Since one of my favorite things to do is travel, this series will spotlight cities I love and also destination cities – a brief summary of things to see, do and eat!
I’d been fascinated with Portland for a while before we actually went last fall. My husband and I also love the TV series Portlandia 🙂
See and Do
We both loved Cannon Beach, where the famous Haystack Rock is found. We lucked out and were there during a low tide so we could see the tidepools and walk basically all the way out to the rock!
Multnomah Falls is even more beautiful than the pictures! It’s a short drive from downtown Portland and is not a long hike. We only went up midway but it was a pretty easy, paved trail.
Tillamook Cheese factory, about an hour west of downtown Portland, is great for adults and kids alike. They offer tours, delicious cheese samples and my favorite part, the ice cream!
Crater Lake – about 4 hours south of downtown, but worth the drive! We went in a non peak season and basically had the place to ourselves! There’s a short hike down to the lake and they have boat tours (we didn’t do one though). You can drive the loop around the lake with lots of viewpoints – it’s very beautiful if you have the time to drive out there!
While this isn’t a full travelogue, I of course wanted to include a few of the amazing places we ate at because 1) I love food! and 2) a cool thing about visiting new cities is trying new restaurants!
Eat
Voodoo Donuts and Blue Star Donut – apple fritters are my favorite donuts and I was beyond excited to try these places! Voodoo had more novelty donuts and crazy flavors while blue star had more classic and gourmet flavors. I loved both places!
Salt & Straw – between here and the Tillamook ice cream, I feel like we ate best ice cream in the country! I tried the ‘Oregon Rocky Road’ and it was probably my favorite ice cream ever, no exaggeration!
Piazza Italia – both the food and the decor were awesome!
Check out this amazing 10 day road trip from Kansas to Denver including the beautiful the Pacific Northwest! She included lots of good food places, which is something I always look for on trips 🙂
Jen Holtkamp 
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