Went to Oregon for Memorial Day weekend for six days and it was lovely! I’m super impressed by the beauty and kindness I encountered there and highly recommend a trip out to Oregon for nature and nurture! I know Portland gets a very bad rap; I hardly spent any time in the downtown area but I’d definitely go back for a visit to other parts of Portland and Oregon in general.
Here’s a summary of the trip:
Wednesday, Day 1: Arrive in Portland; stayed at Inn at Northrup Station in Portland.
Thursday, Day 2: Visited Multnomah Falls in the morning (got there before 9 am, stayed about 2 hrs); drove to Hood River for lunch; afternoon hike at Mirror Lake within the Mt. Hood area (took about 2 hrs); drove to Bend (about 2.5 hrs away); stayed at LOGE in Bend, Oregon.
Friday, Day 3: Visited Newberry Volcano Monument in the morning (got there at 10 am, stayed about 2 hrs); explored Bend.
Saturday, Day 4: Went to Pilot Butte in the morning for an hour hike; drove to Smith Rock State Park (got there around 11 am, stayed about 2-3 hours); drove to Sisters, Oregon about 45 minutes away for lunch; drove to Salem (about 2 hrs); stayed at Best Western Plus Mill Creek.
Sunday, Day 5: Went to South Falls Silver State Park in the morning (got there by 10 am, stayed for less than 1.5 hours); drove to Haystock Rock at Cannon Beach (2.5 hrs away); drove to Portland (90 minutes from Cannon Beach) and stayed at Residence Inn Portland Pearl District.
Monday, Day 6: Walked around Portland but also visited Washington Park and Mississippi Avenue in the city; flew back home.
I don’t love driving but I didn’t mind driving at all on this trip. Everywhere was lush, green, and picturesque while driving between cities and towns. In addition, there was great food all around too!
Day 1 Recap: I’m super glad we stayed at the Inn at Northrup Station in Portland. I’ve been to the city once before and didn’t really have a need to see downtown so we decided to stay in the Nob Hill district, which has way less homeless people around. The area felt safe and is super walkable and I loved that this hotel had free parking (the second hotel we stayed later in the trip charged $50 for valet and public parking was cheaper but had sketch reviews about cars being broken into!). The best streets to walk in Nob Hill are 21st and 23rd streets, with lots of boutique shops and places to eat.
My friend and I had dinner in a different area of town though as we are New Yorkers and we both love New York style pizza (Portland has tons of pizza places!) and Ken’s Artisan Pizza was delish! Our fave was the “Handmade pizza”, which is fresh hand-pulled mozzarella, tomato sauce, garlic, fennel seed, with chili flakes. So yummy! The place was packed when we got there at 5:30 on a Wednesday so show up when it opens at 5 pm (we had to wait 30 min.). I wanted to go back before we left but it was closed on Mondays!
Day 2 Recap: The main reason why I wanted to visit Portland was to visit this epic beautiful park at Multnomah Falls . I read online that tickets are needed for reservations starting May 24 (Friday before Memorial Day wknd). We went here on Thursday, May 23 so didn’t need to worry about getting tickets. We drove into the free public parking, which is a short walk to the Visitor Center and the falls. We got here around 8:45 am and plenty of parking was available. I’m glad we came here earlier though as it was peaceful and didn’t need to fight anyone for pictures! There are lots of trails here and other waterfalls to see but we wanted to get to Bend in the evening so we only came and hiked to the top of the falls.
It’s a nice moderate hike to the top of the falls. It’s not that long (about 2 miles total roundtrip) but it is a steep paved ascent. Make sure to pay attention the the switchback trail #’s (I think there were about 11) as there is an easy to miss sign to make a sharp right to the top of the falls vs. continuing on the trail to other hiking trails/falls. It took us about an hour to get up from the base of the falls. Most of the tour buses come around 10 am so I’m glad we were able to enjoy it before other tourists came.
