RN: Portland was named by virtue of a coin toss: the two co-owners of the land upon which the settlement was growing each wanted it to be named after their hometown.  One came from Portland (Maine) and the other from Boston.  There but for three coin tosses (2/3 won) would this town have been named Boston…

There are a number of nick names for Portland: Stumptown, PDX, Rose City, and Bridgetown. Yesterday, we showed you why it’s called the Rose City.  Today we show you why it’s called Bridgetown: 12 bridges cross the Willamette River in Portland and here are only a few…

This is the Burnside Bridge with the Oregon Convention Center (glass towers) in the background.

This is the Morrison Bridge in the foreground, with the Hawthorne Bridge behind it and the big double decker is the Markham Bridge, which carries I-5 across the river.

Closer view of the Markham Bridge with the Tilikum Crossing- a Bridge for the People (walkers and bicyclists) behind it…

The Hawthorne Bridge is a classic, steel lift drawbridge…

FE. We took all these bridge photos during a half hour walk of the along the Willamette river. We end the day grilling and having dinner on Steve and Karla’s deck, with Claire and Matt, more good friends from our days working at OHSU.