deafteacher

What would you suggest as a good traveling route for my suggested itinerary? Where would you suggest staying overnight and any hotel or resorts you would recommend?
(12 days)
Flying into Portland (sightsee there too)
Columbia River Gorge
Cannon Beach
Mt Ranier National Park
Mt. St. Helens
What wineries are within an hour's drive? Willamette Valley-too far?
Time for Olympic National Park
Seattle (sightsee) fly out of airport there.
AAA wasn't much help so I hope someone out there can help us. Thanks.

creamypeach

There's a Shilo Inn in the Dalles. We have stayed there a few times and the breakfast is fair. There's a really good diner in Portland on N.E. Glisan, a good wait for a table but very good food.
Seattle Pikes Market a must see and I heard the restaurants inside are good. Sorry can't help with the rest because I haven't stayed anywhere near them.

Scarlett

OK ..from Portland, as daytrips, you can go to the Gorge, only about half an hour from downtown.
Cannon Beach is 90 minutes from downtown Portland..
Mt St Helens would require most of a day - getting there, driving, sightseeing, getting back to town.

Most of the wineries are within an hours drive, they are the Willamette ( unless I am completely confused lol)..

Itinerary idea -
Fly into Portland..stay in nice hotel there.
Go to the Gorge , in the afternoon do some sightseeing in town (Japanese Gardens/Pittock Mansion)
Next day - drive to Cannon Beach- you can sightsee, have a great meal there, drive back in the late afternoon, after meandering around town and maybe wandering farther south on 101 .. the scenery is just breathtaking.
Mt St Helens is a day .
Winery for a day but you will probably be back in town by 5, do more sightseeing in town.

I don't know the Seattle stuff. . but there are plenty of locals here, suze and mms and beachbum to name a few..
Hope this helps

Fodorite018

First question is when is this trip?

As Scarlett said, the gorge is an easy day trip, as is Cannon Beach. But if you like to hike, then add more time to the gorge and likewise you might consider at least an overnight on the coast.

Mt. St. Helens does take most of the day, but you can incorporate that on your way to Seattle.

The wineries are less than 45 minutes from downtown Portland. Very easy for a day trip. In this area the sidewalks roll up early, so I would head back to Portland for the night. But be sure to have a designated driver! The police here have a heavy presence for both speeding as well as looking for drunk drivers.

ONP is beautiful, but it takes a couple days to really do it justice.

Mt. Rainier is also beautiful, but unless you plan on getting out and really hiking, I would skip it. I only say this because when you are in OR and do the gorge, you can do a loop and incorporate Mt. Hood.

Pike Place Market in Seattle is great. You can do the main sights in 2 days there.

What time of year will make a big difference though.

deafteacher

I will be making this trip in early Aug, for 10 days. Thanks for your help!

kimamom

If you want to stay somewhere really nice in the gorge area, the Columbia Gorge Hotel is lovely, it is a historic hotel with pretty grounds and great food.

In the downtown area of Portland, the Heathman Hotel is very nice, we have enjoyed several great stays at the Riverplace Hotel, also down by the waterfront. Try to get up to the Portland City Grill for some great views of Portland, they have really good Sushi here, also.

For wineries, Domaine Serene, Domaine Drouhin, Archery Summit are all wonderful. We enjoyed our time in the wine country this past October when we picked Pinot Noir grapes in North Plains and the Dundee area to make our own Pinot Noir which is aging very nicely. Enjoy your trip! ***kim***

elbegewa

Here are a few ideas about your itinerary. I’ll do 2 posts, one on Oregon, the other on Wasahington. You can see by my time estimates that to do everything you listed would be possible but very rushed. By excluding one of the areas you would have a much more leisurely and deeper trip. Mind you, you could easily spend a whole week in each of the 4 areas I listed.

1. Columbia Gorge and Mt.Hood

A fantastic trip from Portland is a circle trip through the Columbia George and around Mount Hood. Its easily possible in 1 day, or a very leisurely 2 days – total length about 100 miles. A website:
http://www.hoodriver.org/HRCCC_Artic...p;CategoryINDX

Be sure to stop at Timberline Lodge for a few hours, one of the grandest old stone and heavy timber lodges, mostly hand crafted, located high on Mt Hood. Websites:
http://www.timberlinelodge.com/index.php
and
http://www.friendsoftimberline.org/about_lodge.htm

Going through the Columbia Gorge, rather than taking the I-84 freeway, take the Old Columbia River Highway dating from the 1920’s, which winds up and down the sides of the Gorge – some wonderful viewpoints. Website:
http://www.columbiariverhighway.com/

In the Columbia Gorge be sure to stop at Multnomah Falls:
http://www.multnomahfallslodge.com/

2. Wineries and the Oregon Coast

The largest concentration of wineries is in the Newberg, Dundee, Yamhill area, about 1 hr. S.W. of Portland. They are on winding, very hilly country roads reached via Highway 99W (which becomes hwy 18).
Website (one of its pages contains a good map):
http://www.willamettewines.com/

The wine area is partway to the Coast. I would continue on highway 18 to the Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, and Newport area. When we lived in Portland we preferred that area to Cannon Beach, but both are nice. The combination is easily do-able in 2 days or a leisurly 3 days (depending on how many wineries you’d visit and how much time you’d spend at the beach. Websites:
http://www.lincolncity.org/
and
http://www.depoebaychamber.org/default.aspx
and
http://www.discovernewport.com/
and
http://www.visittheoregoncoast.com/

elbegewa

3. Mt. St. Helens and Mt Rainier

They can both be visited while driving from Portland towards either Seattle or the Olympics. It can be done in a hard, full day or better in 2 days.
Route: I-5 from Portland to Castle Rock and State Hwy. 504 (a road in and back) Websites:
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/ (see the map on one of its pages)
and:
http://www.mountsthelens.com/

After returning to I-5 proceed north to US Hwy 12 thence east to Mt Rainier National Park. Go either to Paradise on its south side, or Sunrise on its Northeast Side, thence jig and jog on roads (*see maps) towards Olympia or Rochester thence to the Olympics.
http://www.mount.rainier.national-park.com/
and
http://www.nps.gov/mora/

4. Washington Coast and Olympics

From Olympia proceed west on US 101 for a few miles then State 8, or from Rochester proceed west on US 12 towards the Ocean Beaches.

At Aberdeen there’s a choice:
Either continue west on State 109 to Ocean City (broad expansive beaches, well built up resort area – see:
http://www.oceanshores.org/,
or north a bit towards Moclips (forested headlands running down to broad beaches - our favorite resort there is:
http://www.oceancrestresort.com/.
The problem, you have a difficult time getting north without backtracking.

Or from Aberdeen proceed north on US 101 towards the West side of the Olympics. There are relatively few places to stay on the west side, but you probably will need to. (Kalaloch is a nice but expensive National Parks place … reserve way in advance, or find places in Queets or Forks. Be sure to spend a bit of time on the coast and a bit of time wandering one of the routs into the Rain Forest (the Hoh Valley highly recommended).
Websites:
http://www.olympic.national-park.com/
and
http://www.nps.gov/olym/
and
http://www.olympicpeninsula.org/

The next night head for Port Angeles. From there, next morning, go up to Huricane Ridge, a true alpine area of the Olympics easily accessible by auto. Thence continue eastward Winslow thence the ferry to Seattle. Othe whole Olympics trip would be 3 days from Olympia to Seattle (you could race around it in 2 days, but you’d see little) … add a day if you go to Ocean Shores or Moclips.

Hopefully this all gives you some ideas.