1.5 Week Vacation Portland->Seattle....nothing planned. What to do, see, eat, drink?

[jce338]

We're heading out on a family vacation in mid august flying in to Portland and out of Seattle. Don't have anything on the schedule. Everyone loves the outdoors, nature, hiking, etc.

Any must hit spots in Portland, Seattle, in between or within driving distance? Best hikes along the way? Best spots to grab food/beer? Anything I would miss without the inside info? We have around 12 days and no plan at all so anything is on the table.

I trust a mag 10 times more than I trust a shitty guide book. Thanks.

Edit: thanks commonlaw. I searched and missed a few of those links...was wondering if there was anything cool since we're heading from PDX to SEA

[Art Shirk]

Don't go here: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...-Amore-Seattle

But this has a bunch of good info: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ars+in+seattle

As does this: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...hlight=seattle

And this: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...hlight=seattle

[The AD]

Definitely drive to Mt. St. Helens. It's a totally unique experience.

[dan_pdx]

Seconded the recommendation to do Mt. St. Helens. Haven't been up this season, but given how strong Nina came on, I imagine there's plenty enough snow cover to skin and ride down, though you need a permit and it's possible you'll get shut out on any given day. If that's not an option with the family, checking out the blast zone is still a great trip.

Timberline will be running their lifts if that's of interest, though unless you really want to ride park the summer terrain isn't all that. The big draw IMO is just being able to say that you skied in July.

Portland food...definitely plan to do at least a lunch and maybe a day eating cart food. My tourist must-sample carts would probably be Nong's Khao Man Gai , Ziba's Pitas, and possibly Tabor. (I'm not that blown away by Tabor, but people seem to love it.) The food carts at SE 12th and Hawthorne are also fun -- a good late night scene there, it would be a good place to stop for post-drinking snacks.

IDK where you're from, so not sure exactly what kind of food would be of interest...but if you're not from Miami or somewhere else with a lot of great Cuban food, Pambiche is an excellent Cuban restaurant that's definitely worth checking out. Andina is high-end and fantastic Peruvian, Gruner has a fantastic burger and "modern Alpine cuisine" (no idea what that is, I just go for the burger.) There's too many great beer bars to list them all, but Apex and the Horse Brass are two particularly good ones.

I would definitely plan to spend a day doing the Columbia River Highway drive into the Columbia River Gorge from Portland. Go midweek and pick out a hike -- should be awesome. Definitely stop at both the Women's Forum and Crown Point for awesome views.

The Columbia River Highway drive will take you to Hood River, which is an awesome little town. If you're into kiting or windsurfing, you can definitely spend a day in the water there. If not, maybe do a hike and then head to Hood River for dinner or late lunch at Full Sail Brewing or Double Mountain Brewing, and then back to PDX - it's about 80 miles.

That's about all I got, except there's a Helly-Hansen outlet in Centralia (on I-5) that occasionally has worthwhile stuff.

[Hugh Conway]

PDX to SEA is 3 hours in a car

Head south to Crater Lake. Drive up the Oregon Coast. Stop in Astoria and see the Goonies house. Head up to the Olympic Peninsula. Hike in the Rain Forest. Go up to Hurricane Ridge, hike. Take a backpacking trip into the big trees in ONP. Take a ferry out in the San Juan Islands and go sea kayaking or whale watching. Drive up the North Cascades highway. Go hiking. Drive down the east side of the cascades. Head up Lake Chelan to Holden or Stehekin. Go hiking.

[jce338]

Big thanks to everyone who dished out some advice here. Trip was sick and we followed a bunch of your recommendations.

We hit up the Columbia River Valley, hiked, drank at the Full Sail Brewery, hit the Oregon Coast. Drove up to Seattle, Hiked Snow Lake at Alpental. Sea Kayaked with Orcas on the San Juans, cruised seattle and caught a game at Safeco and toured ONP. Pictures below.

[The AD]

Great photos. I love the one of the marmot! How close were you to the orcas? Were you in a kayak?

[warthog]

Did you see a pirate ship?

[jce338]

Great photos. I love the one of the marmot! How close were you to the orcas? Were you in a kayak?

Yea, we were on a guided trip in kayaks. There were about 4 or 5 different pods passing and the closest were breaching about 100-150 yards away. Pretty amazing stuff.

[plugboots]

Great pics. Fun place, huh?