Suggestions for a Week in Portland
 

Hello, I will be going to Portland with some friends from December 16 - 24. Our plan is to rent a house in the West Hills area, as I've heard it is great for rest and relaxation and we want to be some place quiet. Will snow/ice be an issue during this time of the year? It looks like some of the terrain is hilly and I wouldn't want to get stuck in the house due to impassable roads.

Our planned itinerary is to do four days in Portland seeing the sights and eating/drinking, since we are foodies and wine lovers. Any must see suggestions?

We are planning on doing two days of wine tours to the Willamette Valley. Can anyone suggest some favorite stops or a good itinerary? Pretty places with great wine and a fun vibe would be right up our alley. Is SakeOne a good place to visit? Will most wineries be open, given that it is the holidays?

We are planning on doing a coastal day trip (weather cooperating) to see Astoria and Cannon Beach. Any good places to stop for lunch or other sights that we should see?

How is the coast road? Is it scary, like the coast road in Southern California?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Yes, the west hills is a beautiful area, but if our weather turns icy, which it certainly can at this time of year, you can get stuck. Odds are that you would be ok, but it can and does happen, so it just depends on how much you want to chance it. The thing is, if weather turns south here, the entire metro area comes to a standstill regardless.

The Willamette Valley is excellent for wine tasting, as you know:) It is the slow season after Thanksgiving though, so some wineries will close for a bit around Christmas so be sure to call and check on hours. This is the area that we live, so know it well. Our personal favorites for wineries include Brick House, Arbor Brook, Seufert, Stoller and Grochau. Argyle is very good and known for their bubbles. There are numerous excellent restaurants in this area as well, so don't short change those.

I am not familiar with the coast road in CA, but to get from Portland to Cannon Beach you do go over a pass, although it is pretty low elevation. Again, just keep an eye on weather conditions.

Cannon Beach is our favorite town along the coast. Lots of good places to eat, but one of our favorites is Public Coast Brewery. No views there, but good beer and good food.

Snow should not be an issue west of Portland. The snow is falling on Mt. Hood if you wanted to try some skiing.
Watch the weather (KOIN6) news and pick the best day to go to the coast.
The safest way to go to Astoria IMO is to go west on US26 to US101 and then go north. US 30 is not a good tourism highway.
If the weather is good, try I-84 east to see Multnomah Falls.
There is a parking area in the median (left exit) with a tunnel under the highway to go over to the base of the falls.
If it is raining, visit Powells World of Books (10th & Burnside)
The place that I stop along 101 is the Bell Buoy in Seaside for some good clam chowder.
In Portland I like Ken & Zukes Jewish Deli about 3 blocks south of Powells.

In Portland I like Ken & Zukes Jewish Deli about 3 blocks south of Powells.

Me too - at least for breakfast. They make the best home fries.

I am not very familiar with Portland, but we have been to the Willamette Valley twice, and benefitted from mms' excellent recommendations.

Our favorite wineries have been Cristom, Bergstrom, Penner-Ash and Domaine Drouhin. IME the wineries in the WV are less flashy than those in, say, Napa, so I'm not sure how to address the "fun vibe" requirement...Argyle usually has a festive atmosphere, because who doesn't like bubbles?? Elk Cove is also excellent and they have an incredibly pretty location. Ponzi built a new tasting room that is architecturally interesting.

Snow is less likely to be a problem in Portland than ice. I've been in the area during ice storms and there is no way you would want to drive in/out of the West Hills area in an ice storm.

In case nobody mentioned it, the Columbia River gorge is beautiful.

HTtY

Yes, ice is more of an issue here than snow as Kathie mentioned, and it certainly does affect the west side! We live on the west side and I can vouch that we get some nasty weather too if it hits the metro area. Basically if even the word "snow" or "ice" is mentioned in a forecast, the entire area comes to a screeching halt.

NewbE--Seufert now does bubbles as well and they are really good! They started with their first one last year, and then their second one was just released today and it is really good! Last years was a Gamay and this year a Blanc de Noir. The Gamay one was such a pretty color of red, and super good. The one released today is more traditional so white, but also excellent.

