From Mississippi to California to Portland

[DreamWeavin]

ohhhhhhhhhhh,k, thanks

Originally Posted by backdrifter

To "The Gorge" Amphitheater in Central Washington, yes. About four to four and a half hours. That's what was meant.

[backdrifter]

Originally Posted by DreamWeavin

ohhhhhhhhhhh,k, thanks

No prob, Bob.

[CarsTrucksBuses]

Originally Posted by crazylegs5150

Cars-
Congrats on making the trip out west. I thought I recognized your username. I was like " that's on my favorite Phish album" .I am living in Florida now and can very much relate to your feelings of heat,humidity and yearning for cooler climes of the west. I wanted to respond to your original post. My wife and I made our first trip out to oregon last summer on our trip to the Gorge too , to see DMB over Labor Day weekend. The weather was FANTASTIC and just made the whole weekend even more unbelievable. You will love it! Waterfalls, mountans, trees, rivers and best of all , everyone seemed so damn happy and pleasant everywhere we went. It's about a 4.5 hour drive from Portland to The Gorge so plan accordingly.Camp the Wildhorse Campground if possible. They have grass lots, clean,hot showers with power outlets, free coffee and some great food for after show. They also have free buses going to/from the amphitheater before and after shows. Beautiful drive though and if you can, I do recommend you stopping at the Mcmennamin's off I-84 on the columbia river freeway that someone earlier suggested on the way in/out of Portland.It has it's own brew house, distillery, and vineyard/winery, as well as in house movie theater and golf course. Pretty sweet.They also have summer concerts there too. We missed G. Love and John Butler Trio by a few days last summer. We were bummed.
As for Portland, you will love it! Especially in summer. However, I would recommend that if you are going to be staying near city center
of the city center, that you park and take the trolley and lightrail to get around.Parking/driving is horrible in downtown and would not recommend it to ANYONE! It is so easy and cheap to get around on public transit that driving becomes almost a hassle anyhow. We went to Amsterdam few years ago and fell in love with it, then when we came to PDX, we realized how they seem to have a lot in common.
As for food, I would also HIGHLY recommend the Food carts on 10th and Alder streets. They have every kind of food for VERY cheap,reasonable prices and it is typically very good quality to boot! Also, for beer I would recommend Deschute's Brewery in the Pearl District. it opened just over a year ago ad they have some REALLY good local microbrew. I recommend the Black Butte Porter if you enjoy darker beers. Delicious!
I would also recommend a trip up to Washington park and the Japanese tea Garden and the Portland Rose Garden. You take one of the lightrail lines to the Washington park stop, take the elevator up some 300 feet (as you are underground) then you connect with a bus that comes every 15 minutes or so and it takes you through the park up to the gardens for free. Highly recommended. Great views of Mt Hood and downtown PDX from up there ( if it is a clear ,sunny day).
Enjoy your trip. We are coming back again this year and cannot wait to explore further. The best thing about Portland in my opinion, is how compact it all is. You literally walk from one side of town to the other in an hour if you want to. Maps make it look really spread out, but in reality it is not at all! You can cover a lot of ground in small amount of time.
Happy travels and Jam on! Bonnaroo this weekend!

Awesome! I appreciate all the suggestions, we're definitely going to keep all those places in mind. After this trip I hope we can visit again for a much lengthier time, it sucks we'll be there for only a night and lunch the next day, but it's better than not going to all.

Wow, the Ace Hotel looks really cool but I checked the website and it's definitely out of our price range. I may check out the White Eagle Hotel or just end up getting one of the standard hotel chains that backdrifter mentioned.

We also definitely want to check out the parks, the only ones I know of are the Chinese Gardens and the Rose Park, I also hope we can make that Washington Park ascent, what are the Japanese Tea Gardens?

Oh, and where does everyone typically go for movies? I have heard about the Bagdad theatre, I love movies and I love the fact that they bring back old movies and the fact that its $3, but I also noticed a lot of other theatres in Portland, including IMAX, which is awesome.

[DreamWeavin]

the Japanese Gardens are a beautiful, tranquil place. Enjoy the few pics I've posted. I have more. It's very inexpensive. Wasn't crowded at all when I was there. It's just quiet. Tranquil. Serene. Beautiful.

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Originally Posted by CarsTrucksBuses

We also definitely want to check out the parks, the only ones I know of are the Chinese Gardens and the Rose Park, I also hope we can make that Washington Park ascent, what are the Japanese Tea Gardens?

.

[crazylegs5150]

Originally Posted by SeeBee

Yes, if you're walking very slowly! I'm thinking crazylegs must've misspoken...

With the speed limit being what it is throughout the PNW at 55, yeah, it will take you awhile to get there depending on how you go and how heavy your shoe is.Always on the conservative side. I just hate being told something takes 2 hours when in reality it takes 4, ya know?

[crazylegs5150]

Originally Posted by CarsTrucksBuses

Awesome! I appreciate all the suggestions, we're definitely going to keep all those places in mind. After this trip I hope we can visit again for a much lengthier time, it sucks we'll be there for only a night and lunch the next day, but it's better than not going to all.

Wow, the Ace Hotel looks really cool but I checked the website and it's definitely out of our price range. I may check out the White Eagle Hotel or just end up getting one of the standard hotel chains that backdrifter mentioned.

We also definitely want to check out the parks, the only ones I know of are the Chinese Gardens and the Rose Park, I also hope we can make that Washington Park ascent, what are the Japanese Tea Gardens?

Oh, and where does everyone typically go for movies? I have heard about the Bagdad theatre, I love movies and I love the fact that they bring back old movies and the fact that its $3, but I also noticed a lot of other theatres in Portland, including IMAX, which is awesome.

There are a few movie theaters I know of. The cool ones are the theater/brewhouses like the Baghdad theater you mentioed as well as the Mission Theater. They are all owned by the Mcemnamin Bros. What's REALLY cool about them is they play second run movies for about 3 bucks, BUT they serve their own microbrew beer and food. Kinda like an indoor drive in if you will. They have some comfy seats and it's just a great, CHEAP way to enjoy a night/afternoon and get something unique to Portland. I mean, where else can you get fresh beer from the tap and turn around and watch a great movie.Highly recommended. You can look on the Mcmennamins website and see where all the theaters are.

[Rob Allen]

Quite right, crazylegs, but you're just tantalizing the poor guy by spelling "McMenamin's" two different wrong ways!

Here's the link to make it easy: Homepage brought to you by McMenamins

Other independents include:

film action oregon

The Clinton Street Theater

Laurelhurst Theater - Portland, Oregon

The Academy Theater - Portland, Oregon

[crazylegs5150]

You are correct. I did spell it incorrectly but figured anyone smart enough to use a website can google the correct name and find the website.

[CarsTrucksBuses]

I think we're definitely going to stay at the White Eagle Hotel, that place looks really really cool. The rooms are only $45 and we can have two people sleep on the floor. I like how the "hotel" only has like 14 rooms, that's really cool. It will also be cool to go downstairs and enjoy some microbrews at the pub, not to mention some live music.

I noticed it was located in North Portland, is it basically downtown?

[Rob Allen]

Originally Posted by CarsTrucksBuses

I noticed it was located in North Portland, is it basically downtown?

It's across the river and a little north from the heart of downtown. It's inside the I-5/I-405 loop, which means it's pretty close to downtown.