About a 10 minute walk uphill from the International Rose Test Garden is the Japanese Gardens.   There’s an entry fee (less than $10).  The garden doesn’t take up that much space – it’s fairly compact.  It took us less than an hour to wander around.  Of course, we had just come back from Asia, ... (read more →)

We visited the International Rose Test Gardens in Portland.  Getting there was easy with a car, but would have been a little difficult on public transportation – (the last bus you have to take is on an hourly schedule).
The rose garden is free.  There is a loaner map you can get at the gift shop, ... (read more →)

We were looking forward to the arts and crafts Saturday morning market, but we ended up being a little disappointed by it.  There is a lot of kitschy arts and crafts on display, but there wasn’t that much that we felt was truly local.  The prices were on average pretty high, and haggling wasn’t being ... (read more →)

We enjoyed our time in Portland.  We were happy to be staying in downtown, as the downtown area is very pretty, with lots of restaurants, great shopping, and a picturesque riverfront walk.  There’s cruises along the river, and speedboat trips are also available.  There is great public transit throughout the city.  The downtown core is ... (read more →)

We walked from downtown to the Pearl district.  It wasn’t the most pleasant walk, but once we got there we enjoyed the shopping and wandering.  It looks like a residential area, but has lots of interesting shops to wander around – from chain stores like Crate and Barrel, to more local crafts stores, to furniture ... (read more →)

When we researched where to stay cheaply in Portland in August, we found that there were seveal motels near the airport in the $60 range.  Even though there is excellent public transit, we weren’t too excited about staying half an hour (on public transit) from downtown.  We decided to try our luck on priceline.  We ... (read more →)

We wanted to stay for a night on the oregon coast, in a hotel overlooking the ocean.  Most properties like this are pretty expensive, even during weekdays.  The Windereme Motel was more reasonably priced, at $120 a night during the summer.  We were staying in the top story of a two floor house, with an ... (read more →)

About 10 minutes off the 101 is the Brandy Peak Distillery.  This is a small family-owned business, and they offer tours and tastings for $5 a person.  The tour took about 15 minutes, where they gave a good explanation of how brandy is made and showed us the equipment and process they use.  The tasting ... (read more →)

On our way up the coast to Oregon, Eureka made a logical stopping point from the Bay Area. We tried to use Priceline to get a good price on a room but were unsuccesful. The choice hotels 800# actually got us the cheapest room in Eureka – a surprising $65 for a forgettable motel in ... (read more →)