Twenty years ago I traveled to Oregon, staying at the Vintage Plaza Hotel in Portland visiting Powell Books and Pioneer Square. I tasted wine in the Willamette Valley and attended a Pinot Noir Conference in McMinnville. Driving down the Oregon Coast I looked for whales and visited Lincoln City and the Aquarium in Newport. Twenty years later I repeated my trip almost exactly. Come journey with me down memory lane.
My flight arrived early and my bag was waiting for me at the baggage claim area. This was a good omen. I had been following the Weather Channel for over a week and it seemed to rain almost every day. Again, the only time it rained during my week in Oregon was late at night and when I was indoors having a meal. The Gods were looking after me. I looked for a cab and was told that a van was leaving in one minute for downtown and I was the only passenger. For less than half the price of a taxi I would be dropped off at the Vintage Plaza Hotel smack dab in the center of the city. This is now a Kimpton property with guest rooms named after local wineries and complimentary wine tasting in the lobby every day, with a weekly Wine Wednesday educational tasting featuring local winemakers and sommeliers.
The “City of Roses” has a 2010 population of 584,000 with 2,260,000 in the Metro Portland area. The summers are warm and dry with wet, mild winters (perfect for growing roses). With strong land-use planning and a fabulous public transportation network, Portland is a very environmentally friendly green city. I could have taken the MAX Light Rail from the airport. There are 85 stations and 52 miles of track connecting the city, airport and region. You could ride it to Beaverton where Nike, Adidas and Columbia Sportswear are headquartered. There is a Free Rail Zone, a 330-block area in the central city where the streetcar, MAX and trolleys are free. No wonder my lungs seemed clear and the air so fresh. I took the free streetcar to Pioneer Courthouse Square, a public space holding more than 300 events a year. Over 26,000 people visit the square every day making it the single most visited site in Portland. Another free streetcar left me at Powell’s City of Books. Twenty years ago it was quite a bit smaller, starting as a humble storefront in 1971. It covers an entire city block with more than 1.5 million books in 3,500 different sections. I grabbed a map to the nine color-coded rooms, had a snack in their coffee shop and lost myself in the world’s largest new and used bookstore. Having had only 4 hours sleep the night before and with the time difference it was early to bed, with a book.
Bright and early the next morning Kieron from Evergreen Escapes picked me up in the company’s Mercedes van and we were off on our 4-hour Explore Portland tour. After enjoying tea and scones our first stop was the historic Pittock Mansion. It is now a city park and affords a fabulous view of the city skyline from 1,000 feet up, as well as views of Mt. Hood, in the distance. . We were also able to see a few of Portland’s 11 Willamette River bridges from our vantage point. We drove through the neighborhoods of the Pearl District with its art galleries and upscale businesses and residences. Next we went to Nob Hill, similar to the original in San Francisco with Victorian homes, boutiques and coffee shops. Hawthorne is a former hippie area now filled with avant-garde shops, antique stores and cafes. There are more than 10,000 acres of parkland in the city. We visited McCall Waterfront Park with its bike paths and great views of the Portland skyline. Washington Park has the zoo, The International Rose Test Garden, Arboretum and Japanese Garden. We did not have time to visit any of those but did stop to view the Holocaust Memorial. Mt. Tabor Park has an extinct volcano within its boundaries, one of two US cities with such an attraction (Bend Oregon is the other). There are 43 microbreweries in Portland. I am told that is the most of any city in the world. There are also 7 distilleries in the new SE Industrial Area and we had a few minutes to stop by House Spirits Distillery whose most famous product is Aviation Gin. I think I set a worlds record by seeing the Lan Su Chinese Gardens in 5 minutes. We were running late but I did want to see this city landmark.
After a quick lunch the folks from Travel Portland drove me to SakeOne for a brewery tour and tasting. They wanted to produce world-class Sake in the United States and chose the eastern slope of Oregon’s Coastal Mountains whose water comes from winter snow melts. Water is one of Sake’s most critical ingredients. After a quick change of clothes I was taken to Metrovino for dinner. It is a wine oriented restaurant with an Enomatic wine system to preserve open bottles and offers almost 100 wines by the glass.
Before I picked up my rental car to start my trip to the Central Coast I stopped in at Voodoo Doughnuts, an independent shop with two other locations. They have very unusual products and I think my Voodoo Doll and Portland Cream had about 1,000 calories. But who is counting. They kept me awake on my drive to the Oregon Coast.
For More Information-
www.traveloregon.com
www.travelportland.com
www.vintageplaza.com
www.pioneercourthousesquare.org
www.powells.com
www.evergreenescapes.com
www.pittockmansion.org
www.housespirits.com
www.sakeone.com
www.lansugardens.org
www.metrovinopdx.com
www.voodoodoughnuts.com
The Oregon coast, also known as The People’s Coast, stretches over 363 miles along Highway 101 from Astoria in the north at the border with Washington State to Brookings-Harbor on the California border to the south. I spent two days on the Central Coast, covering the area from mile marker 113 at Lincoln City to Florence at mile marker 190. I decided to visit south to north and arrived in time for lunch at 1285 Restobar & Trattoria in Old Town Florence. I walked around this waterfront area, along the Siuslaw River, filled with art galleries, eclectic shops and restaurants. There is a large retirement community in town, as well as the Three Rivers Casino. There are 40 miles of dunes, many over 500 feet high which led me to Sand Master Park for a dune buggy ride. This is the world’s first sand boarding park. At the north end of town is Sea Lion Caves, the world’s largest sea cave and the home for wild Stellar sea lions and sea birds. From there you can view the Hecata Head Lighthouse.
Continuing north on Route 101 I checked into the Salishan Spa & Golf Resort for a two-night stay. The actual site is in Gleneden Beach, a small coastal community nestled between Lincoln City and Newport. This 250-acre property has a golf course, spa, fitness center, swimming pool, tennis and basketball courts and uses its rustic surroundings to make guests feel they are not in a crowded environment. as it was the off-season I had my area all to myself. Dinner was at Prime Steakhouse, which uses locally grown produce to match with its prime steaks and fresh seafood. They also have a very large wine cellar with a private dining room.
Less than a half-hour south found me in Newport at the Edge Art Gallery for my glassblowing lesson. There are over 40 artists showing their work there ranging from hand blown and fused glass to oil pastel and acrylic paintings to ceramics, jewelry and sculpture. The good news is I did not burn myself or break any glass during my lesson. I have two glass bowls to show for my efforts. My next stop was to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport which I last visited 20 years ago. It is one of Oregon’s top tourist attractions with over 40,000 students visiting the aquarium each year. Heading back to my hotel I had time to stop at the Whale Watch Center in Depoe Bay. They told me they had spotted over 30 whales that day from the viewing deck. My final dinner was at the Bay House Restaurant in Lincoln City. Opened in 1978 they boast the largest wine collection in Oregon.
I took a leisurely drive back to Portland’s airport, stopping for post New Years sales at the only Tangier Outlet in the northwest, in Lincoln City. The weather was perfect; the hotels and restaurants were excellent, my flights were all on time and the air was clean and crisp. What more could I have asked from Oregon?
For More Information-
www.visittheoregoncoast.com
www.1285restobar.com
www.sandmasterpark.com
www.sealioncaves.com
www.salishan.com
www.theedgeartgallery.com
www.aquarium.org
http://whalespoken/org
www.thebayhouse.org
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