Japanese Garden

There is a superb Japanese Garden in Portland. It is a little hard to get to. Here's how I do it:

• Take the MAX Red Line to the Washington Park stop. This is not free.
• Go up the elevator to the Oregon Zoo.
• When you get out of the elevator, you'll be roughly in the middle of the parking areas for the Zoo. Looking in the direction of the Zoo entrance, you'll see a road with a bus stop—it's just south of where the elevator comes out. Take a bus from there (ask which one, but I think almost all of them go to the Japanese Garden).

Check the website for times that it's open.

If you've come this far, there are two other things to see: The Zoo itself and the International Rose Test Garden, which is where they try out new hybrids. The directions above tell you how to find the Zoo. The bus to the Japanese Garden also goes to the Rose Garden—in fact, it's right across the street. However, in October there's not much to see at the Rose garden.