Hi, my husb and I will be going to Portland Oregon for my stepkid's graduation. We will have 1-2 days to kill - any suggestions on stuff to do there in that limited amount of time? Any good restaurants to visit?

Search Portland, OR and you'll see 2 posts (last posted today!) with dining info.

Portland has a very good art museum, zoo, rose garden, Japanese garden, and quite a few good restaurants.

If you have a car, take a day trip to Cannon Beach--on the Oregon Coast.

If you just want to hang around Portland, go to Powell's Books, Classical Japanese Gardens, and the test rose gardens in Washington Park. Keep Pittock Mansion and Classical Chinese Gardens in your hip pocket.

But if I were you, I'd get outta town, either to the coast for a day, or up the Columbia River gorge. Mt. St. Helens is another possibility.

Any good restaurants to visit?

Yeah, lots of 'em. My current faves are Alberta St. Oyster Bar & Grill, Le Pigeon, Fenouil, and Carlyle. Like them all better than Higgins, which I think was recently named by some national publication as one of the top 50 best restaurants in the country.

and take a day trip up the Columbia River Gorge to Hood River -
world famous area for wind surfing
and there are several beautiful waterfalls along the old highway.
You can walk up to the top of Multanomah Falls -
Its a very scenic drive and an easy Portland Day trip
http://www.designsbytrisha.com/colum...er_highway.htm


You might enjoy lunch at the Edgefield
Manor in Troutdale - also along the way - its a very interesting hotel with beautiful grounds and restaurants
There is a winery and a brewpub and when I have been there in the summer, they were cooking salmon outside on the grill

http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=3&id=30

From my trip report (all in the Pearl district):
- Lunch at ByWays cafe. Very good casual diner, with healthier options than most.
- Dessert at Pearl Bakery. Very yummy, with great espresso.
- Had fun walking around and taking the trolley in the Pearl district. Love spending time at Powells Books!

Awesome - thank you everyone for your suggestions!

I think this is another fun thing to do
we did the Epicurian Walking Tour - a little pricey but we thought fun -

http://www.portlandwalkingtours.com/

I would take a day trip over to the coast, about 90 minutes from Portland. Cannon Beach is very nice, lots to see there with Haystack Rock, Ecola State Park and Indian Beach.

Seaside is 10 minutes away where you could walk the prom, have coconut prawns at Sam's Seaside Cafe, rent surrey bikes and ride around town, visit the aquarium or paddle boat on the Necanicum River. We will be back in the area next week, we have a beach cottage in Seaside where we like to "chill" in the summer.

Another option would be the wine country if you like to wine taste, we like the Dundee area. Archery Summit, Domaine Serene, Domaine Drouhin and Torii Mor are all very nice places to taste some of the best Pinot Noir in Oregon.

Our last visit to Portland in April we enjoyed good meals at Park Kitchen, Ten 01 and Lovely Hula Hands on N. Mississippi Ave. Have fun! ***kim***