Im coming back to the Portland area for a week or so in July. It's been awhile since ive been back. Id love to hear you guys' ideas about activities, fun things to do, new shit i might not know about, good food etc... Ill be with the wife and 8 year old daughter. We'll be staying with my sis in McMinnville, so we'll be everywhere from downtown P, to the beach and in between. What do you guys think???
This. Portland is pretty much a dump right now. Go to the beach, the casinos, and perhaps take a drive up the Gorge. Avoid Portland.
There's supposed to be some great train trip vacations through Portland I've wanted to try....Mt. Hood to the coast or something...I forget but I read it in a brochure...Amtrak vacations I think A child that age would probably love the zoo....
Oh yes. Tons of protests, homeless bums on street corners, and hundreds of thousands of people cramming up the roads here in Vancouver, huh?
lol, fine. No casinos. I went on such a train trip once many years ago as a teen. I enjoyed it. And yeah, the Zoo is awesome.
OMSI is still fun and that's a great age for it. A lot of it may be the same, there will also be new stuff. I don't know what their current exhibit is, sometimes its extra to go to it, sometimes it's free and all you pay is the entry fee. You can find out how much it costs to get in and what the exhibit is on their website, https://omsi.edu/ The Zoo is good as well, I feel like the Oregon zoo is one of the better zoos I've been to.
Of course the food carts are a must. Every pod has has great choices. Saturday Market would be fun for the fam, as would the Saturday farmer's market at PSU, which is amazing. We hiked around Trillium Lake today, which is just past Government Camp. Stunning. Easy flat hike, good for a little one. Similarly, your daughter would probably love Multnomah Falls. Walk the Esplanade for great city views.
We always hit the zoo, and the aquarium in Newport. Also, Enchanted Forest. Those are usually must-do's for us. I forgot about OMSI though, great suggestion. The biggest struggle is trying to not spend all our money eating out at all the old spots i used to go.
Not to mention that there is no "there" there......hey, I live in Wilsonville. Just a smaller version of Vancouver, minus the sprawl......Just because Vancouver is in another state doesn't mean it isn't part of the Portland metro area and doesn't have most of the same problems. I have spent (and continue to spend) a fair amount of time in Vancouver. Like Portland, it has it's charms. And like Portland, it has it's warts. And if Vancouver residents weren't crossing those bridges (and "cramming up the roads" to shop tax free, the traffic issues likely wouldn't be quite so horrid. Whether you care to admit it or not, Vancouver residents contribute proportionately to Portland problems (over and above those created by the clowns in Portland city government)......
wildwood cafe in mac. Make sure you go early enough as there will be a line out the door if you wait too long. taquilla grill in mac, next to sharies.
Unfortunately artic circle is now bugs n burgers I believe. Which is literally the worst burger I've ever had in mac. Though can't blame them for false advertising as the patty was about as big as a bug. Who knows maybe I got the wrong thing. But I personally won't go there again. @BLAZINGGIANTS is in mac as well. he might know some good eats too.
Where in Mac? Have two daughters around the age of yours and would be happy to show you around or at least make some local recommendations.
Stop this nonsense. The biggest reason people travel to Portland is to work, not to shop. The holiday seasons being the exception to that. The majority of the traffic is Portland/Oregon residents. It's not rocket-science, it's just the way it is: the Portland area has a MUCH higher population number than Vancouver (Portland/Tigard/Hillsboro/etc combined is about 1 million people vs. about 170,000 Vancouver residents). It just sounded to me like you wanted a "one-up" argument to bitch about Vancouver. All I said was that Portland is a dump, and many Liberals on here agree with that. Utter horseshit. I never hear on the news of Vancouver residents causing problems in Portland. Oh, I'm sure there's one or two occasionally that do, of course, but it's hardly "proportional". So again....stop this nonsense.
