memetal

Celebrating 40th wedding anniversary in June Flying in and out of Portland.. Wish to explore Portland , wine country, and Mt. Hood. THinking of spending 2-3 nights in each area starting with the city, making the trip along the River Gorge to Mt. Hood and ending with a nice B&B in wine country. Appreciate thoughts on the advisability of this itinerary. Will post later for specific recommendations on hotels, restaurants, etc.

skigal

If you are coming in early June there is a lot of activities in and around Portland for the Rose Festival. http://www.rosefestival.org/

If you going to Mt. Hood, visit Timberline, but be prepared for lots of snowboard and ski camp kids who train up there in the summer. But they do not generally go in the historic lodge.

June will be strawberry season so stop by a roadside farmstand and get some GOOD tasting Oregon strawberries.

tomfuller

With 10 full days you can see much more of Oregon than Mt. Hood, Columbia Gorge and downtown Portland.
You could see a lot of the coast or more of the Cascades including Bend and the Cascade Lakes.
If you are in Portland and it is rainy, make a stop at Powell's Books.
There is a light rail line to the downtown from the airport.
Renting a car downtown my be cheaper than renting at the airport.

Tomsd

From beautiful Timerline Lodge - where it's fun to watch the summer training for the skiers/snowboarders - you can look down the Cascades as far as Bend. If you decided to drive down there - you can see numerous beautiful lakes in the area - including one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World a bit south of there - Crater Lake, where I grew up in Klamath County. http://tinyurl.com/d9aqwbl

Patti

I absolutely loved the ride from Portland, along the Columbia River scenic highway. I took it as far as The Dalles, and was blown away by how much the landscape changes in that 75 miles--from rainforest to arid, desert-like and much much sunnier! In The Dalles I enjoyed the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center (http://www.gorgediscovery.org/) with really interesting displays on the history of the area, the local peoples, the landscape, and raptor talks.

islandaze

Depends some on your interests. You could spend weeks hiking in the Columbia River Gorge and on Mt. Hood. But it's a day trip for many visitors, and most don't spend more than a night.

Wine country also depends a bit on your interests, since the B&Bs I expect you'd consider are within an hour's drive of Portland. So, you might stay in one just for the experience of it, but again, many if not most visit wine country as a day trip from the city.

And you really don't need more than two days for Portland itself.

Is there a particular reason you left the coast out of your plans?

marthav

Our son and his wife live in Bend and driving to or from the Portland airport we always incorporate seeing something different. We've driven south to Crater Lake National Park (amazing!), then up the coast which is so beautiful.
We've driven up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, then over to the Columbia River Gorge with all it's incredible waterfalls, especially their famous Multnomah Falls, 2nd highest in the country at over 600 ft. My son tells us there are many beautiful waterfalls to hike in to but we're not exactly hikers. Good thing there are several others near Multnomah right along the road.
Once we stopped for dinner and to explore a place called McMenamies which wasn't far from our airport hotel. It's a hotel (altho we've never stayed there), with restaurants, gardens, a glass blowing area, and more.
Portland is a great walkable city. We didn't have much time there but visited the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, the public market, a music festival on the water & had yummy food at a couple different restaurants.
Bend area also has much to offer - just a 20 min to half hour drive in nearly any direction brings you to many interesting places to explore, Lava Lands, High Desert Museum, waterfalls. And love Bend, itself which has a very outdoorsy feel along with lots of good shopping & restaurants.

tomfuller

Thanks Martha for the plug for Bend. There is also a McMenamins in Bend. I've never stayed or ate there but it is very popular.
http://www.mcmenamins.com/421-old-st...is-school-home
Not long ago, my wife and I got to know the McMenamins.
If you love waterfalls, there are some on the Washington side of the river.

happytrailstoyou

If you love waterfalls, there are some on the Washington side of the river.

Where are they? I've been driving WA-14 for decades and haven't found them yet.

HTTY

NewbE

In the Willamette Valley -- wine country --I highly recommend The Allison Inn.
http://www.theallison.com/
It's a beautiful property, with a spa (which we didn't use) and an excellent restaurant.

We made a list of wineries whose pinots we liked ahead of time and just drove ourselves around to those, and we also picked up recommendations along the way, but I'm sure the concierge could make recommendations if you need them. A few we particularly loved are Elk Cove, Penner-Ash, Ponzi and Vidon; but if anyone out there makes bad wine, we never found any!

In Dundee, don't miss dinner at Farm to Fork, and you can pick up lunch, or cheese, bread and wine, at the Red Hills Market. The Dundee Bistro, which is owned by the Ponzi people, is good, not great, but the attached wine bar is a fun spot to hang out and try some wines without having to drive all over. In Newberg, The Painted Lady is a tiny, formal restaurant with exquisite food (reservations a must). And as I mentioned, the Jory in the Allison Inn is a wonderful restaurant, too.

I hope you enjoy Oregon wine country! We fell in love and plan to make annual pilgrimages

tomfuller

Here is a link to some small waterfalls in Washington.
They are not as impressive as the ones on the Oregon side.
http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/n...s.php?num=5162 There is a hike around Beacon Rock with no waterfall.
Oregon's second highest waterfall is Salt Creek Falls off Rt. 58 a little east of the Salt Creek tunnel.
From the parking, you walk about 100 yards to the top of the waterfall.

martharap

NewbE,

Read your post with interest, as we're going to the Willamette Valley this summer.

Checked out some of the places you mentioned, and unfortunately Farm to Fork in Dundee closed down at the end of December!

NewbE

martharap, no way! Wow, thanks for the information--what a shame. We loved the food, first and foremost, but it was also a very large and attractive space in the middle of town...wonder what happened??

Well, in any event, enjoy your trip this summer! (I have no idea if this interests you, but there is a sake producer out there we plan to check out next time.)

Fodorite018

Fark to Fork did close, but the space is being reopened by another new venture. It was to reopen last week, but I haven't been by there yet to see. It is about 10 minutes from my house, so I am sure I will get there soon

NewbE--Too bad you didn't try the spa there as it is really good!

NewbE

mms, I'm sure it is, we're just not spa people. That's a species, you know