The great state of Oregon

Our family took a much needed vacation out to Oregon last week. We chose Oregon mostly for our “Son” who loves outdoor adventures. He loves to hike, kayak, fish, anything that is active. Portland is also a wonderful destination for food lovers. With this in mind we thought Oregon would be a great place to do both. We had many great adventures and a lot of great food. Each place we dined was better than the next. Oregon is such a beautiful place with many different things to see. We had another family join us on this adventure. We all loved the Oregon coast…..just breath taking views. Everyone we met was so nice and friendly in Oregon. I am glad we chose to come here, when leaving we all felt as if we had just touched the surface of great things to see and do in this great state.

Our vacation started in Portland. Portland is a nice size city it isn’t to big and isn’t to small it is just right. They have many things of interest to make your visit packed with many wonderful activities to see and do. We started our visit off with a walking tour to see the city. Our first dinner we went to Pok Pok what a great place. We let our waiter guide us with many different items on the menu and we all loved it. Thank goodness we had planned ahead and had reservations, the wait was 2 1/2 hours….wow! We even had our own private room. Then we walked down one block to Salt and Straw a great ice cream shop. This is a city that loves beer and dogs. I have never seen so many restaurants, seems as if they have 3 restaurants for every one person that lives here? {Kidding} The good ones are always packed and most do not take reservations. Go to the rose garden it is wonderful and it is FREE! 

The following day was spent walking and going to their Sunday Market. Pizza at the best pizza place. Then to another fancy place for dinner. Then to Salt and Straw for ice cream again. We tried cookies, donuts, tea, coffee, flat whites, beer, salt, chocolates and many wonderful new things. We got in some shopping in the Pearl district.

Monday we went to Tasty N Alder for breakfast what a….great place! We took a tour of the city on a Segway. Oh, goodness what fun we had, I want one of those things. I had never ridden a Segway before. I was a little afraid….well, it is the truth I am a little old to be riding a fast riding toy. Tyler our guide gave us a class on how to operate and ride the Segways. Oh my what fun we had we road all over Portland on that thing. We all loved it and have not stopped talking about what fun we all had.

Then we went up to the roof top bar at the Nine’s and watched the sun set. Then to Tasty N Alder for dinner again…yes it was that good! Loved the place. We were staying in the Nine’s which is in the old Macy’s building. The food in the bar was surprising good.

Then up early to drive out to Astoria which is on the coast. It is about an hour and a half car ride not bad at all. We had planned to do the zip lines at the Adventure Zip Lines Park. They all loved it. Afterwards we went to a local fish market and got fresh crab salads for our lunch and then headed on down the coast to Cannon Beach.

We stayed at Ocean Lodges on the Ocean wow….it is such a beautiful place. Unloaded the car and walked to the beach right away it was such a lovely day. We walked a short little walk down to Haystack Rock. Amazingly beautiful! The best part is we had the most breath taking view of Haystack Rock right from our bedroom window. They have 1000 movies to share at no cost to guest. They have a great big fireplace with a great big roaring fire going at all times. Hot cocoa, coffee and warm cookies for all the guest after their walk on the beach.

That evening we went to the Irish Table for dinner. What an amazing quaint little place, we all loved this charming place. Everyone made you feel like family and so welcomed. Great service, great drinks, great food with great friends what could be better. Dinner started with an irish cocktail which they were so kind to share the recipe with us, THANKS !! We had appetizers, dinner, dessert and coffee everything being perfect. We sat at the large table in the small dining room. With real candles on the table and flowers so homey and just a lovely place. I think it would be worth going to Cannon Beach just to dine here. We did dine at most of the major players for lunch and dinner in Cannon Beach over the next 2 days but none came close to the Irish Table…so I will not say anything about them they did not measure up. We will air on the side of only saying something about those we can say nice things about.

One of our days was spent at Ecola State Park hiking the many trails. This is one of the best state parks in the United States for magnificent views. Amazing ocean views….forrest views, with lush greenery and little running brooks. They had many spring flowers in bloom. Many of the trees are covered in this wonderful greenery making the trees look as if they have fuzzy fur on them. Ferns all over the forrest floors with huge trees look as if they touch the sky. There is a gentle breeze and all the moss and ferns blow in the wind. They look as if they are dancing. Then you have fog rolling in every so often. With large rays of sun light peeking down from the tops of the trees. They are full of birds singing little songs. Then when you get to the end of the trail you have these amazing ocean views. This was an amazing day. I was told this is the place they filmed some of the Twilight movies?

We headed back east towards Portland. Making stops along the way to try some of the areas wine. You could spend a week here in Oregon just seeing the various different wineries. Then from there we went to Multnomah Falls. The Falls are about 45 minutes north of Portland. It is well worth the drive up from Portland to see the falls and gorge. Beautiful falls, we hiked the trails to see many of the different falls in the area.
We could even see snow covered Mount Hood off in the distance. Another beautiful day in the wilderness in the great state of Oregon. Back on the trail to Portland for the next few days.
We broke a rule eating at a place we have already tried while on vacation, Tasty n Alder and it was another wonderful meal. We all loved this place….thanks Heather! We shared most of their appetizers. Several said the octopus was the best they have ever had? Hummmm they are Greek which means they eat a lot of this stuff. We all ordered smoked salmon on the cedar plank, perfect! We all loved their broccolini too, how in the world can broccolini be that good?

The next day all the guys went fishing on the Columbia River. They had high hopes of catching the famous salmon. They had a wonderful time and caught many fish but, No salmon. Portland like many places this year has received a record rain fall. This causes the water to be cloudy so the salmon will not bite.

While they fished the girls went shopping. We got to try many new places to eat as well. They have over 600 food pods in Portland. Food pods are kinda like a food truck that does not move around. They have every kind of food here in Portland…every thing. For breakfast we went to Nuvrei we all loved this little french inspired place. For Lunch we went to Salad Greens, you make your own salad which this is not a new concept but they have improved it having better items to make the salad. Home made dressing with prime ingredients to put in the salad. We got to spend time in Powell Book Store. Loved it! We shopped the rest of the day until the boys returned from fishing.

We went to one place for appetizers and drinks Andina which is supposed to be the best place in town. Hummmmm I do not agree. Then on to dinner at Toro Bravo which is a spanish tapas place. Great meal, this is another place owned by Tasty N Sons. Then we bobbed into a concert for a short while and in to pack and prepare to return home.

I will say it is a great place to visit. I want to return and go back to Cannon beach and stay one whole week there on the beach. I want to also see the painted hills, Crater Lake and ride the dune buggies on the sand dunes. It is a lovely place to visit. Get out and see this wonderful country we live in….I love it!

Please sign up for my RSS feeds and emails over to the right. Please tell us about your favorite parts of Oregon to visit. I love to travel and learn about new things to see and do in this great country.
Smiles and happy trails to you,
Angie

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