Traveling to PDX

Flight

Portland Airport

If you are flying from out of town, you will fly into the PDX Airport! Its a great airport and only a 20 minute drive to most other places in the Portland area (including our house!)

Hotel

Where to stay

Please reach out to Jackie & Ben about recommendations or to double check your location before booking! Portland: If you book a house in Southeast you will be close to us. A few recommended neighborhoods for AirBnBs: Sellwood Neighborhood (you can get to the river easily from there!), Laurelhurst Neighborhood, Richmond, and South Tabor. For hotels we recommend McMenamins Kennedy School in Northeast or a hotel in South Waterfront. Really, most parts of Portland are great, there are only a couple places to avoid, see map for details. Hillsboro/Forest Grove: 45 minutes from our wedding venue. There are a bunch of hotels in Hillsboro (the ‘burbs) and McMenamins Grand Lodge in Forest Grove. You’ll need to rent a car.

Travel Note

Things to do

Sightseeing: Columbia River Gorge (a must see)- we will update with specific recommendations. You can drive to different spots to sightsee, look at waterfalls, or hike. There is a hop on hop off trolley. You can also rent a tour van to visit cool places in the Gorge! It’s about an hour east of Portland. Forest Park or Hoyt Arboretum- close to Portland and beautiful hiking Swimming Spots: there are community outdoor pools through Portland Parks and Rec at many parks, for the kids! You can swim at Sellwood Riverfront park but need water shoes or sandals with straps. For natural swimming spots nearby Portland, you can go to Dodge Park or Oxbow park to swim in the Sandy River- check website for up to date details and safety precautions for children. Trillium Lake is a little further but beautiful. It gets crowded so get there early- a family friendly spot. For any of the natural swimming spots it is rocky so you need to have proper footwear- water shoes or waterproof sandals with straps. Oregon coast: 1.5-2 hours west of Portland. Seaside and Canon Beach are popular spots! Ecola State Park has great hiking trails. Cape Kiwanda at Pacific city has a giant sand dune that you can climb up. Driving north or south on the coast is also a great way to check out a couple of spots. In Portland: lots of neighborhoods to check out! SE Hawthorne street- vintage shops, restaurants NE Alberta street NE Mississippi street Mt. Tabor park Waterfront Blues Festival is happening Thursday through Sunday Music- Laurelthirst Music Pub has free happy hour shows daily from 6-8 PM Restaurant recommendations- we will update!!

Rental Car

Rental car

Renting a car from Portland Airport is easiest if you are flying into PDX. We will list other rental car locations that work well. To get from Portland to Camp Cedar Ridge (in Vernonia) a car is needed as it’s a 50 minute drive from town. If you need to carpool please reach out to Ben & Jackie and we will try to help coordinate that! If you’re staying in Portland the rest of the time you can use a car to get around, rent a bike, walk or use public transit! There are tour companies that drive out to the Columbia Gorge for waterfall trips if you would prefer to not drive out there.