Americas Hub World Tours

The 25th Annual Visitor Industry Trade Show will be taking place at the Oregon Convention Center Portland Ballroom on February 18th. This is a great chance to meet regional and local event planners, corporate planners, view new trends, technology, and more.

LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) – Federal stimulus money will pay for most of the upgrades planned at Mount St. Helens and the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Click here to learn more!

This winter, discover some of the best parts of Portland, all in one tour. America’s Hub World Tours visits great places like OMSI, The Pittock Mansion, and Portland’s Rose Gardens all on its year round Pittock Mansion & Portland City Tour. The tour is a great way to see some of the best of Portland with a group of friends or family. Click Here for more information!

The World Forestry Center will be hosting the 5th annual ChocolateFest later this month. Sample world-class chocolate, learn how to pair chocolate with wine, sake, or beer, or even take Chocolate 101 to learn your chocolate basics. Demonstrations, samples, and presentations will be held at the center for an entire weekend.

Dates: January 29-31

Visit the ChocolateFest Site for more details

The Helen E, a shipping vessel that went missing in a storm over 50 years ago, was just discovered off the coast near Coos Bay. The 107-foot ship is in surprisingly good shape, and is currently being examined by the Coos Historical and Maritime museum. Click here for the full story on KATU.

To celebrate its 10th year since opening, the Portland Classical Chinese Gardens are open to the public for free until January 11th. And keep an eye out for more special events hosted at the gardens throughout the year.

America’s Hub World Tours stops by the Chinese Gardens and other great city highlights like the Rose Gardens, the waterfront, and Pioneer Square on its year-round Portland City Walking Adventure.

Portland Classical Chinese Gardens is located at 239 NW Everett Street

This week, the World Forestry Center will be hosting a special nighttime event for those 21 and older, complete with a variety of coffee, beer, wine, and food samples from all over the region. Check out the museum’s current exhibit about the journey of coffee from farm to cup while enjoying featured products like Barefoot Wine, activeculture frozen yogurt, or Batdorf & Bronson’s dark roast.

“After you’ve got your caffeine buzz, you can try out all the fun, hands-on interactive exhibits our museum has to offer. Test your smoke jumping skills with our Virtual Smoke-jumper, and grab your friends as you take a ride on Class IV rapids with the River Raft Adventure. Think you’re good at video games? Think again as you take the controls of a Timberjack Harvester and try your hand at being a modern day Lumberjack.”

Museum by Moonlight is on January 7th, from 6:00-9:30pm

$8 for entry, and only adults 21+

For more information, Click Here: World Forestry Center Museum by Moonlight page

palindrome: A word or series of symbols that reads the same backward or forward.

The word palindrome is putting numbers on the “radar” today. Today is Jan. 2, 2010, or 01-02-2010.

Today’s date marks only the third palindrome date in 620 years. Take 08-31-1380 in the 1300s, followed by 10-02-2001 in 2001.”  Learn More.