After our hike, we drove to Hood River for lunch. Hood River is about 30-40 minutes away and it’s a cute town. We had brunch at Bette’s Place, which is a cute diner. You can get fresh crab dungeness benedict, which was pretty fresh (bits of shell but thats’s ok!) and it was a good portion. I’m glad we had a big meal though as our next hike was quite long and needed the energy for it! The town is very small and apparently lots of places to have wine or dine out but we didn’t have time.
We drove towards Bend via the Mt. Hood Scenic Byway. If you want, you can also stop at the famous resort that was used for the Jack Nicholson movie The Shining. My friend has been before and I didn’t care much to see it so we skipped it. We decided to check out Mirror Lake trailhead, just to do a hike around Mt. Hood. Driving there was beautiful!!!
However, once we got to Mirror Lake trailhead, the sky was cloudy and we basically did a very long 4 mile roundtrip hike up to 600 ft. elevation to be greeted with this dreary view above! Sooo for us it wasn’t worth it at all. We were already tired from the falls hike and this definitely was a quad/glutes killer! The hike was easy to follow but very much in the woods and dirt. A great workout, but wasn’t memorable at all otherwise for us! We arrived here around 2 pm from Hood River, left by 4-4:30, and got into Bend and checked into our hotel by 6:30 pm.
LOGE was really cute and stylish and I enjoyed sitting outside by their electric fires but the beds were not very comfortable. Despite being so sore and tired from our hikes, I didn’t sleep well here. But I loved the location, aesthetic, and everything else!
Day 3 Recap: After waking up with super sore legs and grabbing coffee, we headed over to Newberry Volcanic Monument Park, which is a short 15 min. drive away from Bend. Our plan was to hike up to Lava Butte but when we arrived at the gate, the ranger told us we also had the option of driving up to the top so we did just that given how tired our legs were from the day before! They only allow a certain # of cars since it’s a small parking lot at the top but all you need is 30 min. up there. The views are great and 360 all the way around. We saw Mt. Bachelor amongst other mountains in the area.
After Lava Butte, we drove back down and took an easy trail around the volcanic rock area. It was a nice loop and only about a mile around. After the hike, we drove into town to explore Bend and at lunch at The Lemon Tree. Super cute place and highly recommend for brunch! Service was so friendly and sweet and it just had really cute cultural vibes and the food was good and fresh.
In general, I LOVED Bend. I’m not big on American cities outside of New York where I grew up, but I thought Bend was so cute, a great mix of style, culture, and the outdoors. Downtown Old Bend (where The Lemon Tree is) had tons of shops and places to eat and walk around. Old Mills District was also very nice to walk around. Even though it holds a bunch of commercial shops you know, it didn’t have that big commercial feeling to me as most other suburbs or cities might. Maybe because of all the parks and greenery around but I loved the vibe of Bend and healthy options. We also had amazing kombucha by Happy Mountain Kombucha. The melon is the best flavor and tasted like healthier version of ginger ale. We discovered it accidentally by having dinner at Active Culture Bend, which is a vegan/vegetarian place with amazing salads and other healthy options. It’s a very casual family friendly and chill place.
In the evening, we went for a walk by the Deschutes River Trail, which connects into Old Mills District. It’s a beautiful park and you can also see beautiful multi-million dollar homes that are btwn the park and the shopping area. We also saw deer eating/roaming around.
Day 5 Recap: When I was planning this trip, I kept seeing so many recommendations to visit Smith Rock State Park and I had no idea what was the fuss but now I get it. This park is small but gorgeous! It reminds me of what Horseshoe Bend (in Arizona) would be like if you could walk through or around it. It is MUCH more beautiful in person vs. pictures.
Before I get there, I also wanted to mention I did a morning hike at Pilot Butte, which is in the middle of Bend and popular with the locals. It was very similar to Lava Butte, but no driving to the top. The views were very similar and it’s a good hike up a paved road if you want it but nothing special unless you just want more 360 views of Bend and the surrounding vistas. It was nice if you have time for it. It’s like a mile up and back and I spent about an hour and change here.
