Any Portland mamas or others who have traveled there recently - we might take a trip to Portland for 3-4 nights in June. I have a 1 and a 3 year old, and I know we will probably end up renting a car but would love to stay in an area that is very walkable. What are the must-do activities, and what area do you suggest we stay in?
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Hey there! I assume you mean Portland Oregon so I'm going to chime in. I live here and there is a lot to do and see. The main thing you'll want to do is stay close in to downtown. If you are fancy and have the dough Nob Hill area or NW part of downtown is great. Alberta Arts area is also great and fun. I live in SE and Hawthorne, Buckman, hosford-Abernathy and Clinton neighborhoods are excellent. pM me if you want more specifics!
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Oh in June for activities the Portland Oregon rose festival is going on downtown and has many events all over the city. http://www.rosefestival.org/
The Japanese garden and the rose garden are wonderful. The Saturday market downtown is fun. OMSI is a fun science museum for the kids that's right by the water so it's very pretty. Powells world of books downtown is huge and can't be missed!
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@MrsMccarthy: yes Portland Oregon, thank you! I've never been there and I'm very excited! I have an old friend out there and also some distant cousins that we may try to see. We are not very fancy so we will look at the latter neighborhoods you mentioned. We usually like to rent through VRBO so I'm planning to price out condos etc. The rose festival sounds neat! And it sounds like we definitely need to hit OMSI!
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Subscribing! I was thinking about posting a similar thread! We are planning to visit Portland this summer.
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DH and I visited Oregon on our honeymoon and are planning to go back for our 5 year anniversary with our LO. Silver Falls State Park and the Albany Carousel museum are 2 places we want to visit with LO. Silver Falls is 1 hr 15 min away from Portland and has a bunch of water falls and is easy to walk around if you are carrying your LOs - not sure with the stairs how stroller friendly it is - it is one of the nicest state parks I have visited. The carousel is in the process of being crafted so right now it's not operating but you can watch the artists sculpting and painting the animals and the museum is in downtown Albany which is nice to walk around. Albany is a little over 75 min from Portland.
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Is VRBO like Airbnb? Because Airbnb is awesome!!! If you want to run any of the places you are looking at by me before you book I'm happy to let you know if they are good. Try to avoid 82nd street. It's a seedy area full of pawn shops stripmalls and used car dealerships that some try to pass off as NE Portland.
Also i totally get it if you girls get bogged down but if you want to try to meet up when you are here I would love to meet both of you for coffee or what have you! I live very close in to downtown @lamariniere: so definitely look me up before you come. Summer in Portland is heaven
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@autumnleaves: you bring up the good point that not only is PDX awesome but if you have time there are amazing 45min to two hour day trips you can take to places like Hood river near the Columbia gorge, or the Oregon coast like canon beach where goodies was filmed, Multnomah village or Multnomah falls and so many sweet close bu places! that's a great suggestion!
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Ok, first, you're going to want to try to stay within walking distance of the Max line (there are several lines, but it's easy to switch between them downtown) - from that, you can get to the zoo, the Children's Museum (really all of Washington Park, and there are several other cool things there too), and to Omsi, easily. Those are the biggest museum attractions for kids, and they're all worth the trip.
If you like shopping, or restaurants, or just cool neighborhoods, there are a ton of great ones. The Pearl District, NW 23rd, then on the east side the Alberta Arts District, Hawthorne, Division. There are just a million things to do here.
There are also a ton of great restaurants, and parks to play in. Once you have a neighborhood in mind to stay in, we can give more specific recommendations along those lines, because there are just endless choices. If you decide to stay downtown or in the Pearl, though, you need to be sure to hit the Jamison Square, Tanner Springs, and the Fields Park loop. These are three amazing newish parks all within a few blocks of each other. Jamison Square is an amazing fountain to play in, with art activities one day a week. Tanner Springs is an amazing little nature park, and the Fields is just a cool, big park.
Wow, I COULD go on and on. Portland has been my home for years, and it's an amazing place to have children in. You'll have so much fun!
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@MrsMccarthy: I think VRBO is the same as airbnb, I've never used air but same concept. I know, I love it! I can always find condo, house, etc for same price as a hotel and traveling with kiddos we really need kitchen and preferably 1-2 bedrooms. Thanks for the tips! I will keep you updated!
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Yay for Portland. I agree about coming here once you find a place. We can tell you immediately if it's a good area.
There are just so many wonderful things to do as a family. Plus, kids are welcome in a lot of bars, sooooo, truly HAPPY hour!
Downtown is super walkable, but even if you're outside of downtown, as long as you're near the Max (train) or Trimet bus stops, you'll have the whole city at your fingertips. There's a house in our neighborhood you could check out: http://shiftvacationrentals.com/
Airbnb and VRBO are great resources. If you're looking based on Keywords, I'd focus on: Pearl, Alberta, Alphabet, Hawthorne, Division (not at kid friendly, but very cute area), Irvington, Hollywood.
I would avoid anything in Goose Hollow, Chinatown, Gresham, Beaverton, Kenton/North Portland. Some of those, for safety, others for lack of easy access to public transit.
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@littlejoy: Oh that house looks awesome! I think we're going to inquire on it!
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SE is not near the Max yet but really worth seeing and near all the major trimet buslines so I wouldn't rule it out if its not near the max for your stay so long as its close in. Old historic Irvington is also awesome. Laurel hurst is stunning. Sellwood is amazing but I also wouldn't stay there because its a bit out of te way. You can get there by car though and it's very kid friendly.
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You'll obviously get a lot of conflicting advice about 'safety', but be aware that (outside of Chinatown, imho), there are really no unsafe neighborhoods here. It's a really, really safe place.
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@sarac: I agree! It's pretty hard but I have been told upper NE near St. John and killingsworth can be a but dicey and like I said it can be seedy around 82nd. Not really unsafe though just a bit far from true PDX culture.
There are a lot of homeless downtown but they are pretty harmless.
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@MrsMccarthy: I actually live near St John's, and can vouch that it's an absolutely safe and beautiful neighborhood. Not very close in, and not an exciting neighborhood, though, and it's a few miles from the yellow line.
Sorry to derail your thread! But really, if you can find something within a half mile of any max line, that will make things so much more fun and car free for you.
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