By Nancy Thompson
NEW FEATURE: 50plusnorthwest.com welcomes Portland travel writer Nancy Thompson as a regular columnist in our Travel section. Visit 50plusnorthwest.com often for regular updates on Thompson’s travels throughout the Northwest and beyond.
About Nancy Thompson: Thompson is an aspiring world traveler with a newly retired spouse. A late bloomer, Nancy became a certified personal fitness trainer at 58 focused on fitness for mature women. At 60 she was inspired to create Flourish where she produced a series of monthly salons and events to connect, inspire and empower women at midlife and beyond. When Nancy and her husband hatched their plan to become citizens of the world in retirement, she knew they were not only going to survive but thrive. Today she is a travel writer and life-style blogger sharing the adventures of retirement, shoestring travel and living the good life in retirement. Join the adventure at www.justabackpackandarollie.com
My husband and I are gearing up for a backpack and rollie retirement. We’re counting down the months until we can sell the house and most of our possessions, put our few remaining treasures in storage and head out to see the world with just our backpacks and a rollie suitcase. We’re excited and can’t wait to get started. But, we’re not ready yet, so lately we’ve been satisfying our wanderlust with close to home adventures.
Hubs and I love to eat. We also love to walk. We started walking in earnest earlier this year in preparation for our 110 kilometer walking adventure on the Camino de Santiago. Our walking adventures always include food. We call it jogging for donuts. That’s why it seemed like the perfect plan when we decided to sign on for a Portland Walking Tours Epicurean Excursion.
Our starting point was the mezzanine of the Heathman Hotel where fifteen hungry and adventurous souls gathered to meet our tour guide and get acquainted. We were a mix of locals and out-of-towners with one thing in common. We were all ready for some good food and a great time.
Portland Walking Tours Epicurean Excursion did not disappoint!
Three hours flew by as we strolled our way across downtown Portland’s culinary scene, stopping frequently to enjoy the dizzying the aromas, sample tasty bites, and sip a little wine along the way. We stopped at ten different locations – including shops and restaurants and a delightful wine bar. We enjoyed a hands-on, educational and sensory experience at each stop – tasting finishing salts and spice mixes, sipping olive oils and vinegars and savoring mouth-watering assortment of delicious treats. We were also thrilled by a back-of-the-house tour in a working kitchen and the chance to chat with several local chefs.
It was an easy mile and a half walk during which time our guide kept up a running and very informative conversation offering tidbits of Portland history, architecture, farm and food facts and a joke or three. He was a wealth of local knowledge. A tour guide by day and an improv comedian by night, he kept us very well entertained.
At each stop we learned different aspects of the food culture that is alive and well in Portland and the Pacific Northwest. We tasted our way across Portland. One delicious bite at a time. Add in two glasses of wine and several mini cupcakes and we ended our afternoon tour feeling well-fed, well-informed and very well-entertained. And, since we were on foot, we even managed a tiny bit of exercise for balance.
All in all, we had another grand on-foot and close to home adventure. One I will surely do again and now, when we travel, we will definitely be on the lookout for interesting food tours in cities we visit. Seattle…you’re next.
See you on the road!