After checking out of the motel in Bend, we drove over to Smith Rock and parking was pretty full by the time we arrived at 11 am! I wish we got here earlier but we lucked out and found parking near the entrance. There is a big parking lot you can pull into or try your luck on the main road. The visitor center and bathroom facilities are small but available.
There are a lot of hiking trails you can take but since we were short on time, we only stayed a couple of hours and walked the ones closest around the river. We saw a ton of people rock climbing and enjoying this beautiful park. Pics don’t really do it justice, it was more breathtaking in person! The walk down to the river is quite steep in some parts but not impossible. Most of the trails are paved.
I wish we had time to stay longer but we had a long drive from here to Salem. After this park, we headed to Sisters for lunch and came across High Camp Taphouse, which was such a treat! It was featured on Guy Fieri’s Diner’s, Drive-In’s and Dives in 2023 (which we didn’t know until we arrived). It’s owned and operated by a family who emigrated from Nepal so it’s all Nepalese food. Everything was so yummy and well cooked! We asked why they chose to live here and it’s because they wanted to “follow the mountains” and it reminded themselves of home.I had the curry chicken and onion rings and it was delicious!
After lunch, we drove straight to Salem and the drive was just so pretty. We checked in Best Western Plus Mills Creek and had dinner in downtown Salem. Salem was the least appealing city/town on our trip but we enjoyed the comfy beds of Best Western, especially after not sleeping well at LOGE. They also offer breakfast in partnership with Denny’s, which is right next door.
Day 6 Recap: I initially wanted to go to Crater Lake during this roadtrip but we abandoned the idea given that not all the roads were open yet. So we decided to swing back to Portland via Salem and go to South Falls at Silver State Park instead. I thought I’d be bored of seeing so many waterfalls but I really enjoyed this place!
South Falls Silver State Park is about 35-40 minutes from Salem and has a bunch of trails and waterfalls to see. I think most of the other falls are on the north side of the park and we were limited on time so we only went to see the South. We got here around 9:30 am and there was a ton of parking. I’m glad we came early as it got very full by the time we left around 10:30 am. The South Falls is very close to the parking lot so not a lot to walk (which is what we wanted) but you can walk behind the falls which was so lovely! Another motivation to come early is to take a ton of pics without people ruining your view!
So may I present…all the different angles of South Falls :)
It was so nice to be able to walk behind the falls and see it at various angles! It also felt very intimate since we got here early. I really enjoyed this place but we didn’t stay longer because we wanted to drive over to Cannon Beach, which was about a 2.5 hour drive from here. I’ve loved the movie the Goonies since I was a kid so I was obsessed with seeing at least Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach. The movie was also filmed in Astoria but that was too far for us to get to if we had to be back in Portland for the evening.
The weather was gloomy when we arrived but it was still nice to see the vast wide stretch of sand (where they also filmed the opening scenes of the Goonies with all the monster trucks racing!). We spent about an hour walking up and down the beach. Lots of other tourists were around and we were lucky and found local street parking nearby. There’s also a public restroom near the public parking lot. The drive from Salem to Cannon Beach was very pretty and made the hours fly by. Driving back to Portland took about 90 minutes and we checked into Residence Inn in the Pearl River District, which was nice but didn’t love that parking valet cost so much! For dinner we ate in the Nob District (where we stayed at the beginning of the trip) at Top Burmese, which was very good.
Day 6 Recap: On our last day in Portland, we had breakfast at the hotel and then decided to check out Washington Park, which is a massive park on the hilltop of the city! I wasn’t expecting it to be as huge and nice as it was. How lovely it is to have so many hiking trails in the middle of the city! I definitely would have explored it more but wanted to also stop by Mississippi Avenue in Portland so we only stayed about 90 minutes.
Mississippi Avenue is another walkable shopping area of Portland. It’s very cute and I would recommend spending an hour here if you have it. After strolling here, we had pizza at Life of Pie, which was good but Ken’s was better (but closed on Mondays). Overall it was a great long holiday weekend trip of nature and food and would definitely go back sometime!
