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#2163975 - 02/09/18 10:13 PM Portland Oregon
Reg Warrior Offline
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I'm off to Portland next weekend for a week of freedom from compliance. We are already have plans for Powell City of Books, Voodoo Donuts, OMSI, and Mount Hood on our plan. What else should we check-out while I'm checked-out from the compliance world.

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#2163989 - 02/09/18 11:51 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
Busy Bee, CRCM Offline
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PacificNW
Multnomah Falls is about an hour away, give or take. It's beautiful! There was a very large fire there last summer so I'm sure you'd see the burn scar, but it's still a beautiful location and you can get a good hike in if that is something you're interested in doing.

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#2164009 - 02/11/18 09:54 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
bOaty Offline
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Chillin an grillin
I second Multnomah Falls!!

It may not be a highlight for everyone but like the Japanese Garden.
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#2164014 - 02/12/18 03:27 AM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
David Dickinson Offline
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Central City, NE
I spent 10 days in and around Portland in July 2017. It's beautiful. Here's some ideas:
If you have a full day, go west to Tillamook and drive up the coast.
In a ½ day, you can drive to Mt. Hood and then to Hood River. The Hood River winery is great (great views and great wine). Then drive I-84 back to Portland along the Columbia River.

Drivers are very friendly, but traffic is very congested within the city - unless you're very early in the morning.
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#2164076 - 02/12/18 05:00 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
Busy Bee, CRCM Offline
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I also agree with David's suggestion of going to Tillamook! It's a great location.

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#2164125 - 02/12/18 07:42 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
fmissle Offline
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Pac NW
I live there (or nearby anyway).
It depends on what you like to do, but I would agree with Multnomah falls (it is partially open after the fires).
Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood is gorgeous.
OMSI is neat, but if you've been to other science museums (i.e. Chicago or Seattle or whatever) you might skip it.
Powell's is fun, espcially if you're a book lover.
The Oregon coast is beautiful, but usually windy and cold.
If you enjoy wine, the Willamette Valley and specifically the Dundee Hills and Chehalem AVAs. Fantastic Pinot Noir and some really good Chardonnays.
The Evergreen Aviation Museum is still pretty good, and houses the Spruce Goose.
I know Voodoo is a big thing, but their donuts are really not good IMHO.
Lots of micro-breweries and micro-distillaries around.
Food carts are pretty popular here, especially downtown.

Let me know if you want more specifics on something.

Let me know if you

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#2164127 - 02/12/18 07:56 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
Reg Warrior Offline
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fmissle........
We are staying out near Mount Hood (Welches), so we will spend a few days tubing for the kids. Definitely doing Powell's and OMSI (for the kids). Can you suggest a few good seafood restaurants along the Columbia, or downtown near OMSI or Powell's, or out on the coast near either Tillamook or Astoria. Thanks.

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#2164130 - 02/12/18 07:59 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
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You are here
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#2164144 - 02/12/18 09:15 PM Re: Portland Oregon edAudit
fmissle Offline
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Posts: 1,016
Pac NW

That's funny, but you'd really be missing out on some great food.

There's this little italian place, well actually there are a few. Anyway it's some of the best food I've ever had and every time I go it's like I've been transported back to Tuscany. And really, the prices are really good for what you get. I can't remember the name.. it's some Italian word. I'll try to remember.

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#2164145 - 02/12/18 09:16 PM Re: Portland Oregon fmissle
fmissle Offline
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Pac NW
Originally Posted By fmissle

That's funny, but you'd really be missing out on some great food.

There's this little italian place, well actually there are a few. Anyway it's some of the best food I've ever had and every time I go it's like I've been transported back to Tuscany. And really, the prices are really good for what you get. I can't remember the name.. it's some Italian word. I'll try to remember.


