I came to Portland to rebuild my life.
And accidentally built a love letter to the Pacific Northwest instead.
I'm Larie Pidgeon. I run PNW Passport, and I’m glad you found your way here.
I do not know how to casually like anything.
I can go out for dinner and come home wanting to know the chef's grandmother's name, why the server stayed and who chose the green velvet. Jason has seen this happen. He usually knows we're going to be there a while.
Before there was a publication, there were places.
I grew up in Hawai‘i, where food came with people and places came with stories long before anybody thought to call them content. New York came later, bringing work, ambition, wonderful chaos and a few lessons I did not order. Both places taught me to pay attention to a room before I decided what it was.
Then I came here to start over.
I moved to Portland in 2025 to start over. At first I just wanted to get to know the place. Then a restaurant made me feel unexpectedly cared for. Then a festival made the city feel less like somewhere I'd moved and more like somewhere I belonged. And Portland kept leaving odd little questions at my feet.
I started following them. That became PNW Passport.
I lost the room. I did not lose the reason I built it.
The original Instagram account grew to more than 220,000 followers. In 2026, I lost it.
Losing the account hurt. But it also forced me to ask what I wanted to keep making when the numbers were gone. The answer was never just posts. I wanted room for the chef who remembers her grandmother's food, the volunteer nobody thought to interview, the woman who walks into a spa and finally lets herself take up space. And, yes, Portland's extremely specific nonsense.
Sometimes I need the whole damn story.
Instagram gave me a caption. Here I can stay for the whole story.
I can tell you who made the place, what I felt standing in it when I was actually there, and how you might experience it yourself. The stories live here alongside maps, outings, events and guides that won't disappear into yesterday's feed.
The newsroom starts in Portland and wanders through Oregon, Washington and sometimes Northern California. There will be food, road trips, hotels, hiking trails, weird shit and plenty of people who deserve a proper introduction. I do some of the reporting in person; other stories are built from interviews and checked sources. I’ll tell you the difference.
I still get excited before I know what the story is. Most days I think that is why the good ones find me.
Thank you for pulling up a chair. Now, go meet somebody interesting.