Help from Portland Resident Needed
 

Will be traveling to Portland soon. Friend wants to surprise her niece - I've mapped out her address on SE 11th Avenue. Driving south on I-5 directions say to take exit 299A and then numerous other streets - looking at various resources I can't find any hotels/motels at this exit or near it. If somebody from Portland knows this area can you give me some lodging info near or around SE 11th Avenue (she lives in the 8400 block). Thanks in advance for any assistance.

MapQuest has a feature that will search for hotels or other types of businesses nearest a given address - just enter "hotel" in the top search box then the address/city/state in the others.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/

That area is more residential, so you need to branch out a bit for hotels (well, the larger, nicer ones anyway). The good thing is that Portland is pretty compact, so you do not have to go far to find these. What type of hotel are you looking for and what is your budget? Most larger hotels are located on the west side of the river, but there are some near Lloyd Center too. Regardless, the distance is not far at all.

Bluestar--I never paid attention to that feature before...thanks!

There are no major hotels near this area (Sellwood). You could stay in a variety of places: downtown, Lloyd Center/Convention Center (both north of Sellwood). Or you could stay south, in Lake Oswego (there's a Crowne Plaza right off I-5 at the Kruse Way/Lake Oswego exit). Then you could drive through downtown Lake Oswego to Highway 43, 43 north to the Sellwood Bridge, then right across the river to Sellwood. You might also enjoy the nearby shopping of the trendy Bridgeport Village outdoor mall as well as that in downtown Lake O.

I'd go the Lake Oswego route especially if you hate city driving. Portland does have a lot of one-way streets which seems to intimidate people not used to city driving, although I find it a breeze myself. Portland is a neat city to visit, though, so staying down there might be fun also.

Andrew

I forgot to ask: Does your friend's niece enjoy surprises such as this one?

I don't.

I love my aunts and I would prefer to anticipate their visits than to be surprised by one of them showing up unexpected and uninvited.

Look for a room downtown, maybe Embassy Suites or Marriot. I forget, at the moment. But they are near SW 2nd and some street like Columbia.

If I couldn't be at the airport area, I'd prefer not to be in a SE motel.

There is a motel - forget the name - where Durham Rd. crosses I-5 in Tigard, Oregon. It probably has a Durham Rd. address. I stayed there when I delivered an old Model A for someone, last spring.

And, Barbur Blvd (SW Portland) has several motels.

Try searching on Google, etc. for those streets and "motel"

Since you're driving, I would suggest you look at a Lloyd Center hotel. You'll have to pay to park downtown, not to mention negotiating. Hotels like the Red Lion, the Mariott Residence Inn, or the La Quinta all border on Martin Luther King Blvd. (their addresses are probably on Grand Ave.), which is Hwy 99W, and is an easy and direct route to Sellwood.

They're also an easy reach from the freeway. I don't know the number (looks like maybe it'd be 302B), but the Lloyd Center exit will take you around to MLK, and then it'll be just a few blocks south.

The only other "nice" hotel between the exit and Sellwood is the Avalon Hotel & Spa. Their rates look like they're in the $150-170 range. There are a number of small, very old, court-type hotels in that part of town. I wouldn't recommend them.

Thank you all for the info. I did see some places in my AAA book on Kruse and when I did the Map Quest search they showed some there also -

I agree about the surprise, but I don't know the young lady in question and her aunt doesn't seem to think her niece will mind - guess she'll find out. LOL