GOT IT!
It's called the Olive Garden. wink

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#2164147 - 02/12/18 09:39 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
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If you put the accent on the second syllable in "Domino's" it sounds like authentic Italian. laugh
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#2164164 - 02/13/18 12:00 AM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
fmissle Offline
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Pac NW
Originally Posted By Reg Warrior
fmissle........
We are staying out near Mount Hood (Welches), so we will spend a few days tubing for the kids. Definitely doing Powell's and OMSI (for the kids). Can you suggest a few good seafood restaurants along the Columbia, or downtown near OMSI or Powell's, or out on the coast near either Tillamook or Astoria. Thanks.

Check snow on Mt. Hood righ now as it's been a pretty warm winter for us. OMSI is great for the kids, and we have an annual pass for ours. What ages?
If you're staying in Welches and looking for a good pizza, I highly reccomend Zig Zag Pizza. It's phenomenal. Just a couple miles away or so if you're staying at the Resort at the Mountain.

You can get to the Columbia River Gorge from Welches by either going west around the mountain (Hwy 26) or east (Hwy 35). Both have beatiful views and if you take 35, you'll cross the boundary of the Cascade mountains from east to west towards Multnomah falls and see everything turn brown and the green as you move from dessert to forest. Although, it may all be black now after the fires last summer.

Astoria, I like the Silver Salmon Grille. Don't forget to drive across the Astoria bridge! No toll anymore and it's 4 miles long. only really high at one side for the ships to pass under. But it's VERY high... It bugs me to drive over.

Tillamook has the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Unfortunately, you're right in the middle on the old one being knocked down and the new one being put up. They do have a temporary visitors center though.

Salty's is on the Columbia, in Portland. It's on the higher side of things price wise. Otherwise... Maybe McCormick and Schmick's right across the river from OMSI. And actually, some of my favorite fish and chips in the PacNW is from Burgerville. A more expensive fast food but it's all local stuff.
Bonus, you're here during prime Dungeness Crab season, the best crab in the world.

There's a local chain with lots of locations called McMenamins. They have an old school, and old theater, and old poor farm, etc... stuff like that. They turn them all into pubs and move theathers and it's fun to walk around (kids are welcome). I would reccomend either:
https://www.mcmenamins.com/edgefield or https://www.mcmenamins.com/kennedy-school
The food is pretty good, the beer is decent, but the service I generally find to be a little slow.

Another spot in Portland to hit, especially if it's clear out, is the https://portlandcitygrill.com/ 30 floors up and great views of dowtown. If you do a late lunch or early dinner you should have no problem getting a seat next to a window.

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#2164168 - 02/13/18 12:28 AM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
Reg Warrior Offline
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fmissle....
Thanks for the awesome suggestions. The kids are 17 and 13. The forecast for next week is snow and rain for Welches, so I am hoping that the Ski Bowl tubing area will be open for the kids. We live close to Tahoe and my kids have no desire to go to the snow. But when we travel, they want to go to places that have snow so they can tube/sled/ski. Crazy kids.

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#2164232 - 02/13/18 03:56 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
fmissle Offline
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Pac NW
For that age, another fun place in portland is https://groundkontrol.com/ video arcade.

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#2164254 - 02/13/18 05:29 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
David Dickinson Offline
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Central City, NE
fmissile said:
If you enjoy wine, the Willamette Valley and specifically the Dundee Hills and Chehalem AVAs. Fantastic Pinot Noir and some really good Chardonnays.
I know Voodoo is a big thing, but their donuts are really not good IMHO.
Lots of micro-breweries and micro-distillaries around.

I second all of those! The Willamette Valley has some of the best wines in the world and are not as expensive or appreciated. If Monday lived there (instead of Napa), they would be better known.
Voodoo was a waste of time
The micro-breweries . . . well, I could go on and on!

We went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory on a Monday about 2 pm. There was a 20 minute line for cheese samples and another 20 minute line to check out. We walked in, looked around and walked out. Just a few miles south (on the same, east side of the road) is Blue Heron Cheese Company. We picked up some bread, cheese and made a picnic out of it. We enjoyed that when we hiked to the ocean at Oswald State Park (highly recommend this too).
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#2164266 - 02/13/18 05:57 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
Reg Warrior Offline
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Posts: 214
Fmissle....do you know anything about the Oregon Trail Center in Oregon City.

