Your standard monkeys, elephants and other creatures are here, but I liked the regional offerings. Mountain goats from the Cascades looked awfully hot in their white winter suits. Elk with big, velvet-covered antlers grazed. Three of the friskiest and most playful otters I've ever seen cavorted in an artificial pond and used a waterfall for a sliding board. Visitors give downtown Portland high marks for the light-rail system that ties the city together, and for the large number of good hotels and restaurants.
Lodging is easy to find.
I stayed at the Mark Spencer Hotel downtown. It was old, but had obviously been modernized and used as apartments for some years. Because of that, the guest rooms were short on character, but more spacious than what you'd find at a modern chain operation. What a wonderful place to relax with a glass of wine and a book. Finding good reading material is easy since the nation's largest bookstore, Powell's City of Books, is just down the block.