I saw this park right by Ledding Library. A tiny park more for residents within walking distance…read morebecause the park shares parking lot with the library. It has a small area to walk and there are benches to sit and admire the Vietnam War Memorial. There are stairs to sit and enjoy the sun and shade or read a book.

Scott park just got a major upgrade! This park that backs up to the library is a destination. It…read morehas a natural play area consisting of (mock)logs to climb on, and a regular playground with rock climbs and interactive games. The duck pond is still accessible and with the library right here. You could easily make this a play date destination. What a great addition to milwaukie.

This monument or memorial is a 34 foot tall rectangular granite shaft…read more Each side of the base has the seal of Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho - the only parts of the United States that were "acquired by discovery" rather than being under a foreign flag. Emphasis on the quotes there, as we all know there's more to the history than that with regards to the people who were already present on these lands. It's a nice monument, if plain. It has a good view. It's fairly easy to get to. There are some picnic tables and tall douglas firs nearby. It's a shame that some people have put graffiti on it and that it's not been cleaned up yet.

It was a big deal in Portland when the centennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition came around,…read more it hosted a big fair (not actually a worlds fair but big), and people built this monument. Located inside the turnaround (or as the Portland Parks web page calls it " the main circle of the park") as you enter Washington Park from downtown at the peak of the hill. as monuments go this one is kind of basic a 34 foot rectangular granite shaft on a brick base that has the seals of Oregon,Washington, Idaho and Montana. The Monument is great for other things, for one its views of downtown and on clear days Mt Hood. it is surrounded by grass and trees with lots of Picnic tables and a bit down the path into the park there is a nice playground. Fun fact. President Theodore Roosevelt came to Portland to lay the cornerstone.

Chiming Fountain has several layers of bronze pans from which water flows. Gargoyles surround the…read morebase spout. The city paid $400 for this in 1891. It was designed in the style of a renaissance fountain. Originally it was painted white and had a boy with a staff on top. The staff went missing in 1912. Then the boy was destroyed in 1920s during freezing weather. The fountain went into disrepair by 1960, when the city considered scrapping it. Instead, it was repaired for around $1800. Nowadays the fountain is still there, though in my opinion it could use a little more care to restore it and make it a landmark worth lingering at.

This fountain is located on the hill inside the turn around entrance to Washington Park coming from…read moredowntown. It is named for the sound the water makes dropping from one pan to another. It is a simple fairly classic fountain surrounded by park. Fun Fact it was going to be removed until Francis J. Murnane, a local Longshoreman fought to have it saved, I like that story as it shows that in local politics one person can make a difference.

Clean and simple. Wasn't crowded but had the occasional jogger. There's one picnic table and…read morebathrooms in the distance. Street parking. The play structures aren't too close to the street too, sectioned off by houses and fields.

This one time, my dad found a homemade bottle bomb right in the middle of Berkeley Park's baseball…read morediamond. Like any good citizen, he called the police, and around 2 a.m. that morning, the bomb squad came to our house to confiscate it. I totally slept through the entire thing. I'm pretty sure that was the only time anyone in our family has found anything really questionable at Berkeley. I grew up at this park, as it is literally right down the street from my parents' home. How lucky, right? When Oregon was cold enough to snow, we'd trek down there with our little plastic toboggans just to sled down one of the big hills. It was fun. Even now, it's a good place to meander while depressed, swing when you're happy, and pretend to be short enough to use the swinging monkey bars. And it's great, because the playground area is gorgeous and shaded, and great for lounging around, provided you've found a spot clear of dog doo. Oh, and have you tried playing tennis around midnight? Amazing. And hilarious. And so, so much fun. It's truly theBOMBdotcom, one could say.

Came here for the heritage holiday event, which includes free entry to both the McLoughlin House…read moreand the neighboring Barclay House. We enjoyed it. People were dressed up in period costumes and showed us around the McLoughlin House - it was neat to learn the history, though it could have been made more engaging, particularly for younger people. The house is very dark and it's hard to see - it will be nice to return after the renovation to see it in a better state. The Barclay House is half office, with the other rooms set up as a gift shop and multi-purpose room. Also, the McLoughlin's are buried on the grounds, so that was interesting.

So glad this important piece of history was saved for posterity! John McLoughlin is the Father of…read moreOregon - even through he was a British subject, Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company at Ft Vancouver, Oregon Country. Oregon City is well worth a day to explore - and this museum should be part of your day. 5 excellent historic preservation stars!

