Immediately following Christmas, we headed north to Portland to spend some time in the PNW for my birthday.
We scored an awesome AirBnB in the Alberta Arts District in Portland, walking distance to great food and beer. We arrived in Portland during a serious cold snap, with a Christmas snow storm freezing throughout the city and leaving the roads very icy. Because of that, we didn’t venture too far out of the city our first couple of days in Portland.
Once the roads thawed out, we spent a day hiking and exploring Silver Falls State Park and the trail of ten waterfalls. Silver Falls State Park was incredibly lush and green, with the year round rain and moisture making the place look more like a rain forest than the typical pine tree forest. It was an easy hike that led to great water fall views, at one point the trail looped behind one of the falls for a really cool view looking out over the river with the water rushing right in front of you.
Later in the week, we took a day trip to the coastal town of Cannon Beach. It’s a sleepy, sea side community with wide open beaches and the famous Haystack Rock. The wind and rain slowly crept in as we explored the beach and we ran back to town to warm up with some clam chowder at Driftwood Restaurant and Lodge. Life changing stuff.
Other spots I would recommend in Portland:
