three paths to 103 peaceful places

      In Peaceful Places: Portland, Paul Gerald serves up 103 locales for a few hours of quiet time in the greater metro area and farther afield. To make it easy for you to find an entry that suits your mood and desired neighborhood or type of place, we’ve organized the sites in three different ways:

      the path ALPHANUMERICALLY

      Beginning on Annie Bloom’s Books, each entry unfolds in the main text in alphabetical order and is numbered in sequence. That number travels with that entry throughout the book—in the Peaceful Places Alphanumerically guide, in the Peaceful Places by Category guide (described in the next section and shown), in the Peaceful Places by Area guide, and on the maps.

      the path BY CATEGORY

      The Peaceful Places by Category guide organizes the sites into 12 different groups, as listed below. The full text for each destination also includes its category at the top of that individual entry. In many cases it was difficult to classify a place, as it might be a historic site in an outdoor habitat with a scenic vista that feels like a spiritual enclave that’s an urban surprise where you can take an enchanting walk! But we’ve tagged each site as it seems most fitting for the focus of the author’s description.

      Day Trips & Overnights

      Enchanting Walks

      Historic Sites

      Museums & Galleries

      Outdoor Habitats

      Parks & Gardens

      Quiet Tables

      Reading Rooms

      Scenic Vistas

      Shops & Services

      Spiritual Enclaves

      Urban Surprises

      the path BY AREA

      The Peaceful Places by Area guide and the maps locate sites according to the following eight geographic divisions:

      Central Portland (MAP 1)

      Includes Downtown, the Pearl District, Old Town, and Riverplace.

      North Portland (Map 2)

      Includes Boise, Delta Park, Hayden Island, and St. Johns.

      Northeast Portland (MAP 3)

      Includes Alberta Arts/Concordia, Cully, the Columbia Corridor, Irvington, Kerns, the Lloyd Center District, Rose City Park, and Roseway.

      Southeast Portland (MAP 4)

      Includes Belmont, Buckman, Division/Clinton, Eastmoreland, Hawthorne, Lents, Milwaukie, Midway, Mount Tabor, Oregon City, Sellwood, Sunnyside, and Woodstock.

      Southwest Portland (MAP 5)

      Includes Bridlemile, Collins View, Corbett–Lair Hill, Goose Hollow, Hillsdale, Johns Landing, Multnomah Village, Sylvan, West Hills, and West Linn.

      Northwest Portland (MAP 6)

      Includes the Alphabet District, Forest Park, Hillside, Nob Hill, the Outer Pearl District, and West Hills.

      Outer Northwest Portland (MAP 7)

      Includes Sauvie Island.

      Farther Afield (MAP 8)

      Oregon: Includes Arch Cape, Beaverton, Carlton, the Columbia River Gorge, Corbett, Detroit, Dundee, Gervais, Hood River, Lafayette, Lincoln City, Mount Hood National Forest, Seaside, Sherwood, Sublimity, Tillamook, Troutdale, Wilsonville, and Zigzag.

      Washington State: Includes Carson, Ilwaco, Stevenson, Vancouver, and Washougal.

      PEACEFULNESS RATINGS

      Preceding the main text for each profile, listed information notes the entry’s category and area. This capsule information also includes the author’s rating for the site, on a scale of one to three stars, as follows: