Sooner or later we all find ourselves in Portland.

The trick is to plan enough extra time around that run to PDX or the brief visit with the in-laws to get the most out of it. Footloose in Portland can be a delightful elixir, the yin to your Central Oregon yang.

Another trick is to narrow your options beforehand or risk severe sensory overload and a deer-in-the-headlights retreat to your motel room and the pernicious refuge of cable TV.

Powell’s City of Books is dazzling enough. And it’s usually our first stop (make a list before you get there, it’s a full square block of sheer joy for the bibliophile).

I’m far from an expert on the Rose City, but I know a fun outing when I see one. And Washington Park is a fantastic place to spend what extra time you have over there west of the Cascades. The park, just west of Portland’s urban heart, is a sylvan oasis surrounded (at a comfortable distance) by the gear gnashing, slow-and-go reality of Oregon’s population center.

There’s a lot to do in Washington Park, what with the World Forestry Center, the Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Hoyt Arboretum and the Children’s Museum in close proximity. Again, it might be best to narrow it down before you get there.

We opted for the Oregon Zoo and the Japanese Garden.

Despite the soggy conditions last week, we declined a shuttle ride from the parking lot next to the tennis courts and up the hill to the garden entrance. The brisk climb took us to the admission gate where we paid the $8 apiece and began our self-guided tour. This is not an amusement park; if it’s an adrenaline rush you’re looking for, better to rent go-carts.

As for endorphins, well you may have something there.

The Japanese do gardens right. From the wisteria arbor, past the elaborate pond garden and on through the tea garden and the austere sand and stone garden, the place quietly screams Zen and monastic simplicity. The muted light and the rain dripping from the maple leaves, razor thin and symmetrical, added to the pacific magic.

A guided tour of The Japanese Garden can be arranged (through October) by calling 503-223-9233.

The Oregon Zoo, just up the winding road from the garden, is another example of enlightened aesthetics.

I always succumb to mixed feelings at a zoo. There’s a twinge of guilt; here I am, free to come and go, while you – captive zoo animal – are on the inside, secure from cradle to grave but living out your marginalized life far from your native habitat and the very thing that makes you ”wild.”

That said, zoos have come a long way from the cages of yore. At the Oregon Zoo, habitats are re-created as faithfully as possible and there’s nothing like seeing the animals up close to impart a sense of urgency for the plight of their counterparts dealing with shrinking habitats and population decline throughout the world.

The zoo does extinction right.

It also rescues individual animals that, in some cases, would face death as the only other option.

We spent a long time at the new Cougar Crossing exhibit, watching a pair of mountain lions. One was sleeping right under our noses, the other was faithfully following its instinct. In a remarkable sequence of events, we watched as the young cougar stalked an unwitting sparrow that had landed close by to drink from a puddle. Like a house kitten stalking a yarn ball, the cougar inched forward on its belly, shoulder blades protruding, back muscles alternately tensing and relaxing. Then, as we watched, trying not to move and spoil the moment, the big cat pounced, its club-like paws missing the little bird by a whisper.

The rest of our zoo tour – experiencing the polar bears gobbling fish, the gray wolves relaxing, a grizzly absently browsing, the hippos and sea otters and penguins – was fun, but it paled in comparison.

Our cougar encounter, and a heightened appreciation for these magnificent animals, lingers. And that, I’m convinced, is what it’s all about.

Jim Witty can be reached at 617-7828 or jwitty@bendbulletin.com.

If You Go

Getting there: From downtown Portland, drive west on U.S. Highway 26 and take Exit 172/Zoo.

Cost: Admission to the Japanese Garden is $8 for adults, $6.25 for seniors 62 and over, $6.25 for college students with identification, $5.25 for students 6-17 and free for children 5 and younger. Admission to the Oregon Zoo is $9.50 for adults 12-64, $8 for seniors 65 and over and $6.50 for children 3-11. Infants 2 and under are free. Parking is $1 per car.

Contact: The Japanese Garden, 503-223-1321; Oregon Zoo, 503-226-1561.