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We were out at Kruger Farms on Sauvie Island for a summer evening concert when we came across the Captured by Porches beer bus. Parked amid the farm-fresh veggies, burger stands, and roasted corn on the cob, the beer line seemed manageable for as hot as it was. The beer bus tenders were friendly and knowledgeable, recommending their cool, crisp Kolsch to start things off. It wasn’t long before I was on the bus. Their IPA was next on my list, and it fit the bill as the evening cooled down. Went really well with the ear of roasted corn I couldn’t get enough of. You can find the bus year-round in a number of locations around town. The NoPo locations include the pod out on N Lombard, also NE 23rd and Alberta. The cart pod up on Lombard is cool and mellow with good food and a nice beer garden on sunny afternoons and warm evenings. Check their website for hours and other bus stops. Captured by Porches is certainly one of the oddest brewing sensations in Beervana and worth a ride if you’re in the neighborhood.

Minutes from downtown Portland, there’s a hike on the northern tip of Sauvie Island that takes you through bird-sanctuary beauty and wilderness isolation. The walk out to explore Oregon’s smallest lighthouse can be a comfortable sunny stroll through the beach, woods, and wetlands. It can also turn into a damp slog later in the rainy season when island lakes overflow their banks, inundating the roads and trails. But year-round, it’s still possible to find your way to the spot on Warrior Rock where the classic light overlooks the Columbia. Cycling out to the light gets you to the trailhead at the end of Reeder Road for the 7-mile roundtrip hike out to Warrior Rock. The original lighthouse was built in 1889, and that wooden structure was replaced with the current concrete tower in 1930. Back in 1969, the rocky shelf that juts out into the Columbia couldn’t stop a barge from running into the light, compromising the foundation. The Warrior Rock Light, one of two in Oregon that are not on the Pacific, is now automated and still serves the busy shipping lanes on the river. This historic site is a great spot to experience a bit of island life, have a picnic, or just relax watching the day drift down river.

Perched on a not-so-lonely nude beach on the northern end of Sauvie Island is an enigma. Well above waterline lies a 30-foot orb that piques the imagination and challenges explanation. The “spaceship” origin is not interstellar but certainly presents itself as other-worldly. The craft is actually a ferro cement experimental boat built around 1970 just upriver. It was designed as a self-righting sailboat and carried a local family on adventures for a couple decades before it got away. Now covered in moss and graffiti, it sits as a testament to Oregon innovation and exploration. To do some of your own exploring of this mysterious craft, take Reeder Rd out to where the pavement ends at a spot called Collins Beach, aka the nude beach. (Yes, if you venture out in summer, you will see naked people.) There’s a parking area (permit required) and trails down to the beach. Sitting up in the trees, just above the sand, sits the stripped-out hulk of a dream. The tri-hulled beast looks more like a lifeboat than a spaceship, but alien nonetheless. Be careful climbing around if you decide to explore inside. The rusting steel framework is losing its cement skin in places and can be dangerous. Cycling to the site is a great way to spend an afternoon on the island and get a great workout in the process.