Negotiating last night's monsoon, perfectly timed to the evening commute, left many us of drenched and/or drained.

While comiserating about our gray, rainy weather is practically an art form in Portland, there's no better way to beat the winter blues (ok, technically winter doesn't start for 11 days) than getting out and enjoying our fine city.

Kyoto's annual rainfall of 63 inches drawfs our meager 37.5, so precipitation provides further authenticy to the experience of touring our lovely Portland Japanese Gardens. Reflect on the experience afterwards with some Sencha green tea at one of Rose City's numerous tea shops.

TriMet has a Destinations to Discover page that provides transit plans to a myriad of Portland cultural, natural and shopping destinations like the aforementioned gardens.

Looking for a cheap date? Portland is a national leader in the Green Street movement, using bioswales to naturally filter millions of gallons of tainted stormwater into the earth and away from our streams and rivers. At the same time, they beautify the street while calming traffic.

Seeing bioswales in the middle of a rainstorm is super cool. For a free outing, why not take a self guided bicycle tour of Portland's sustainable stormwater facilites?

Happy exploring!

With the Pineapple Express bringing balmy weather, I decided it was a perfect opportunity to walk halfway to work (and then hop on MAX for the rest).

My walk this morning got me thinking about how walking to work is somewhat analagous to the Slow Food movement. Here's my 7:30 a.m. theory unfurled:

• Slow Food is about taking time to enjoy the experience of eating. Likewise, walking to work allows you the time to reflect;
• Slow Food celebrates local traditions. When we commute by foot, we take time to enjoy the majestic oak tree, the masonry of the neighborhood school, the historic sidewalk stamp;
• Slow Food strives to connect people and cultures. On my walk to work this morning, I ran into two friends dropping their kids to child care. On foot, I'm much more likely to say to hello to a passerby or engage in a spontaneous conversation;
• Slow Food is about eating delicous, healthy food. Walking is great exercise, even moreso since it's so enjoyable that you're more likely to continuing doing it. On my walk and MAX to work, I made it halfway to the 10,000 steps that the Surgeon General recommends for a healthy lifestyle.

Slow commute!

Photo courtesy of Kaye Duncan 

What a joy to commute to work in the sun. I think it's fair to say that we've earned this aberration. By my count this is our first clear day in two weeks.

The sunlight danced off of neighbors' wind chimes and the Willamette was smooth as glass.

As I rode over the Steel Bridge, a goose took off from the water, slapping his feet against the river as he propelled himself airbound. It was quite a scene.

Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same, so it will be a great day add some walking to your commute or to jump on your bike. As always, let us know, if you need a personalized transit or bike route plan.

Everyone seems to be coming out with Top-Tweets-of-the-Year lists, but I don't follow the Tweeter-sphere closely enough to come up with something like the the top transportation tweets of the year. 

But the Commuter Central team is an active member of the Twitter cloud (@SmartTripsBiz) and we definitely have our favorite Tweeters.  So in the spirit of following what others are doing, here is our list of Top-Transportation-Tweeters and each of their 140-character bios. 

You're favorite Tweeter isn't on our list?  Please correct our mistake in the comments!

@TimoOptionista - "Read these tweets, expect subtle attempts to influence your travel behavior..."

@DonaldShoup - "Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA."

@PortlandAfoot - "A new 10-minute newsmagazine about low-car life in PDX."

 @bikecommutenews - "Local, National and World News for Bike Commuters, as it breaks. Help us promote bicycles as a viable & sustainable source of transportation."

@travelportland -"We love all things Portland - the official account for Travel Portland. Questions? Use #inpdx in your tweet. We will help."

@SweetpeaBikes - "I design and build bikes for women."

 

 

@wsdot - "Official Washington State Department of Transportation Twitter account."

 

@SafeRoutesPDX - "Safe Routes Program Manager - City of Portland"

 

 

@Michael_GR - "I work for the Discovery Channel as a Science/Tech/Transportation writer for TreeHugger and Planet Green."

 

 

@RayLaHood - "The official Twitter page of the US Secretary of Transportation"

Rutgers University professor John Pucher has conducted an in-depth study of active commuting and its link to health and wellness.

Published this summer in the American Journal of Public Health, Pucher's study looked at rates of commuting by foot and bike and various health indicators of workers in over a dozen countries.

In comparing workers in every state in the US and 47 of its 50 largest cities, Pucher found that higher rates of walking and biking to work corresponded to:

-higher percentages of adults meeting the US Surgeon General's 30 minutes of daily moderate to vigourous exercise;

-lower percentages of obesity in adults; and

-lower rates of adult diabetes.