Good to know, mms! I will ask our wine shop if they can get any sparkling Seufert--I can't remember what their distribution situation is. And I hope we can return to the WV in 2017--fingers crossed :-)

It is *very unlikely* that you will encounter snow in Portland, but yes, you *can* encounter it. Worse, more often the problem is with ice. During or after a snowstorm best not to drive, ESPECIALLY in the west hills. Snow and ice is infrqeuent enough that Portland does not have the gear to deal with it and in the west hills, many roads are steep. Here is a youtube video of the west hills during snow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaksWCnHaDM

But .. its *very infrequent* ... for the historical probability go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaksWCnHaDM and scroll down to the graphs for percipitation.

As you can see, it's MUCH more probable that you'll just encounter rain.

Between Portland and the coast there is one low mountain range where snow is not infrequent, though more likely, you'll just have rain. If going to the coast I'd recommend staying at the coat overnight if possible.

If you want to go to wineries, most of them are in the hills of the northern Willamette Valley southwest of Portland, centered on a triangle between Newberg, Yamhill, and McMinnville (though there are also many outside of that triangle). That's 1/3 of the way to the coast, one can drive Portland to Newberg area to the Coast.

For some great comments and suggestions of re the Oregon wine country and coast see the fodors thread http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...d-and-wine.cfm and http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-or-and-wa.cfm and the subsequent trip report http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...in-the-pnw.cfm

oops, the link to the weather probability should have been https://weatherspark.com/averages/31...-United-States

Have not been to this place but recently read about it. Think it looks like it could be a fun place.

http://www.sewinecollective.com/

NewbE--The winery will ship it if you want:) I know their distribution is very limited since they are so small, so this might be the way to go. But definitely ask your local place too.

Oh dear yes, we are well familiar with having wine shipped, lol!!

This is all extremely helpful. Thank you!

Recognizing that no one here is clairvoyant :) and that some of us do believe that weather patterns are changing due to global warming, how frequent would you say snow/ice events historically are in the West Hills?

Is it the kind of thing where every morning when you wake up there's black ice? Or are problems more confined to days when there is snow/ice precipitation?

I guess it boils down to this -- do you think, since rental cars are typically not winterized, it is a poor idea to rent in the West Hills as opposed to downtown during this time of year?

Thanks again!

As elbegewa said...it's infrequent, and if it happens it will be the least of your worries as snow and ice is rare enough that it shuts the city down.

Torrential rain is much more likely. I've been caught in really bad storms multiple times in the last two years. Like pull over until it's over because I can't see storms. I don't think I've seen black ice in 5-6 years. Can't remember the last time I encountered snow in Portland.

But there is no way to know. You can hit a storm on Friday and see blue skies and temperatures up 10 degrees on Sunday. In terms of a rental car, I probably just wouldn't do a nonrefundable rate.

Odds are in your favor, but that said, we have not been hit in a couple years with a big ice storm and so are sort of overdue. Every few years we tend to get a big one right around Christmas time. Rain will be an absolute, but snow is definitely not a rare thing here! As a resident, I can attest to that:)

There really is no way to predict our weather more than even just a day or two out. The black ice thing is definitely not a daily thing, but are not confined to snow events either. I would not worry about location because as I said earlier, if we have one of the events, our entire metro area shuts down. So it won't matter if you are in the west hills or somewhere else. Unless you want to be smack downtown, but even then if you are walking, people are slipping etc as we just are not well equipped for these things.

Well, our forecast is now for snow for a few days next week:)

Well, as of today (Friday Dec 2) the US Weather Bureau forecasts snow and/or freezing rain in Portland Monday Dec. 5 - Thursday Dec. 8. The amount seems in question, with some forecasters predicting a only a chance, others only an inch, others predicting larger amounts.

In the NW snow vs rain usually varies substantially by elevation. On marginal days it may be raining on the valley floor, but snowing on the hills.

By the time the OP is here, chances are (hopefully) that the snow will have ended and it will be only a rainy period.

It is probable that there will be snow on the hills/minor mountains between Portland and the coast, but with any luck, the road itself will hopefully be snow-free.

There is no comparison between US-101 and the PCH south of San Francisco. No white-knuckle driving required.