We had a very nice stay in this former garage that has been converted into a convenient two-level apartment. It’s on a relatively quiet side street. The kitchen, which has a full set of modern appliances and is well equipped, with just enough utensils, etc., for four guests, is on the ground level, along with a sitting area with a fold-out couch for additional guests. The windows look out onto the driveway in front, but you can get daylight and still have privacy by using the shades, which pull down from the top, a nice touch. Having A/C for the upstairs was nice, and needed in this year’s heat wave (although we missed its peak). Although the bedroom is upstairs, the closet space is downstairs, a slight inconvenience. We met our host, a back-country guide, only briefly, but he was very responsive to requests for information, and he had supplied the place with several books on hikes, etc., in the area. The location is very convenient – 15 or 20 minutes to get to downtown, to the southern end of Forest Park, or to I-84 for trips up the Columbia River Gorge. Downtown, don’t miss Powell’s Bookstore. (I know everyone says that, and everyone is right. Just make sure your GPS is working when you go in; the place is huge.) Near Forest Park is the historic Pittock Mansion and the Rose Garden, and in the park itself, you can hike for tens of miles and never know you’re in the city.