Favorite things to do with Kids? (Portland, Seaside: amusement park, schools, camps)

[msheiny]

What are some of your favorite summer/winter activities to do with your children???

[oldtintype]

One of my favorite things to do is to go to the fish hatchery at Bonneville Dam during spawning season and watch the HUGE salmon climb the fish ladders. It's also a fun place to go any time of the year (though in the winter it's often really windy and cold) as you can hand feed the rainbow trout, look at the sturgeon and various baby fish in the hatchery. There's a park there too and picnic area (though again, only in really nice weather would you want to picnic in the gorge!) and a seasonal gift shop. It's about halfway between Multnomah Falls (so you can stop there on the way) and Hood River so it's about 40 minutes from downtown Portland. And BTW, Hood River has the old rail road station that hosts Thomas the Tank in the summer, The Polar Express in the winter and so on. They also have cool excursions and various trains there. It's kind of fun to drive 84 to the hatchery, then continue north and cut over to the Washington State side of the river via the Bridge of the Gods (an amazing view!) and come back via the Washington equivalent of 84 (can't think of the number).

As for around town...the parks are great, the fountains are great, I don't know how old your kids are but most think riding Max is incredibly exciting, there's all the kid museums, take them to see a soccer game at PGE Park, etc. My five year old likes to run around on the park blocks and go to the art museum so he can ask about every single painting and sculpture there, but that's just him. I have the kind of kid who needs to be run into the ground so I often take him on walks starting in Goose Hollow and climbing up into the west hills via all the stairways (another thing a lot of people don't know about but there are some stairways into the SW hills that remind me a lot of the San Francisco stairways and take you cool places) and end up coming down via SW Vista. That usually exhausts him pretty fast.

Also, again, I don't know how old your kids are, but if they're over 5 or so check out the jet boats in the Willamette. They're really fun. It's a tour but it's fun, they go fast, and you see a lot of the area you'd never see by car or foot.

Most of the park and rec stuff is dying down for the summer but there are some amazing classes, camps and just informal craft or water stuff that goes on in the parks during summer. Also, OMSI, The Zoo, some of the art schools, etc. all have great classes and summer camps too.

You also should take them to Peanut Butter and Ellie's restaurant which is specifically for kids, the Clackamas Water Park or to the Mt. Scott or SW Community Center pools, which are indoor and have a water slide, whirl pool, water spray, etc.

And don't forget Oaks Park, which is a seasonal historic amusement park and they also have a roller rink there.

I'm sure I could think of more but that's all I can think of now!

[babycoleslaw]

Originally Posted by msheiny

What are some of your favorite summer/winter activities to do with your children???

Oldintype has some GREAT suggestions! Our realtor got us a book about Portland w/ Kids and it features everything that Oldintype mentioned. I can't remember the name but if you do a google search I'm sure it'd pop up.

We haven't been here long but so far my kids have LOVED the beach! We go for the day, take a picnic or eat at a local cafe and they just play in the sand and water. We've been to Oceanside and Seaside.

Also, they love doing the Gorge (waterfalls) and going downtown, especially riding MAX around fareless square.

[PDXBound]

I ran across this great site online... There is a ton of resources on here!

OregonMom.com "Where to go with kids in tow!"

[sheasway]

Thank you for the info. My husband, 2 year old son, and I are moving to Portland in 4 weeks...the info helps! Thanks

[msheiny]

That is a great website. Appreciate it lots!

[PdxtoPhx]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

The Polar Express in the winter and so on.

Anyone know how long the train ride lasts? We're going with the grandkids next Friday and wondering if we'll make it back in time to see the Duck game???