Enjoy. I visited the Badlands in SD as a kid and wasn’t able to spend much time there. I always wanted to go back.
When in Wash state, go see Mt. Rainier. Lots of wonderful hiking trails, alpine meadows, etc.
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The South Dakota Badlands are indeed amazing. Unfortunately, we will be bypassing them on this trip. Instead we will be angling through the extreme southwestern corner of North Dakota, in order to “bag” one of the aforementioned unvisited states.
Edit so as to not make an extra post:
@DukeTrout, you’re in Portland? What’s good in that area?
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My bad, fixed.
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I’m not sure where to start! If you are coming down from Seattle then going to Bend, I’ll start with some categories and we can narrow it down from there. Which of these interest you?
-outdoors and natural scenery
-food
-wine and beer
-coffee (yes, this is it’s own category!)
-culture
-sports
I’ll cover Bend, too. We go there often and my daughter went to college there.
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All of that stuff except sports! I also love hot springs, both natural and developed, and I understand there are many in central and eastern OR.
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Whew, OK, that’s a lot to cover.
There are a lot of hot springs in western Oregon, too, but proximity to urban areas means they are either organized, pay-to-play sites or tend towards the seedy side. The best bets for public ones are in southern and eastern Oregon since you’ll tend to have the place to yourself or with very few others.
I’m assuming you’ll get your fill of mountains on your way out, so you can skip Mt. Hood unless you are a huge fan of The Shining.
You have to visit the Columbia River Gorge. On a clear day, stop at Vista House for an overview of the gorge itself. On a cloudy or rainy day, skip it. Multnomah Falls can be visited from the highway rest stop. It’s worth going to some of the other falls like Latourelle and Dry Creek Falls on the Historic Columbia Gorge Highway. One of the charms of the Gorge falls is that for many of them, you can walk right up to (and into) the falls themselves. If you’re into a sporty hike and aren’t afraid of heights, I’d recommend the Eagle Creek trail. It’s about 4 miles round trip to Punchbowl Falls. Much of the trail is on a ledge with rocky cliff face above and below and you’re often clinging to a cable attached to the rock for safety on the wet trail. Fun if you’re into that but terrifying if you’re not.
Stop for lunch and/or a beer at Cascade Locks (Thunder Island or Gorges breweries). If you want, continue to Hood River. In the fall, this is apple and pear country. In the spring, there should be some lovely blossoms out. In Hood River, I’d suggest breweries and wineries. Full Sail Brewing is right down town, but if you only go to one, I’d go to pFriem down near the river. For wineries, there are dozens to choose from but I’d suggest Cathedral Ridge (might require an appointment), Stave and Stone, Marchesi (more for the scenery than the wine, IMO). The Gorge White House is great for both wine and hard cider and it’s a pretty place to hang out if the weather is good. On the Washington side, COR vineyards is great and it’s close to some really nice hikes at Catherine Creek and Coyote Wall. April should have some wonderful wildflowers for you, especially at Catherine Creek. Just be on the lookout for poison oak on that side of the river; it can get pretty thick there.
In Portland, I’d go to Powell’s Books, visit the Japanese Garden/Rose Gardens or Chinese Garden. There may still be cherry blossoms blooming in early April at Waterfront Park, and late in the season it’s like snow falling. Waterfront Park is worth the walk and if you’re there on a Saturday, Saturday Market under the Burnside Bridge is really great.
Something I don’t see covered much from a culture standpoint here is murals. There are amazing murals all over town, from small to massive in scale. There’s a bit of a guide here: EXTERIOR MURALS — Portland Street Art Alliance The one that blows my mind and should definitely be seen at night is the “Attitude of Gratitude” mural at SE Division and 9th.
It’s tough to know where to start when it comes to food. Coming from the Midwest, it would be tempting to focus on Asian foods when on the West Coast. Or, you can tackle it neighborhood-by-neighborhood and just walk into places that look good. For Asian food, I’d suggest going to a ramen shop and/or izakaya, pho (Vietnamese), soup dumplings, and Korean Barbecue.
Ramen: Afuri or Yokohama Skyline
Izakaya: Afuri or Yataimura Maru
Pho: Pho Van
Soup Dumplings: Dough Zone downtown off Waterfront Park
Korean Barbecue: Toji
Other: Stickers Asian Cafe (potstickers, dumplings, and other street food); Oma’s Hideaway (Singaporean/Malaysian)
Neighborhoods:
SE Division between 22nd and 39th/Chavez
Sellwood/Moreland (two main areas - around SE Bybee and SE Milwaukie and another on SE 13th north of Tacoma St.)
Hollywood (NE Sandy & Broadway)
Downtown Lake Oswego (upscale, if you’re looking for that)
If the weather is nice in the evening, I’d definitely go to the rooftop bar at Revolution Hall at SE Stark & 14th. Great view of downtown/West Hills on one side and the cascades on the other. Good fried pickles!
After making that list, I realize two things: all of my go-to seafood restaurants have closed or gone corporate chain; and most of my suggestions are on the east side or suburbs because that’s where myself and all my family live. That, and the west side food scene doesn’t seem to be as tightly organized around neighborhoods.
Coffee: STUMPTOWN. Outside of that, just avoid chains and you’ll be good.
Breweries in Portland: It’s honestly hard to go wrong here. Avoid chains and otherwise just go by which styles you like. Breakside makes great IPAs. Zoiglhaus for German-style beers. Branch out from there is your tastes go to sours or Belgian, etc. If you like hard cider, I strongly suggest Baumann’s on Oak, and if they have their Farmer’s Old Fashioned, get it! My favorite cider by far.
