portland Oregon area vacation options?

[Khunter]

Wife and I are flying in to Portland, OR for July 12-19.
Aside from stay the h%$#LL away from Portland Pizza,, be happy to hear suggestiind for cool outdors activities and logistics. Stuff on the water, perhaps fishing, etc that we do not have as much of in Colorado.

Renting a car and kinda plan to tour around and book some lodging on a mini road trip of sorts within 100-200 miles or so versus staying in Portland most nights. Hit some wine country as well no doubt.

Whatcha got?

 

[belshawelk]

Go to the Oregon coast. Anywhere a great drive down the coast with great food and lodging ( Cannon Beach etc)
Multnomah falls. Great hiking
Great wineries and places to stay in Dundee-MicMinnville. Plus if you like cheese go the Tillamook factory your there. Also the air museum in McMinnville.
If you like beer go to McMenamins. they even have a few hotels
Lots of fishing at coast and fresh fish. Best clam chowder in the west


The greatest on earth ( yes better Beau Jo's) is Flying Pie. Its in Milwaukie. There is not better pizza anywhere. YES ANYWHERE

 

[FairWeather]

In town, the Japanese garden is neat, and the zoo’s pretty decent too (don’t know what CO has for zoos). Willamette vineyards just outside of Salem is a beautiful spot with a nice staff and great views.
Multnomah falls is all but obligatory, but if you want more of a hike, hit up Silver falls.

If you find yourself heading to the coast, I recommend renting a crab pot and crabbing for some dungeness and red rocks. You can get one day angling & shellfish licenses, or 3 day shellfish only, for pretty cheap. I don’t go up to the north coast very often, so I can’t say where would be a good spot.

 

[Gus Chiggins]

Not to be johnny raincloud but it used to be that the parking lot for Multnomah Falls was the hottest spot in Oregon for car break ins. Know of a person who last year parked at a trailhead not far from Mult Falls for a hike, and less than 2 hours later returned to find the SUV next to them had been broken into. We have some real pro criminals around here

Wine country around Dundee as mentioned is good, as is the coast. Parking in some towns gets a little tough certain times of year. Tillamook cheese factory (and ice cream!) is pretty good. If you go to the coast eat lots of seafood!

 

[44hunter45]

Not to be johnny raincloud but it used to be that the parking lot for Multnomah Falls was the hottest spot in Oregon for car break ins. Know of a person who last year parked at a trailhead not far from Mult Falls for a hike, and less than 2 hours later returned to find the SUV next to them had been broken into. We have some real pro criminals around here

Wine country around Dundee as mentioned is good, as is the coast. Parking in some towns gets a little tough certain times of year. Tillamook cheese factory (and ice cream!) is pretty good. If you go to the coast eat lots of seafood!

Multnomah Falls has become nothing more than a dog park. We used to stop there and Vista House almost every time we made the Portlandia run. The last time we were there you could not step up the hiking path without stepping in dog shit. Enjoy if you like DINKs in puffy vests who consider their animals to be their children.

 

[MThuntr]

I like the arboretum but I like plants

 

[Khunter]

Thanks! great suggestions so far. We are hikers and all the rest sounds great.

 

[MtnElk]

Wife and I are flying in to Portland, OR for July 12-19.
Aside from stay the h%$#LL away from Portland Pizza,, be happy to hear suggestiind for cool outdors activities and logistics. Stuff on the water, perhaps fishing, etc that we do not have as much of in Colorado.

Renting a car and kinda plan to tour around and book some lodging on a mini road trip of sorts within 100-200 miles or so versus staying in Portland most nights. Hit some wine country as well no doubt.

Whatcha got?

ill text you some stuff!

 

[David658]

Go to the Oregon coast. Anywhere a great drive down the coast with great food and lodging ( Cannon Beach etc)
Multnomah falls. Great hiking
Great wineries and places to stay in Dundee-MicMinnville. Plus if you like cheese go the Tillamook factory your there. Also the air museum in McMinnville.
If you like beer go to McMenamins. they even have a few hotels
Lots of fishing at coast and fresh fish. Best clam chowder in the west


The greatest on earth ( yes better Beau Jo's) is Flying Pie. Its in Milwaukie. There is not better pizza anywhere. YES ANYWHERE

Atlas Pies is great as well! Randy just drew a short straw - Portland is truly the best town for pizza in the nation. The sourdough crust is fabulous.

 

[David658]

Depot Bay is a cool little place, the brewery there has tremendous clam chowder. Get there at noon, get a window seat on the second floor, and enjoy watching and eating.

Astoria is a cool old town, too, there in the upper left corner. Several breweries, cool place.

McMenamin's is a great experience if you stay in one of the hotels. Good entertainment - food is good, room is nice, beers adequate, but the total experience is tops.

