We are planning a 12 day trip to Oregon around Memorial Day. The impetus for the trip was th4 availability of a 4 night stay at Whispering Woods in Welches. The Whispering Woods portion of the trip will be the last 4 days of our stay. I am trying to figure out the best itinerary for the trip. Here are my initial thoughts-input and advice welcome! In terms of interests, we are food and wine lovers, frequently do walking tours when we visit cities, and love drives through scenic areas.
Wednesday night-fly from home on the East Coast to PDX
Wednesday night through Sunday night-Portland. Some people have suggested that we may not need 4 full days in Portland. However, I will be working remotely for the first 2 days, so we probably won't be able to do anything during the day other than hit nearby food truck pods for lunch. We would probably try to visit the Japanese Garden and Rose Test Garden in the early evening, or walk around for a while. As an avid reader, it has been a lifelong dream of mine to visit Powell's City of Books, and I figured that Powell's plus a visit to the Portland Farmer's Market on Saturday would consume a full day. As an option, I've thought about maybe heading to Cannon Beach and Tillamook for part of Sunday, since they only appears to be an hour and a half away.
Monday night through Wednesday or Thursday night-Willamette Valley in a B & B (possibly Newberg). We love wine tasting, and figured that we would spend 3 or 4 days in WV before heading to Whispering Woods.
Optional one night stay-instead of spending 4 nights in the Willamette Valley, I thought about driving along the Columbia River Gorge and spending one night in Hood River before heading to Whispering Woods-or leaving Portland and hitting the Columbia River Gorge area before heading to the Willamette Valley-not sure which would work best (advice welcome!). They all appear to be about an hour and a half away from each other. Not sure if we should just do the Gorge drive as a day trip from Newberg and stay put there, or whether we should overnight in the Hood River area.
Friday night through Monday night-Whispering Woods. We will probably do a fair amount of vegging there with some hiking if weather permits (we will be there in early June). We'll have family from Idaho visiting for a night while we are there.
Wednesday night-fly from home on the East Coast to PDX
Wednesday night through Sunday night-Portland. Some people have suggested that we may not need 4 full days in Portland. However, I will be working remotely for the first 2 days, so we probably won't be able to do anything during the day other than hit nearby food truck pods for lunch. We would probably try to visit the Japanese Garden and Rose Test Garden in the early evening, or walk around for a while. As an avid reader, it has been a lifelong dream of mine to visit Powell's City of Books, and I figured that Powell's plus a visit to the Portland Farmer's Market on Saturday would consume a full day. As an option, I've thought about maybe heading to Cannon Beach and Tillamook for part of Sunday, since they only appears to be an hour and a half away.
Monday night through Wednesday or Thursday night-Willamette Valley in a B & B (possibly Newberg). We love wine tasting, and figured that we would spend 3 or 4 days in WV before heading to Whispering Woods.
Optional one night stay-instead of spending 4 nights in the Willamette Valley, I thought about driving along the Columbia River Gorge and spending one night in Hood River before heading to Whispering Woods-or leaving Portland and hitting the Columbia River Gorge area before heading to the Willamette Valley-not sure which would work best (advice welcome!). They all appear to be about an hour and a half away from each other. Not sure if we should just do the Gorge drive as a day trip from Newberg and stay put there, or whether we should overnight in the Hood River area.
Friday night through Monday night-Whispering Woods. We will probably do a fair amount of vegging there with some hiking if weather permits (we will be there in early June). We'll have family from Idaho visiting for a night while we are there.