Portland and Willamette Adventures
 

In the early planning stages of a trip next May arriving in Portland from the East Coast and continuing to Willamette Valley and driving or taking a train down to coast of California. Any ideas would be welcome as to whether we should pick up a car at Portland airport or take a shuttle into the city and spend a day there before continuing to the wine country.
Ideas on taking the train into California would be good also.
Thanks

There are no trains down the coast. Amtrak's route is all inland.

In May you should allocate at least a day to explore the Columbia River Gorge, the Hood River Valley and Mount Hood. The many waterfalls along the gorge will be full of water from melting mountain snow, the orchards in the Hood River valley in bloom (gorgeous) and there are many wineries in this area too, as well as those in the Willamette Valley.

How long do you have for the whole trip?

>>Amtrak's route is all inland.<< . . . and travels through the prettiest bits in the middle of the night.

Shuttles are not big here, and the only time I used one (Blue Star) from PDX to our house, I was charged double the emailed quote. So needless to say, I do not recommend them;)

We have the MAX train here, that you can take from the airport into downtown, and then rent a car there. You will avoid the airport taxes and so it will cost you less as well.

From downtown to the heart of our wine country around Newberg is only about 45 minutes. Add another 15 to McMinnville. So you get the idea of how close we are here to downtown, yet it feels like a million miles away:)

We have about 12 days total trip but that includes staying in Mendocino CA and then Anderson Valley for last 3 nights.
So how about taking Amtrak down to Crescent City and spending a nite in Klamath?

<i>So how about taking Amtrak down to Crescent City and spending a nite in Klamath?</i>

There's no train service to Crescent City; Amtrak uses buses from its (train) stop in Klamath Falls, Oregon to get to Crescent City. Klamath Falls is almost 200 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Klamath CA, near the mouth of the Klamath River, is basically a wide spot in the road.

If you want to see the Oregon coast and/or the redwoods, you need to give up on the train idea.

Gardyloo's first post was pretty clear -- there are NO trains down the coast. Crescent City is on the coast . . .

Trains simply aren't an option for the Oregon coast/redwoods/Mendocino/etc

Thinking trains just because it seems like a lot of driving to get to Mendocino CA from Portland but we have a year to plan this out.

>>Thinking trains just because it seems like a lot of driving to get to Mendocino CA from Portland<<

No trains go w/i HOURS of Mendocino (or anywhere else on the coast til you get all the way down to near San Francisco.) You may want a train trip -- but trains and the OR/CA coasts are just not compatible. One or the other.