Another fantastic museum in Oregon City!…read more This one was a comprehensive look at local history with an exceptionally interesting exhibit on the water as a power source and harnessing this power for electricity for local homes as innovators in the US at the time. There were also exhibits on schooling, clothing and pharmacy, which was fascinating as well.

This is a neat little museum nearby in Oregon city. It has several different displays with…read moreinformation about the Oregon territory. I enjoy learning about history, especially local since I'm a native Oregonian. The displays definitely had a lot going on. Sometimes you don't get as much material in the displays, so this was really nice. It's small, so it won't take a long time to go through, but it is really interesting. It would be fun to bring out of state guests to. A little Oregon history without being too overwhelming. It's kind of a nice view from so high up too. Plus they have free parking which is always nice.

I like being able to hike around the top of this semi-spooky butte. Evidently it's an old bomb…read moreshelter or a hidden bomb shelter or something crazy. I know people that have supposedly been inside there and I guess it has a big painting up on the ceiling of the whole town. I like that there are stairways that go nowhere. I grew up with it sort of in my backyard so I love to hear old stories about what's really going on up there. It's also fun to rip our dirt bikes up and around there. We don't rip up the natural areas we stick to the trails.

Kelly Butte is nearly 30 acres of woods on a volcanic cinder cone on the edge of SE/Outer SE…read morePortland. It has a long history of being used to harm the poorest citizens of Portland. After being stolen from the Chinook by the Kelly family who ran a failed farm, the city of Portland opened a prison for the express purpose if imprisoning houseless people using vagrency laws and forced them to break rocks by hand to pave the city's roads. Nothing ever changes besides location. In the 1950's after I don't know, asphalt was invented and many poor Oregonians had been worked to death as slaves the prison was closed to make way for a state of the art, even by today's standards, nuclear bomb shelter. There's a interesting 50s film called "The Day Called X" documenting a drill where the city is evacuated and government whisked away to Kelly Butte in a couple hours. Officially its was just for government but many who were in the loop say slots were sold to the rich and I tent to believe them because 20,000sq ft is more then city counsel needs for a couple months. Within a couple years though those who profit most from war unveiled the ICBM bringing warning times from 6 plus hours to under a half hour making the bunker a expensive useless concrete hole in the ground. During this time on the other side of the hill there was a hospice where those who couldn't afford health care were sent to die. The shelter was turned into a 911 dispatch Startin in the early 1970's where police were told where to go murder minorities. But workers were getting sick for a unexplained reason and it was abandoned in the mid 90's. For about 15 years it was occupied by houseless people with little care from the city. People used it as a bathroom, stripped it of anything of value, lit fire for warmth setting off the sprinklers repeatedly causing a black mold problem . I'm told people repeatedly ODed and were left for weeks. There was no narcain available them and no cell phones so there wasn't much to do when an OD happened a 20min walk from a phone. In the 2000s it was finally buried. Now the city parks bureau called is a "natural area but that's kinda BS, Kelly Butte had been clear cut many times over the last couple hundred years. The city does no matinence, does not cut grass, pick up trash there's no cans, police do not patrol. The PPB doesn't even have keys to the gate. A few neighborhood people walk dogs but for the most part people don't seem to know it's even there. There's a few houseless people camped, if you stick to the established trails you won't see them, and the y won't bother you. There's a collective of activists called PDXHRC who are sort of like a non-profit helping houseless people but they are operating from a more radical standpoint. They travel around town and embed in houseless community's to help improve their lives by providing tents and other supplies The point being that it improves the whole community. They also help defend from sweeps and stuff like that. They are the ones who do trash collection around the park when they are there. It's their home base so if there not helping out somewhere else there at KB. These people don't panhandle or use drugs they are houseless intentionally to better serve others. If you see them, and you'll know, they look like how you'd expect radicals to look. They are really nice people, with a barking dog that won't bite. They said to tell everyone to let them know if there is any maintenance needed in the park and they will take care of it. They said to do the same about other camps in the neighborhood, they have supplies and make meals to give away. Kelly Butte is a amazing place to have here in city limits. Go there enjoy it. It's a rare place. Oh, near dark be careful with pets, there are coyotes.

This is more a boat launch than an actual park. Most of the parking is reserved for vehicles with…read moreboat trailers, with very few spots for non-boaters. There is a nice, small grassy area and a bench, along with a short section of sidewalk. The view of the river is nice. We stopped here hoping for a longer stroll along the river but that wasn't the case.

Lovely little park to sit and enjoy the water. It has a boat launch too if that suits your needs.read more