Seattle/Portland Trip
 

me and my friends are thinking of going down to the states in september.
I am a Guru with places to go in seattle, but I have never been to Portland before.
Could anyone here point out few places to shop and visit in portland for me ?
Perfer in traveling order(heading south), so i can plan my trip early.
Thought would be a good idea to rent a car..coz i didnt want to put on all these mileage on my car. Anyone know which rental shop carry the best deal around town ? and what are the tips when renting a vehicle?... it will be probabaly going to be 5 of us ... we will be sharing the rental fee and gas money, how much we are looking at for the transportation ?

i'm interested in this too, except only from the I5 from vancouver to seattle, interested in some sightseeing attractions along the I5 but not in downtown

Hm.. I did a trip on the Victoria Day long weekend down to Portland.

It was a three day trip, left on the afternoon of the Saturday (I recommend going to the Langley border crossing as it was only a 10 minute wait for some reason) One place I would definitely recommend to go shopping is Woodburn Outlets. It's about a 45 / hour drive from Portland but its a definitely must. If you go to guest services, they have special coupon booklets for tourists which result in more discount from the already good sales they have. I would say rent a car unless you need to buy a new set of tires and get them installed cause is uber cheap in USA compared to Canada. We also went to this other mall which was fucking huge... forgot the name tho, i'll pull out my GPS and check. Also, Nordstrom rack is pretty cheap I hear, though I didn't go there last time. Portland downtown isn't anything too special.. but I'd go to Mother's Bistro / Mama Mia for lunch or dinner. You can't forget Cheesecake factory either :D We didn't go to many "high class" restaurants cause we're not ballin, do some research on google if you want to go to better ones

I'm don't quite remember the numbers for our gas but we rented a Pontiac G5. It wasn't too bad considering we didn't need any gas until we were in Portland. We did something different when we came back though, drove by the seaside. We went to Astoria on the way back which was beautiful cause u could see the ocean. The ride on the coast isn't that good because you aren't really on the "coast" and the US has the shittest forests ever. They chop down the trees and u can see just cleared land.

sounds good man ~ how about accommodation ? what kind of hotel were u guys staying and what is the rate like ?

Well it was myself, my cousin, my cousin gf, and my sis.

So it was basically one room...

The last last year we went, we stayed at embassy hotels by Portland Airport. Of course the complimentary breakfast thats fuckin epic, u could eat as much as u want and it was stuffin as hell.. $100 per night, (we only went 1 night the first time)

Last year, we stayed for two nights ($50/night) for Marriot Hotels. Of course, lower price, like 2 nights for the price of 1 compared to Embassy (at that point it was $150 per night there) The breakfast was pretty epic fail tho, runnin outta food and u'd never be full..

Of course the only reason why our rooms were so cheap are because my cousins gf works as a touring booker, so she has access to all the sweet deals

I'm going to ufc102 in Portland and just booked my room at the Marriott on the water front. One of the nice hotels downtown. Rooms are $160 a night tho.

Also there's a really good go kart track in Portland 100x better then F440 I forget the name tho since it was 15 years ago.

^ co-worker was telling must go to the seaside beach and give ATV a try...
should be a good exp... still trying to find out what is this "seaside"
i wonder if its a actually place called "seaside" or just places along the coast

i follow this plan for the past 2 years on labour day weekend

Day 1 – Where it all begins…

8:00AM Get going!
9:00AM Cross borders (hopefully the border wait is minimal)
11:30AM Arrive at SEATTLE PREMIUM OUTLET (Lunch there too)
1:00PM Leave
2:30PM Arrive at Downtown Seattle
6:00PM Head into traffic nightmare
~8:00PM Arrive at Kelso – (insert restaurant here)
10:00PM Check into (insert hotel here) - i personally liked radisson @ the airport

Day 2

8:00AM Wake up
8:45AM Enjoy FREE breakfast
9:15AM Collect our shit and HEAD OUT!
10:00AM South. Woodburn Outlet (Puma, Nike, stuff you find at premium)
12:00PM Leave (or earlier)
1:00PM Arrive at downtown Portland/Pioneer Place
4:00PM Lloyd Center
10:00PM Go back home

