UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Listed below are some general links for things to do in Portland. Following that are my recommendations.

Links

• Oregonian Article on 50 Getaways
• Travel Oregon Online
• Portland Rose Festival
• Go Northwest
• Travel Oregon Online

My Suggestions
Mt. St Helens
There are some nice visitors centers on the north side of Mt. St. Helens. The biggest drawback is the length of the drive. To get to St Helens you need to drive up HWY 5, into Washington. 49 miles north of the Oregon-Washington Border you take state route 504 east. The first visitor center is Hoffstadt Bluffs at ~ mile 25, followed by the Forest Learning Center at milepost 33, Coldwater ridge at ~ mile 45 and the main visitor center, Johnston ridge at mile 55. At Johnston ridge you get the best look at the results of the eruption. You view the mountain from the north side where the whole side of the mountain slid away.

Oregon Coast
The oregon coast is really beautiful (and the water is really cold). Unfortunately, the town of Seaside isn't Oregon's best example of a ocean community. I'm listing below two possible day trips. Each of these trips probably takes up a full day.

• Indian Beach/Ecola State Park . Ecola state park is located just North of Cannon Beach. Cannon beach is about 20 miles south of seaside. BTW, Cannon beach is not a bad town to just walk around in for an hour. Indian beach is within Ecola state park and is one of our favorite Oregon beachs. The scenery is great, there is easy access and the surf isn't too bad either. At low tide it's pretty easy to walk around the rocks and tide pools and find starfish and other sea life. Click harbortide to check when low tide is. Just be careful heading out into the water, it's pretty cold.

Columbia River Gorge
The Columbia river gorge is located about 20 miles east of the Portland airport. This is a national scenic area with a number of attractions. Driving time from Beaverton is a little over 1 hour.

• Multnomah Falls This is a very popular tourist area. There is a series of two waterfalls located just off hwy 84. There is a snack stand and trails leading up to the base of the falls.
• Oneonta Gorge This is one of my favorite spots in the gorge. Oneonta gorge is located about 1 mile east of of Multnomah falls along the old gorge hwy. Oneonta gorge itself is a small river which works it's way back into the the gorge for about 3/4 of a mile before ending at a waterfall. When it is hot, it's great to put on swimsuits and wade up the river to the waterfall. The sides of the river are nearly vertical and about 30 to 50 feet high. It's best to time this hike for when the sun is overhead so that the sun makes it's way into the gorge.
• Bonneville Locks and Damn The damn and locks are about 10 miles further east from Multnomah falls. There are fish ladders at the damn and a viewing area. There is almost always some type of fish migrating. It's fun to see the wild fish make their way up the river. A large fish hatchery is also located at the damn. You can see the thousands of small fingerling salmon as well as a few ponds of large trout and sturgeon. There is a picnic area near the fish hatchery.

Mt. Hood/Government Camp
If you want to get some of the feeling of a Cascade Volcano, but don't want to drive as far as Mt. St Helens then Timberline lodge on Mt. Hood is an option. Timberline lodge is located 5 miles up from Government camp off of HWY 26 (Government camp is about 65 miles from Beaverton). The lodge itself is at 6000 feet. You can take a chair lift from the lodge to the base of the Palmer ski area. The ski area runs through the summer and finally closes in September. There are not too many places in US that you can have a snowball fight in August.

Another option is to hang out by Ski Bowl in government camp. They have a variety of amusement activities from alpine slides, go-cart rides, mountain biking, bungee jumping, etc. We usually go there every labor day to bungee jump and conclude the summer. Bring warm clothes if you head up, it can get pretty cool in the afternoon.

Downtown Portland
Portland has a pretty nice downtown. It's relatively small, relativley clean and there are a number of nice fountains and sculptures in the city.

• Waterfront At the waterfront you can walk along the wall overlooking the Willamette river. You can also walk up the hill a little ways to the malls and Pioneer square. The Salmon street fountain has jets of water which change about every 10 minutes. On a hot weekend day you can see 5 to 20 kids playing in the fountain.
• Powell's Used Bookstore Powell's claim that they are the second largest bookstore in US. They have a pretty good children's book section, but this may be a better place for adults. It's pretty easy to spend an hour checking out all the different rooms with books. Powell's is located at 10th and Burnside.
• Children's Museum I haven't been to this but Cathy says it's pretty good. The museum is located at 3037 SW 2nd Ave.
• Play Structure Some friends of ours tell us that there is a real nice play structure behind the rose garden The rose garden overlooks downtown Portland and is on Kingston drive, the map may only show a listing for the Japanese garden (which is across the street).
• OMSI OMSI stands for Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. It's not as nice as the exploratorium in San Francisco but there is an omnimax theater which can be fun. This summer they are showing a film on climbing everest. OMSI is located on the east side (across the river) at 1945 SW Water Ave.
• ZOO Portland's zoo is not as nice as San Diego's but it's not a bad place to spend a few hours. The zoo is located on HWY 26 between Beaverton and Downtown.