about us

about pdx bridge tours

INCLUDING: CONTACT FORM / EMAIL / NEWSLETTER / TOUR GUIDE BIO / REVIEWS & RECOMMENDATIONS / IMAGE CREDITS

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(WE'LL SHARE OCCASIONAL NEWS ABOUT TOURS AND BRIDGE-RELATED EVENTS.)

(AND, YOU CAN FIND AN ARCHIVE OF PAST E-NEWSLETTERS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS HERE.)

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about your tour guide

click here to learn about portland bridge expert nathan hoover

MY NAME'S NATHAN, AND I'LL BE YOUR BRIDGE TOUR GUIDE....

I've led walking tours of Portland since 2006. Each year, I lead about 80 bridge tours -- and thousands of individuals of all ages -- over, under, and inside our local bridges. I feel so fortunate to be doing this work, but I couldn't have predicted it ten years ago. Now, looking back, I see that I'm constantly drawing on my past experience in improvisational theater, as education staff at a hands-on science center, as Right Brain Initiative trainee. And as a "student of life" with a tendency to wonder and wander, and a desire for lifelong learning, leading bridge tours is a perfect fit.

Guide Nathan Hoover with the Hawthorne Bridge in the background.

I'm proud to bring a spirit of spontaneity to these walks, deciding where to go next while en route. Keeping things flexible in this way allows my groups and I to pause and appreciate the remarkable and unexpected moments of magic and serendipity that are part of being downtown along Portland's dynamic waterfront: helicopters landing on nearby rooftops, firefighting boats spraying water, trains crossing the lower deck of the Steel Bridge, and of course, bridge openings. One of my responsibilities to my tour groups is to end the tour on time, but I never want my groups to be worried about the time along the way. Keeping the plan for the day fluid, throughout, is a key strategy enabling me to deliver that experience.

I'm passionate about leading bridge tours, for their ability to inspire and delight, for their capacity to provoke us to consider how we are collaborative city-builders, and for the way in which they can be a celebration of our special sense of place. At once tour guide and small-business owner, I am fully committed to nurturing what is now a roughly 30-year tradition of educating groups about Portland's very special collection of bridges, I feel honored to be a part of that legacy, and I hope to continue this work for generations to come.

Outside of leading bridge tours, I am an urban farmer and an artist. My farming efforts have received grant funding from Lundberg Family Farms, and my creative work has been supported by the Regional Arts and Culture Council, covered in the Oregonian, and published in Oregon Humanities Magazine. You can learn a bit more about my other efforts by visiting these websites describing my projects, past and present....
Habitat Farm: the small urban farm I co-founded and managed for several years.
LinkedIn profile: with further links to my other achievements and endeavors.

what folks are saying about us

click here to READ REVIEWS & RECOMMENDATIONS

HERE'S WHAT PEOPLE ARE WRITING ABOUT PDX BRIDGE TOURS AND TOUR GUIDE NATHAN HOOVER....

"The annual bridge trip has become a right of passage in third grade at our school... something students talk about for years. Both parents and students are quite excited to participate in these trips and it has become the most sought after trip to chaperone. One year I had a parent who's an engineer that actually builds bridges participate, and he was very impressed with Nathan's work."

-RODRIGO AGUIRRE, BEACH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER

"Nathan, today was a highlight of our year. Thank you for sharing a unique experience with our two classes! You're a gifted interpreter and our students absolutely responded to your expertise. We wish you all the best as you continue to share Portland's bridges with our local schools."

-LAUREN SINCLAIR, CORBETT CHARTER SCHOOL TEACHER

"We appreciate all of the research you did to specifically cater to our interest in the Ross Island Bridge. My students left feeling inspired, invigorated and happy to have spent a day learning. As a teacher, I couldn't have asked for more."

-ALICIA ALLEN, IVY SCHOOL TEACHER

"Your tour has inspired our boys. They have all connected on Roblox since we got home [and] are working together to build a working Hawthorne Bridge replica."

-CHARITY DART, CUB SCOUT DEN LEADER

"Wow! Thanks for such an awesome tour! Seriously, it was SO GOOD."

-LESLIE MANNING, RACHEL CARSON ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOL PARENT

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT FOLKS HAVE SAID ON FACEBOOK