (which is free within the city!). It's easy in Portland!

If you don't see it here, come to Portland anyway. There will be ample opportunity to ask questions and, in this wonderful city, to find your heart's desire.