We are giving the final 3 teens in the family trips for Christmas to visit the elder cousins in Oregon. They have plans to buy tickets on the MAX to travel around. Any advice on what to see, do, eat?

How old are these teens? 13 and 19 are very different ages...

They can obviously go to "kid-friendly" places like OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) which has one of those big OMNIMAX theaters. There's the Oregon Zoo. There are also great hikes in the city (Washington Park) and nearby (Columbia River Gorge).

Of course there are the routine city things - the malls, movie theatres, CD shops (Portland has lots of used CD stores - no sales tax!), etc. Saturday Market is a cool weekend market downtown that they might enjoy.

The Oregon Coast is stunningly beautiful. A visit to Seaside is a popular Spring Break activity here - just over an hour by car but there should be bus travel out there, if they could get an adult escort out there. It would be a shame to come so far and not see the coast.

I've taken our teens to Portland several times.

Shopping/people watching out on SW 35th & Hawthorne is one of their favorite activities, especially Buffalo Exchange- a clothing consignment store for the very young. Several good places to eat as well.

NW 23rd area has many cool shops and eateries but is a bit more high end.
at the very start of NW 23, starting from Burnside) are the cheapest places that mine preferred.

What do the elder cousins recommend?

If they're girls, there's enough shopping around to keep them busy. If boys, more of a problem. Weather that time of year is not conducive to the outdoor activities that attract summer crowds. Even so, the coast and gorge are gorgeous any time of year.

How about skiing or snowboarding? Mt. Hood's 1.5 hours away, and its ski season goes well past spring break. Or if they're sports fans, they shouldn't have any trouble getting tickets to the Jail...er...Trailblazers.

Portland has lots of fun things to do for teens. Girls or boys? We just returned from Portland and the Oregon Coast with my fifteen year old daughter. She loves Pioneer Place where we spent the afternoon shopping.

All of my teens really enjoyed the Rose Gardens and the Oregon Zoo, also. We just spent an afternoon at the zoo and it was really fun. (I'll post a report about our trip next week.)

The waterfront area is fun to walk, shop, etc. There's a floating restaurant called Newport Bay (chain-place that the kids might like.) The Harborside is a bit more pricey but very good for fresh, fresh seafood.

Saturday Market as previously mentioned is great fun. The kids should enjoy all of the arts and crafts. My daughter had a face painting of a gorgeous butterfly last time we there and she got compliments all day on it!

YOu must visit the Oregon Coast. Cannon Beach is really beautiful, go down to Haystack Rock and walk around the tide pools and have lunch at Mo's. It's a great casual place right on the beach that serves great clam chowder.

You must take them to Seaside, we just spentt the week there at our beach cottage. I'm finally getting used to all the cool places there. Lots of shopping (Ter Hars) the kids will love the beachy stuff there. Carny rides, elephant ears, corn dogs, aquarium, etc.

Take them to the Carousel mall there where they have a gorgeous carousel that even I enjoyed riding last week. Lots for them to do!!! If they like great food, take them to the Bigfoot Pub & Grub by Avenue U. All eight of our teens couldn't stay away from this place when they all visited this summer. I hope they have a wonderful time! ***kim***

Thnaks for the advice. My son age 16, almost 17 at trip time, and his two female cousins ages 16 and 17 are the travellers. My son has been to Portland before and to the Oregon coast. We flew out for his 13th birthday, stayed at Neo-something. he is looking for a skateboard park. He is the only one who has ever flown as well. They plan to eat at Dragonfish as they are all into oriental foods and customs, they plan to visit the Japanese Garden and the Chinese Garden. I had forgotten about the OMSI. How about those secret places onmy Oregonian's know about? The cousins they are coming to visit have lived in Portland their entire lives but are at work during the day.

There's a skate park under the east end of one of the downtown bridges, Morrison or Burnside I believe. It's out of the probable wet weather that time of year.

Appears you have some ideas about where they might eat. The food court in Pioneer Place is usually a favorite of teens.

Do they like Panda Express? My daughter loves this place. I'm assuming there's one at Pioneer Place, I know there is at the Washington Square Mall where we also shopped. ***kim***

One more thought. In Nob Hill, there is a great pizza place where you can watch them toss the pizza around. Pizza My Heart was also a fav with our group this summer in Portland. ***kim***

Kim is thinking of Escape From New York Pizza on NW 23rd Ave. It is a fun place to go for tourists - kinda small and divey in a good way. For pizza, these days I prefer Hot Lips or Vincente's on Hawthorne.

Andrew

Thanks, Andrew. And it's not Pizza My Heart, it was Pizza Schmizza I was thinkihg about. Pizza My Heart is in Monterey. ***kim***

They managed to get reservations at Timberlake Lodge, any advise for that place?

I assume you mean Timberline Lodge up at Mt. Hood. That is a wonderful place, and so much to do there as far as snow spots. The lodge itself will be nice since you literally walk out the door and go ski...you don't have to drive anywhere.

That's the one, they managed to get a chalet.

That should be great the group. Since we live in the area we have not stayed there overnight. We just use it as a base for our outdoor adventures. I really wanted a room this summer just to shower after we had backpacked around the mountain for several days...but we drove home instead, lol!