My husband's family lives out on the coast of Oregon, and we're headed there for Christmas this year. However, we're treating ourselves to a week in the Portland area before Christmas.

Looking for affordable hotels/motels, and would appreciate any suggestions anyone has for us. Also, any recommendations on things to check out while we're there.

Help? : )

Are you wanting to stay within the city, or are you fine with taking day trips?

The trip from Portland to Hood River down I-84 is one of the finest drives in the country. Absolutely beautiful. There are a couple of great stops on the way (Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam fish ladder). Hood River is a very cool town with a ton of restaurants and shops. For a moderately priced meal and some fantastic beers, I'm partial to the Full Sail Brewpub (http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/visitus.cfm) overlooking the Columbia.

Depending on road conditions, I'd recommend a trip up to Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood as well (www.timberlinelodge.com). During the summer you can fit this in on a long day with the Columbia Gorge trip, but in winter the days are too darn short.

I don't know too much about hotels here unfortunately. We went to this place on my birthday for a movie, and it looked like it would be a cool place to stay: http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=57&category=Location%20Homepage, but it isn't within walking distance of much else.

I would make time to visit Powell's City of Books, the largest book store in the world. http://www.powells.com/info/places/burnsideinfo.html?header=Sub:%20City%20of%20Books%20on%20Burnside. From there you are within walking distance to all of the shops/restaraunts/night scene of Portland's Pearl District.

Make sure you are prepared for rain. Lots of it.

[This message has been edited by corndog04 (edited 11/29/2008 2:36p).]

I ate dinner at the Kennedy School back in the summer. I want to go back and stay at the hotel there some time. Very interesting.

[This message has been edited by Phil Rirruto (edited 11/30/2008 1:32a).]

corn is right. I made that drive for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely amazing.

Thank you, corndog04!

My husbands sister actually took us to McMenamins a couple years ago when we came up to visit... We saw "Jarhead." Without a doubt one of the most fun movie experiences, but I didn't know it was a hotel too! I admit... I didn't feel so hot that night when we got there that I didn't pay much attention at the time. We'll look into it!

As it stands now, we're going to be all over the place while there due to visiting friends and family we've not seen since our wedding two years ago. (Yeah, vacations are never truly relaxing.) Estacada and Gresham come to mind as places we're going to try to make before we head towards the coast to see his Dad for Christmas, so I think we're trying to stay as centrally located as possible.

Definitely want to hit as many Brewpubs as possible and will DEFINITELY look into Full Sail Brewpub. I want to try as many local beers as possible. And my husband's been telling me over and over we have to check out Powells but I've been clueless on it. THANK YOU for all the links!

We found online a couple guesthouses (set up like European style lodging -- five rooms, three bathrooms) close to the Pearl District that look promising. Have you heard anything about them? http://www.pdxguesthouse.com/

I can't believe our trip is less than two weeks away now. Excited! Thanks for all your help!

Haven't heard of those places, but they look pretty nice. Nob Hill is a great area.

Regarding McMenamin's, they have a bunch of different locations. Was it the Kennedy School you went to or a different one? The McMenamin's places range from anything from a regular bar to a full-blown resort.

Estacada is a nice little town. Be sure to go to Fearless Brewing Company if you go there.

If you guys are brewheads, you should have tried to come up a few weeks earlier The Portland Holiday Ale festival is happening this weekend: http://www.holidayale.com/index.php.

For some of the best Oregon beers, the Rogue and Deschutes brewpubs in the Pearl are mandatory. Also check out Henry's 12th Street Tavern if you have a chance... something like 100 beers on tap and the vast majority of them are local to the Pacific Northwest. Whenever friends from back home come to visit I always make sure to bring them there at least once. http://henrystavern.com/

Let me know if I can be of any more help. Otherwise, enjoy your trip!

I've been meaning to come by and say thank you again for the advice... we had a wonderful trip.

We made it out of Portland before the worst of the snow hit right before Christmas, thanks to paying attention to the weather and leaving a day early to get over the mountains to the coast. It was still a long, slow, stressful drive in the snow... but it also made for even more GORGEOUS scenery than normal. We had to buy chains for the rental, though, and left them with my husband's uncle to do with what he wants.

We went out to Clackamas Town Center, the Grotto (but only got to see half since the upper level was closed due to ice), Rogue Distillery (where we spent way too much but was worth it), and we HAD to his Jubitz since my husband used to play there back in the day. We also drove down Peacock Lane, which was quite beautiful and festive. Oh and Powells Books? My Heaven on Earth... THANK YOU for that advice. Probably one of my favorite stops of the trip.

Later in our trip after spending Christmas with family, we drove down Hwy 101 and then across to Eugene before coming home. Was a great trip, and thanks again for the advice!

A few pics I took:






(Believe it or not... this picture is the cemetery where my husband's mom is buried.)

Nice pictures! Glad you guys had a fun and SAFE trip. I had been curious how the snow might have affected your trip.

I was worried about making it back to Texas for Christmas with my family. Luckily I had good timing - I flew out on the Tuesday before Christmas which was the first day after the big storm that things were back to normal.

There was well over a foot of snow on the ground at my house on the day I left.