Greetings,
My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to Oregon for five nights during the second week of July and we need a little help. We plan to base in a town in the Willamette Valley wine country (Brookside Inn on Abbey Road in Carlton), and would like to take a couple of day trips from here. Would it be possible to travel to the coast and the Columbia River gorge area on day trips? Also, my girlfriend likes to visit quaint towns to window shop and just stroll around. Are there any towns like this in the wine country? Thank You!

Hey tmoon, I'm not familiar with Brookside Inn, but Carlton is fast becoming the heart of Oregon's wine country. Good choice. Horse Radish, Cuvee, plus Winemaker's Studio, Cana's Feast, Scott Paul, Ken Wright, and other great wineries nearby. And yes to day trips to the Columbia River gorge and the coast, both about 1.5 hours away. Then, McMinnville, another good place to "stroll around".

That said, any reason not to stay in Portland? Everything you want to do is still a day trip away, and unlike Carlton, they don't roll up the sidewalks at 8:00pm.

Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast is about 1 1/2 hours from Carlton and Cannon Beach is also about 1 1/2 hours. I have found that Cannon Beach has better window shopping...galleries, clothing stores, bakeries, etc. Lincoln City has a nice outlet mall though.

The Gorge area is a solid 1.5-2 hours from Carlton. There are also a lot of wineries in the gorge. Hood River is a really nice little town, lots of shops and restaurants. It's also the windsurfing capitol of the US, so it gets windy but is fun to see the windsurfers and kiteboarders on the Columbia River. Might be worth a night's stay in the area to hit shops and wineries.

Don't miss Kramer Vineyards just outside of Carlton. Great wines, friendly staff, and black lab to greet you at your car and escort you to the door. Their Carmine wine is excellent.

HAving done this trip 2 years ago I would suggest you stay on the coast:
inland is hot..was over 100 when we were there

Oregon Wine Country is not like NApa more like Sonoma and distances between wineries are not close..

OR maybe do what we did:
Day 1 fly into Portland stay 1 night
Day 2 Columbia Gorge Mt Hood loop
Day 3 Drive to Astoria have lunch do museum, stay Cannon BCh area Stephanie Inn ? if money no object & you want to be ON the beach, upclass Inn
Day 4 enjoy bch or drive Coast south say depending on ambition
Day 5 Drive and Stay in Wine country..see wineries
Day 6 see wineries on way back to Portland..stay Portland MArriott (we got a 99. room rate
Day 7 Fly home

We are on the Oregon Coast right now in Seaside, the Maritime Museum in Astoria is a great suggestion, you could have lunch at the Bridgewater Bistro, we had an excellent dinner there last night this was our third time here.

Let me know if you would like further suggestions on Astoria! ***kim***

I agree with the Cannon Beach recommendations.

beachbums recommendations are great, do stop at the Horseradish..say hello to the owner from me
McMinville also is a great idea..fits with the "quaint town and window shopping" ..

I also like 1JARs idea..stay in Portland, do these as day trips.. or break the trip in half..it is true, there will still be life in Portland after dark..not so much so out in towns like Carlton.

If you are going to the Coast, I imagine you want to see the beauty of the coast..which would have me advise you to skip Seaside..and go south from Cannon Beach and Astoria is not on the Ocean.

Have a wonderful time..July should give you at least a couple of good days lol..