How many hours would a road trip from San Francisco to Oregon take?

Hi anne, where in Oregon will you be driving to as that would make quite a difference. Oregon is a beautiful state.

Actually, I need to do more research-- where do you suggest we (young family) go in Oregon to visit? I know it's a general question, but as a Californian, for instance, I would tell out-of-towners to narrow their choices in California to either the SF or LA/SD area, maybe Yosemite.

Hello again, anne what interest do you and your family have regarding this trip? Also what time of the year will you be going to Oregon?

Oregon has Portland of course, a beautiful and relaxing city IMO with wonderful restaurants, the Japanese Garden, The Chinese Garden, the well known Rose Garden within the city limits although you would never know it once there, the zoo if you have little ones, Powell's Book which is the largest independant book store in the US I believe, pubs, wonderful public transportation, etc. Do you have children or will it be just you and your husband? And how long will you have including travel days?

There is the beloved coast, the Oregon Caves, Crater Lake, Bend and SunRiver, wineries (Oregon wine is very good as is their food) just to mention a few possibilities. There is a lot of diversity in Oregon and a beautiful and relaxing state to visit with or without children.

Wow, they all sound good. We'll have two elementary-age girls with us. So we don't want to overdo it and do a commando-style sightseeing road trip (just had a hectic jampacked Disneyworld trip last December). We're going in the summer. Would love to see the coast and Portland sounds good. Perhaps drive along the coast to Portland with a stopover somewhere? We may skip the wineries, though, because we don't drink and have the girls. Thinking of going all the way to Seattle, too, unless that would be too hectic.

The drive From SF to Portland will be 11-13 hours depending on stops along the way.

How many days do you have for this trip? Knowing that will help us determine if going all the way to Seattle is feasable.

Portland and the coast may be the most you want ot focus on if you only have a week.

Since you have children, don't miss the Oregon Zoo in Portland or The Aquarium in Newport (along the coast). As for zoos and aquariums they are very nice!

Maybe spend 4 nights in and around Portland and a few nights at the beach? From Portland you could do a day trip through The Gorge, stopping at a couple of the falls along the way, heading through Hood River up to Mt. Hood with a stop at Ski Bowl Adventure Park:

http://skibowl.com/index.php?page=sk...adventure-park

This would be a very full day but doable if you only spend a couple of hours at Ski Bowl. It is great fun for adults and children!

You may even want to take a ride on the new Tram that goes up to OHSU! Maybe Andrew will post a link to the great photos he took of this new mode of transport.

We live in the Portland area, but have family in the east bay, and our drives always take right around 10 hours.

OR has lots of great things for families. The hard part will be for you to narrow it down to fit your timeframe.

Portland and the coast can easily be done together on one trip. In Portland, don't miss OMSI with the kids. Cannon Beach is only 90 minutes from Portland and is a great little beach town. Check out Haystack Rock at low tide for the tide pools. There are volunteers there during those times to explain everything there.

Central Oregon (Bend/Sunriver) is great in the summer...especially July and August. Sunriver is a resort a few miles south of Bend and there are rental homes, condo's and lodges to stay at. Great area for whitewater rafting, hiking, lava tubes, the high desert museum (very interesting!)...pretty much anything outdoors you can imagine. We go several times a year with our kids.

Driving up the coast from the Bay area will take a lot longer than up I-5; days, or possibly weeks. ;-) Things your kids might get a kick out of:

1. Giant redwoods;
2. Jetboat ride up the Rogue River from Gold Beach;
3. Dune buggy ride, just south of Florence;
4. Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport;
5. Tidepooling, flying kites, and 3-wheeled cycles on any number of beaches;
6. Sailing balsa-wood airplanes from the top of the Astor Column (Astoria).

I'd plan on at least 3 days. Tough call, though. No matter how much time you give yourselves, you'll wish you had more.

Thanks for all your replies. Looks like Portland is a good base for day trips. And maybe we'll stay at the coast, too. Yes, I guess driving by the coast will take forever, although beautiful, and may be somewhat dangerous, too, with cliffs and sharp turns, I imagine. As far as all those sights mentioned, I think I need to get a guide book and read up so I know what you all are talking about and where they are located. Then I can go back to this thread and understand what you are suggesting.

Check your map. When our kids were younger, they loved our Oregon trip, and their favorite stop was Oregon Caves. We spent the night at the rustic lodge which had waterfalls and a creek flowing through it! The cave tour was fun, too. They also loved staying in a little beach town, visiting Portland, and hiking Multnomah Falls. And the 11-year old insisted we drive back to Portland on the other side of the river so he could say he'd also been in the state of Washington.