Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Oregon > Portland
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-05-2012, 12:09 AM
 
6 posts, read 10,471 times
Reputation: 13

Advertisements

The family and I are planning a trip to Portland in August. There's my wife and I and our 5 year old. We're doing our own research to plan our itinerary but I thought I would throw it out there to any persons willing to make some suggestions. Outdoor activities are definitely something we're looking for, and if bike rentals are available we want to explore the famous Portland bike paths. Unfortunately we don't quite know where will be staying yet but we will have a rental car so distance to sites might not be a big issue.

We're going to be there a week so if time permits, we're hoping to drive to Seattle for a few days. I'm not sure if anyone has any thoughts about going to Seattle as I've read that it's a near 4-hour drive? It's definitely not a day trip sort of destination right?

Anyway, Portland's our main destination so if anyone has suggestions on must-stop food, activities, hikes, biking trails, etc. please feel free to throw them out there. Thanks in advance.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-05-2012, 12:30 AM
 
9,961 posts, read 17,438,977 times
Reputation: 9193
Quote:
Originally Posted by octobahn View Post
The family and I are planning a trip to Portland in August. There's my wife and I and our 5 year old. We're doing our own research to plan our itinerary but I thought I would throw it out there to any persons willing to make some suggestions. Outdoor activities are definitely something we're looking for, and if bike rentals are available we want to explore the famous Portland bike paths. Unfortunately we don't quite know where will be staying yet but we will have a rental car so distance to sites might not be a big issue.

We're going to be there a week so if time permits, we're hoping to drive to Seattle for a few days. I'm not sure if anyone has any thoughts about going to Seattle as I've read that it's a near 4-hour drive? It's definitely not a day trip sort of destination right?

Anyway, Portland's our main destination so if anyone has suggestions on must-stop food, activities, hikes, biking trails, etc. please feel free to throw them out there. Thanks in advance.
If you've got a week in Portland you should definitely drive to the coast for a day and spend a day at Mount Hood and the Gorge. You could do a daytrip to Astoria and then drive down to Seaside and Cannon Beach returning via Highway 26. Or you could drive out Highway 6 to Tillamook and drive along the Three Capes loop--beautiful coastal scenery and villages around a short coastal trip.

It's an easy drive up I-84 to the Columbia Gorge, where there's lots of easy hikes around the waterfalls and from there you just head east to Hood River. From there you can drive south through the Hood River Valley(lots of fruit orchards and some wineries) up around Mt. Hood, where you can drive up to Timberline Lodge(year-round snowfields and probably wildflowers by August) and then back to Highway 26 and back to Portland. From Timberline there's a few good easy hikes around the rim that end up at dramatic overlooks over the canyons coming down the side of Mt. Hood. It's about 3 hours round trip, but it's a beautiful loop. Mount St. Helens is also about a 3 hour round trip, which is very worth taking a trip to if seeing one of the most dramatic volcanic sites anywhere in the world is something you might be interested in.

Spend a day going to Washington Park--you could take the MAX if you're staying downtown and go to the Oregon Zoo, Japanese Garden, and walk around the Rose Garden and the park. Lots of great trails around the Arboretum and you can hike up to the Pittock Mansion for one of the best views of downtown. Downtown Portland is nice if you stay around the north end and the Pearl District--lots of good restaurants, Powell's and so on. You can rent a bike and ride around the waterfront and Eastbank Esplanade loop which is a nice way to get a view of the riverbank of the Willamette and downtown Portland. There's also the Springwater Corridor, which is a nice bike ride through SE Portland. There's also OMSI(the science museum) which is fun for kids in SE Portland just across from downtown. After you've seen the main stuff, just pick a neighborhood like NW Portland or N Mississippi or somewhere in SE to walk around--Portland is a city of village-like neighborhoods, each with their own little shopping/restaurant strips.

Seattle is about a 2.5-3 hour drive(more or less depending on traffic). To go to Seattle, I'd say you really need about three days though to enjoy it. One day to drive up and one day back and a day to just see the city and relax. Alternatively, it's a nice train ride up there on Amtrak(about 3 hours) that takes you straight from downtown Portland to downtown Seattle, though if you want to see more around Seattle or along the way a car is good to have. There isn't much to see along the way unless you take a long detour through the mountains like Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Rainer, although Olympia is a good little city to stop in for lunch and Tacoma has the excellent Glass Museum. Seattle's got a lot of other stuff to see, starting with the famous spots like Pike's Market, though there's a lot of other places to go.

That's basically the rundown of the most obvious stuff to see--if you're interested in good hikes in specific areas or other things to see, let me know. I spend most of the summer exploring the outdoors of this area--it's the best time to be here.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-05-2012, 11:51 AM
 
6 posts, read 10,471 times
Reputation: 13
I appreciate the detailed writeup. I was especially interested in your suggestion about Mt St Helen and Rainier. We might have to abandon Seattle to hit those highlights but it might be worth it to better explorer Portland.