Best beer - Rogue Brewing in Newport.

David
NM (formerly of OR)

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

The Oregon Coast is just over an hour go there it’s amazing, take hwy 26 west out of Portland then take the Hwy 6 split to tillamook, honk the horn as you drive past Banks Or my old town on the way to tillamook

Stop at the tillamook creamery, for some ice cream and see how they make the cheese! Don’t eat there you’ll find a cool place to eat along the coast

Then drive north from tillamook along 101 , to Astoria and Ft Stevens state park an old military base and walk around, go to Battery Russel it’s cool

Then you can head back west along 101 to seaside and take hwy 26 back to Portland or drive east on the Columbia River hwy into the backside of Portland

 

[44hunter45]

Waldport and Seal Rock are seaside heaven.

 

[Gus Chiggins]

Multnomah Falls has become nothing more than a dog park. We used to stop there and Vista House almost every time we made the Portlandia run. The last time we were there you could not step up the hiking path without stepping in dog shit. Enjoy if you like DINKs in puffy vests who consider their animals to be their children.

Sure it was dog poo?

 

[crock239]

As others have said, a driving loop along the Oregon coast will get you into a lot of stuff that is unique to the Pacific Northwest (coastal rainforest) and unlike Colorado. Lots of fresh seafood options too.

Cannon Beach (Ecola State Park has nice coastline hiking trails), definitely Tillamook cheese factory, could likely arrange some charter fishing along the coast, maybe dip a crab pot or two, etc. Maybe go as far south as Newport on the coast?

As you come back up the Willamette Valley you'll have tons of winery options.

We were just in the area recently and Silver Falls State Park was a great hike...we did a 5 mile loop that hit about 10 waterfalls, multiple large falls of which you hike behind.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Another cool spot is Oceanside Or just west of Tillamook , we used to rent a house there on the beach, there’s a great ocean front restaurant called Roseanne’s if I remember right and then you can drive up the hill from Oceanside to the cape mears light house and the octopus tree , if ya go that way let me know there’s a cool little beach ya got to hike down to halfway between Oceanside and the lighthouse

Oceanside in the background at dawn


Some of the trail down to the secret beach we called it

Cape Mears lighthouse

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

I would stay away from Cannon Beach and Seaside, there tourist hotspots in the summer and shopping areas. Where u could get sucked into a lot of walking around looking at stuff with the wife

 

[Gr8bawana]

If you're a wine drinker there will be no shortage of paces to try different wines. My wife and I took a drive around MT. Hood last summer and there are wineries everywhere. Also fruit of every kind.
We did go to the Tillamook factory and found it quite interesting. I had some fried cheese curds with spicy ranch and they were delicious!.
We did all the tourist stuff like driving to Gold beach, took pics of Haystack rock on Cannon beach. Drove to the outlet of the Rouge river into the Pacific.
We also took the "falls" tour and it was very crowded but amazing, though it was also the last day the tour was running.
The Bridge of the Gods was also amazing. We went there after touring Bonneville dam.

 

[huntandfly]

Bridge of the Gods and Bonneville dam are where I grew up. Stevenson is a cool little town, not a whole ton to do there but a beautiful drive out to bingen/White Salmon

I don’t know if you would have the time, but the Sisters, Oregon area is amazing. Tons of hiking and ranching history. Bend is just down the road and had about 15 different breweries in town that you can try. Good fly fishing on the Metolius river down there, as well as some of the smaller tributaries

 

[CoffeeGoat]

Tillamook native here, all the above is good, if you've got kids I'd add the Oregon coast aquarium and Hatfield marine science Center in Newport, it's literally across the street from Rogue brewing. If you're that far south you should also check out Yaquina head for the unique pebble beach.

Pacific city is a cool little spot as well, and there are few hidden gems like Cape Lookout State park that are also in the area.

Near Fort Steven's towards Astoria you can also check out Fort Clatsop which is where Lewis and Clark wintered before they turned around and headed back east.

I'll actually be in the area on vacation during that time if you want to PM me. Cheers

 

[LopeHunter]

Head to the Coast. You have mountains in CO so no need to go to Mt. Hood.

The Coast has the smell of the ocean, sound of the waves crashing, glacier-melt cold water, fresh seafood eateries in the coastal towns, scream of the seagulls, and salt water taffy.

Do not turn your back on the ocean if at the water's edge as the old-growth tree logs will silently chase you trapping you under tons of weight then you die. That is a crappy way to wrap up the Oregon vacation.

If you love old books, can go to Powell's Books in downtown Portland and browse used books of just about any era and topic as well as new books. I bought some old hunting books there to use with a pedestal mount of a goat.