Laura O. Foster is an author and editor who specializes in writing about one of her great passions: Portland, Oregon. She also writes children's nonfiction books, including the award-winning Boys Who Rocked the World, and works as a freelance book editor. As a teenager, she left the Illinois prairie for the mountains of Wyoming, where she worked in Yellowstone National Park. It was there she discovered the joys of hill walking. After several years hiking and biking in the mountains of Colorado and Tennessee, Laura moved to Portland in 1989, where she found pedestrian nirvana: a city where you can combine a hike, a brewpub, and a bookstore in one afternoon jaunt. As in old European cities, it's possible to do all this in the space of a single afternoon walkabout, and she finds it remarkable to be able to do all three without driving.