Daughter and son in law recently moved to Portland. Wife and I are just starting to plan an early July visit. Want to combine a few days, probably 3 full days touring by car by ourselves and 3 days in Portland with the kids. Need suggestions for sightseeing proximate by car to Portland. We love scenic driving trips (mostly in Europe; seen more of France, Italy, Portugal and United Kingdom than most natives) having just returned from a 600 mile “great coastal highway” drive from Connemara North and then East ending in Belfast, Ireland. My initial thoughts are the Columbia River Gorge (Mt. Hood) and the Willamette Valley, but other suggestions are welcome. This region is new to us. Would like to see Crater Lake, but my initial research tells me this is too far in the time allotted. Maybe next time. We are walkers, but not hikers. All suggestions, including Lewis and Clark historical sights are welcome. I am using the Travel Oregon web-site which seems very good. Thanks in advance.
The Gorge and Willamette Valley are both good choices. Crater Lake is nice but quite a haul.
Mt Hood and the surrounding national forest are also close to Portland and worth visiting. You could combine this with Gorge visit.
The northern part of Oregon Coast (Astoria to Lincoln City) is nice. You could combine this with Willamette visit, specifically Tillamook and Pacific City.
Central Oregon is great, including Bend, but you won’t have time if you do both the above. But if you skip Willamette and coast you could head there after Mt Hood.
Assuming you are looking for day trips out of Portland rather than an overnighter, and depending on how much you like to drive (it seems no problem per your description), one amazing all-day (long day) loop is heading out the gorge on hwy 84 to Hood River, then down hwy 35 among the fruit orchards and just east of Mt Hood until you hit hwy 26. Then south on that to Redmond, with stunning views of all the mountains. Then head west to Sisters. From Sisters, take the Old Mckenzie Highway (hwy 242) west. It is a winding, astoundingly scenic road through mountains and lava fields that is only open July-early October (aka the first snow). Then you can either go west to Eugene on hwy 126 and then up I-5 to Portland (not that scenic but sometimes faster), or north on 126 through Detroit and Salem.
Thanks to both of you. Will probably spend 2 nights on the road following suggestions above for Gorge and Mt. Hood and return, and then a day trip out of Portland to tour Willamette.
I’ll toss in a vote for spending some time in Central Oregon, maybe on your next trip out west after this one. Park yourself in or around Bend for a night or two. The high desert country of central Oregon is truly beautiful. After spending time in Portland or elsewhere in the valley, you won’t believe you’re in the same state, yet it’s only 3.5 hours away by car. Sunriver is a nice family vacation spot about 20 minutes south of Bend - fishing, hiking, golf, fresh air, very nice.