The last time I toured Tillamook, the cheese factory was a cement block one-story building. I won't say what decade that was, but I was about as old as my youngest child is now.

I have a list of micro-breweries. If the kids weren't on this trip, we could brewery hop all week long.

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#2164318 - 02/13/18 08:11 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
Busy Bee, CRCM Offline
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PacificNW
If you go to the Tillamook area, go to the Tillamook Air Museum (http://www.tillamookair.com/). My husband and I went to it while we were there on our honeymoon. It was pretty neat. It is built in an old airplane hangar that is HUGE and they have a whole bunch of older aircraft, old theater showing a movie about the location, and different military memorabilia. We really enjoyed our time there.

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#2164320 - 02/13/18 08:11 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
fmissle Offline
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Posts: 1,016
Pac NW
I haven't actually been to the Oregon Trail Center before, but it's about 5 minutes from our office. Kids go there a lot on field trips.

re: the Tillamook cheese factory, that's the one they knocked down. The new one is in process and I haven't been to the temporary one. I second David's thoughts about hitting Blue Heron.

Do hit the old Timberline Lodge. It was built during the WPA era and the craftsmanship is really amazing.


David, the price of PNs from up here has really jumped in the last few years. There is still value to be found, especially in the smaller production places and some of the Rose's and Pinot Noir. But Mondavi, Chateau St. Michele, Gallo etc continue to buy up a lot of the older estates. Penner-Ash was bought recently and she was in the first wave of producers up here. If you have the kids and take a picnic, I reccomend Stoller for a nice lunch breack, especially if it's nice. None of the wineries will bat an eye if you bring a lunch and eat while you have a sample.

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#2164324 - 02/13/18 08:16 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
DoS Offline
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one state over
Originally Posted By Reg Warrior
Fmissle....do you know anything about the Oregon Trail Center in Oregon City.


You'll probably die of dysentery ...
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#2164362 - 02/13/18 10:19 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
RockChucker, CAMS Offline
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The Country
^^^ I thought the same thing when I saw this thread
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#2164368 - 02/13/18 10:51 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
fmissle Offline
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,016
Pac NW
Reg Warrior - Sent you a PM with my contact information in case you need anything.

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#2164517 - 02/14/18 07:03 PM Re: Portland Oregon Reg Warrior
rainman Offline
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Portland City Grill is good but very expensive for the food you get. IMO, you are paying for the view, which this time of the year may or may not that great.

St. Jack (on NW 23rd) is our current favorite. It's French country bistro style food done really really well. It's not cheap (not quite as much as Portland City Grill) but the service is fantastic, they have a great wine selection and the food is to die for.

Two good italian places: Gallo Nero (NW Everett) and Cafe Mingo (NW 21st).

If you are going to Astoria (which is a fun trip, but a bit of a hike from Welches), I'd recommend 3 things: 1) Visit Ft. Clatsop -
a really cool historic restoration of the fort established by the L&C expedition. 2) Bridgewater Bistro right by the river is a great place for dinner. 3) If you're a "view" person, hike up in the neighborhood above the downtown area and walk around (especially Skyline drive). You will get breathtaking views of the Columbia river and the Pacific, but also from a couple of places you can see for miles back up the Columbia (on a clear day you can see Mt. Hood from some places). Okay 4 things: you can also go to Ft. Stevens (on the Pacific) and see the washed up wreck of a ship whose name I can't remember - the Peter Iredale or something like that. If you want to spend a night in Astoria, stay at the Cannery Pier Hotel - it is (as the name suggests) on a pier right on the river. Every room has a balcony that hangs over the river. The channel that the freighters follow on their way to/from Portland and Longview is near the Oregon side of the river and it feels like you can reach out and touch them from your room.
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