Day 3

8:00AM Wake up
8:45AM Enjoy FREE breakfast
9:15AM Collect our shit and HEAD OUT!
10:00AM Shopping at Washington something, or Chucka something mall
1:00PM Start our trip back to Seattle we have to get pass the construction before 3:30
4:30PM Bellevue
7:00PM Leave for dinner
10:00PM Home

The bridges and very night in Portland. It's especially nice when the sun sets and you just look at the breath taking views while on the Bridge/Highway.

thats alone the oregon cost at a place called Cannon Beach there's a small town called Seaside and theres a pretty nice beach. Point break was filmed at cannon beach and it's known for a big public attraction called Haystack Rock. Here's a pic I took of it :)


http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5...2918842789.jpg

seaside is a resort town, you'll like it, very relax! and cannon beach pretty much starts off from there...

go dune buggying, and enjoy the sandy beaches!

Just a tip, bring a GPS

Cannon Beach is beautiful. I remember my first time going there about 16 years ago.

Renting a car is a good idea, it's not the mileage that you should be worried about. It's all the dust, dirt and rocks that all the cars and trucks kick up into the air and hit the hood and windshield of your car. I used to go back and forth for work and you can see small little chips all over the front of my car. I gotta get it repainted sometime.

i have no experience with any car rental company other than my car was in shop and ICBC pays for it ...

suggestion for company and type of the car?
As for now, 5 of us are going , so i assuming a full size or a van ? i asked about full size and its about $70 or a van at $140..

whats the average rate of renting a vehicle..?

For a long distance like that, I'd probably suggest a van. It gives everyone more space, especially if you got some bigger guys/girls with you. 5 people in a sedan is just too squished for more than a 1 or 2 hour drive. However, for $140 you could get 2 full sized cars! :D Van seems like a bit of a rip off. Go check on one of the flight search engines (Expedia, Cheaptickets, etc) and see if you can find somewhere that's a little cheaper for the van.

Rate really depends on the season (i.e. summer during holidays will be slightly pricier than other times), your age, and depends on whether you purchase any insurance on the car. Call around once you know what you want (car type and insurance) and see what rates you can get. Check some of the deal websites to see if you can get any coupon/affiliate codes to sweeten the deal.

I'm probably going to do something like this soon too.. Is there an age requirement to rent a car though?

i think there is age requirement but i forgot, i just remeber i wanted to rent a car when i was 19 but they did not allow

hm.. Anyone know a car rental company that lets 21 year olds rent?

All car rentals allow 21 year olds to rent.

Make sure you go to Kenny & Zukes Delicatessen in Portland!!

http://www.kennyandzukes.com/

Their Pastrami Reuben is to die for!

http://www.kennyandzukes.com/pics/gallery/fl_reuben.jpg

could someone give me more name of places to visit ? i need to go online and search for direction.

name for outlets malls would be appreciated, thanks

Going on my trip on Saturday morning, returning late on Monday. :)

please share me with your route and places you went, thanks

if ur hitting up portland, check out downtown. theres a big shopping center there. i forgot the exact street but its like a block of malls. Also recommended is take the 1.5 hour drive west to canon beach and perhaps even stay there a night, it's a great place to be. good food, and nice little town. As for rental cars, always, and i mean ALWAYS book online. If u just show up and ask for a car, u'll get ripped off. even if u stand there and book with ur iphone infront of them u'll get a better deal on the exact same car. Don't get hertz. they're a rip off. My favorite is Enterprise. decent selection of cars and great prices. Check online before you book though for better prices. they vary ALOT. Places like dollar, national, enterprise all have low rates. DONT USE HERTZ! Another tip is after you book, if u booked economy, when you check in, ask them if they have any other car too choose from (free upgrade). Say you want something with satellite radio or something. Just dont pay for it obviously. Be nice to the guy and maybe he'll hook you up. I booked a corolla once and got a corvette.

if ur goin to cannon beach, take I30 > I26 > I101 route. its very scenic and a great drive

oh and yes u can rent a car at age 21, but there is a under 25 surcharge. Hertz charges $25/day ontop of ur rental and insurance. Enterprise and others varies from $10 - $20. If you're lucky they'll forget and not charge you.

ugh, ill type up my stuff when im free, tired as fuck from painting my house today.