Wine: worth the trip to wine country, and once you’re there, it’s difficult to go wrong. Outside the really expensive ones, I’d suggest Durant (which also makes excellent olive oil), Anne Amie (great view on clear days, as does Durant), Penner-Ash, Montiore. On weekends, traffic in the main corridor here can get pretty crazy so I’d go on a weekday if you can.
I’ll cover Bend in a separate post.
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WHOA. Thanks for the very thorough list. I’ll digest and I might have a follow-up or two!
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Both AA & Southwest stopped during Covid. Not sure it was a money-saving thing (figuring the magazines might have paid for themselves via ads), or a hygiene thing (you don’t know where that already-finished Sudoku has been), or both
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A friend and I are taking another trip to Vermont this fall. We just booked a campsite for two days. The rest of the time we’ll be staying with people.
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Alright. Bend.
Bend is much more a resort town with a side of industry compared to Portland. The Three Sisters mountains stand above the western horizon like sentinels. Many if not most of the people who live there are dedicated outdoor athletes, whether that’s downhill skiing, snowboarding, nordic skiing, dogsledding, trail running, mountain biking, road cycling, paddling, whitewater, etc.
Outdoors: the Deschutes River runs right through town. Trails along the river vary from urban to seeming like wilderness. South of town especially there are trails along a series of waterfalls as the river is crossed by old lava flows. Benham Falls is especially impressive in its violence. Also just south of Bend is Lava Butte, which is great on a clear day. There are lava caves and tubes, but I’m not sure if they will open until summer. In town, there’s Pilot Butte, another great option when it’s clear, with panoramic views of the Cascades and the buttes of the high desert.
A bit north of town is Smith Rocks State Park, a draw for climbers and hikers. It features sandstone monoliths and a deep river canyon.
South and west of town is the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. It will still be pretty snowy but some of the lower elevation lakes and trails might be accessible.
North and west of town is the quaint western town of Sisters. A bit further is the Metolius River Scenic Area. The Metolius is a high-gradient spring creek - crystal clear, impossibly blue, carving through a volcanic valley. Flanked by huge ponderosa pines, some parts of the river are like an aquarium for viewing wild trout. Great hiking along the river. The Metolius might be the most beautiful place in Oregon.
Food:
-if you like baked goods, Sparrow bakery has an incredible variation on the cinnamon roll called the Ocean roll, featuring cardamom.
-Bend’s food scene is dominated by breweries. Deschutes, Crux, Boneyard, 10 Barrel, Monkless - just so many options!
-Food carts might even be more popular here than in Portland
-Wild Rose Thai downtown is great.
-The Pine Tavern is a local legend. It is right on the river downtown and has huge ponderosa pine trees growing up through the dining room. Their savory scones are amazing.
-Spork has fusion food, but might be good or disappointing relative to the Asian food in Portland.
Beer: It’s hard to go wrong. Pretty much every style is represented well. Besides IPAs, Monkless has Belgian ales, Ale Apothecary brews in clay pots, The Cellar for cask conditioned beers, but my favorite is Crux. Two cideries of note are Avid (dragonfruit cider!) and Tumalo Cider Company just north of town (lavender honey cider!)
For culture, it’s really covered in the outdoors, food, and beer sections. That’s what Bend thrives on. Maybe the High Desert Museum for neat critters and recreation of pioneer days.
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Also, the last Blockbuster is there.
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Between this and the Portland mega-post, I’ve got enough stuff to keep us busy (and fed, and drunk) for a month!
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Trust me, it’s carried me like that for three decades! 
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You do much kayaking? I’m debating whether to bring our boats. We do mostly recreational kayaking (slow river, not whitewater or ocean). Do you know where the great spots are?
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Yes, I do a lot of recreational paddling. Some of the best spots are still going to be snowbound, unfortunately. The Old Mill District has good slow-water paddling on the Deschutes but it’s limited distance. There is good paddling on the Willamette from West Linn’s Willamette Park upstream to the Narrows, but I think that’s probably pretty similar to what you are used to at home. But for April I would probably go to Cove Palisades State Park on Lake Billy Chinook. It’s a big canyon reservoir on three rivers (Deschutes, Crooked, and Metolius) where they merge to form the lower Deschutes.
It’s probably going to be too early in the year to paddle up along the Cascade Lakes Highway or at Clear Lake on Mackenzie Pass. If Clear Lake is open, that’s where I’d go. The clearest blue water tucked into black lava rock. It’s an aquarium and has preserved trees from 3000 years ago when a lava flow crossed the Mackenzie River to form the lake.
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Conshohocken-based Lunatrain, Inc., announced in February that it is developing a privately owned, operated, and maintained passenger rail service to connect major cities and destinations. The service will focus solely on sleeper trains in express, non-stop service. In the announcement, it states that “Lunatrain is designed to serve the growing number of solo travelers, couples, and families living in major metropolitan regions that want a practical alternative to short-haul flights and driving long distances.”
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Man, I miss Bend. We spent a few weeks there every summer 2001-07. But it just isn’t the same, within that short time period it went from getting a great meal downtown for $6 and a hotel room for $25 (the Center City Motel ruled) to California prices. The area is great of course but I find it hard to enjoy downtown as much because I know what it was like before.
Green Lakes hike stands out in my memory as one of the all-time best I’ve been on.
@MrShiv if you enjoy this sort of thing I also recommend checking out the observatory down in Sunriver just south of Bend. Great collection of telescopes and dark skies.
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We are thinking of planning a trip. My wife wants to go to a work thing in Innsbruck, then travel some around Italy, possibly Sardinia/Corsica, possibly France. I’m curious: Is the first bit of September still high tourist season? Or is it like the states, where Labor Day marks a pretty clear line and crowds drop off quite a bit after.
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