Keep 'em coming folks. maybe tell me, as a native, what you love doing in Portland on any given weekend.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-05-2012, 01:29 PM
 
Location: Jennings Lodge, OR
478 posts, read 877,851 times
Reputation: 454
I have been making a detailed list of possible activities for my sister's family and their 4 and 7 year old boys who are visiting in August. Here are some suggestions to look into from my list (all of these are easy to Google):

Enchanted Forest
Oaks Amusement Park
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Arts Festival in the Forest
Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden
Ladybug Theater
Oregon Children's Theater
Portland Symphony Orchestra
Multnomah County Library
Powell's Books
Hoyt Arboretum
International Rose Test Gardens
Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens
Bob's Red Mill factory tour
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum
Jeff Morris Fire Museum
Maryhill Art Museum
Museum of Contemporary Craft
OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry)
Pittock Mansion
Portland Art Museum
Portland Children's Museum
World Forestry Center
Huckleberry picking
Multnomah Falls
Silver Falls State Park
Alberta Arts District
Aurora
Fruit Loop
Hawthorne District
Ladd's Addition
Oregon City
Oregon Coast
Portland Saturday Market
Sauvie Island
Tillamook Cheese Factory
Mt. Hood Railroad
Washington Park train
Oregon Coast Aquarium
Oregon Zoo
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-05-2012, 02:39 PM
 
6 posts, read 10,471 times
Reputation: 13
Thanks cris. Lots of cool stuff on the list. Looks like your sister's family is going to have a blast.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-05-2012, 03:07 PM
 
9,961 posts, read 17,438,977 times
Reputation: 9193
Quote:
Originally Posted by octobahn View Post
I appreciate the detailed writeup. I was especially interested in your suggestion about Mt St Helen and Rainier. We might have to abandon Seattle to hit those highlights but it might be worth it to better explorer Portland.

Keep 'em coming folks. maybe tell me, as a native, what you love doing in Portland on any given weekend.
Mt. Rainier is a little further for a daytrip from Portland a little closer to Seattle, but it's amazing to see up close and there's a good network of hiking trails from the Paradise or Sunrise areas. But from Portland you might want to stay in that area of Washington for a day if you wanted to see both Rainier and St. Helens. I'd say that from Portland a St. Helens daytrip is definitely worth it. There's no where else really like it in the Continental US. The hikes along Johnston Ridge on the north side near the visitor center(also the Hummocks down below) are good ones to get an idea of the area. There's also some impressive ones on the east side of the volcano which take you right around the lower part.

A great hiking trail in the Gorge is the Horsetail Falls-Oneota Gorge loop. It's not too long but you start at the base of one huge waterfall, go up and then underneath another waterfall before dropping down to a bridge above the narrow Oneota Gorge and ending up at the bottom of the narrow canyon. It's a few miles hike and you can take kids on it and get a sense of the landscape of the Gorge. There's a lot of other good ones in the Gorge, including Eagle Creek which has about nine waterfalls or so, and Dog Mountain, though that one is pretty steep.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-05-2012, 03:38 PM
 
Location: the Beaver State
6,464 posts, read 13,385,176 times
Reputation: 3581
Quote:
Originally Posted by crisw View Post
I have been making a detailed list of possible activities for my sister's family and their 4 and 7 year old boys who are visiting in August. Here are some suggestions to look into from my list (all of these are easy to Google):
Add these web sites to your search:

portland.daveknows.org/
OregonMom.com "Where to go with kids in tow!"
Around the Sun: A Blog About Saving Money in Portland, Oregon, and beyond -
http://www.pdxfamilyadventures.com/
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-05-2012, 11:16 PM
 
6 posts, read 10,471 times
Reputation: 13
Sweet! Thanks for all the contributions. We might have to extend our trip to fit in all the stuff we want to do.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-06-2012, 04:10 PM
 
Location: Jennings Lodge, OR
478 posts, read 877,851 times
Reputation: 454
What works for me is to make a list of all the interesting places and then group them by proximity, then plan days around that. When my other sister came up with her son, we did a "coast day" (Astoria, Tillamook, etc.) an "East day" (Multnomah Falls, fruit, Maryhill Art Museum), etc.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-07-2012, 05:16 PM
 
1 posts, read 1,043 times
Reputation: 10
Portland is a great pace for great food. So a stop at some of our local favorites and food carts might be fun. This will start a local food fight but for a great burger try Helvatia Tavern. If you're beer drinkers Portland is the place for micro brews. You'll find pods of food carts thrugh out the city that feature just about anything you can imagine. The kids would no doubt enjoy O.M.S.I. Take it a bit further a field and head east and see the area around Kahneeta about 2 hours from Portland. It's different from the lush green west of the Cascades. Several people have mentioned going out the gorge to Hood river area the stern wheeler columbia gorge is a great three hour trip up and down part of the Columbia. The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport is a fun trip as well. If you're staying downtown check out the Portland Sat. market and farmers market. The Chinese garden is gorgeous as well.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Oregon > Portland
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top