Roadtrip advice needed: Portland and other areas!

Powell's Books and the Portland Saturday Market (if you time that right).

Never been to Portland? Then stay downtown. Depending on your budget, but all with Portland flair: higher end hotels (http://portland.heathmanhotel.com/, http://www.governorhotel.com/, or http://www.bensonhotel.com/), mid-range and funky Portland (http://www.mcmenamins.com/321-crystal-hotel-home), European-style guesthouse (http://www.pdxguesthouse.com/index.html), and youth hostel (http://nwportlandhostel.com/). While staying downtown, you can easily walk to Powell's Books and explore the Pearl District (lots of shops, incl. vintage, arty, etc.), and the SW Park Blocks (home to Portland State University, the Portland Art Museum, and Portland Saturday Market). You'll also be within walking distance of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Park_%28Portland,_Oregon%29. It's not so much a 'park' as a 410-acre nature preserve with attractions, including the Oregon Zoo, International Rose Test Gardens, and http://japanesegarden.com (the best one outside of Japan, and honestly inside of Japan, I'd say). My favorite not-well-known spot in the park is the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Holocaust_Memorial. And make sure to check out a http://beermapping.com/maps/citymaps.php?m=portlandor or two, or seven. Rogue, Deschutes, McMenamins, and Laurelwood are all good (I love Rogue's ales and Deshutes' food, though lately Deschutes' beers have been pretty impressive). http://www.macsbeer.com/ has a http://www.portlandbeer.org/events/#MacTarnahan%27s_Brewing_Co._Hosts_Scottish_Festival_Benefitting_Friendly_House with live music on Saturday, Sept. 8. A day of wandering the Saturday Market/Portland Art Museum, picking up provisions, then heading up to explore Washington Park and having a picnic looking down the hillside and over to Mt. Hood, then walking around downtown/Pearl District poking in shops and Powell's, and capping it all off with a pint and dinner at a brewpub would be an ideal Portland day to me.

Yes, I will be arriving in Portland Friday 9/7 and leaving Sunday morning 9/9, if that helps.

if you have an extra day, take the coast highway down to san francisco and LA from somewher in oregon. There will be hotels available in every town as the only dependable industry in a most areas is tourism (and pot). See the redwoods, the amazing bridges on the coast (most built during the great depression), drive across the golden gate and so on, its a great trip, and it takes about an extra day from going down (very boring) I-5.

In Portland, OR, I liked Powell's (and there's a really good chocolate boutique somewhere near their main store!), and the area around Chinatown and Voodoo Donuts. Personally, I enjoyed Eugene more than Portland, but that's maybe just me. Are you camping at all, or just looking for indoor places to stay? There was a really nice Washington State Park with a campground along the Columbia River Gorge -- something Rock? (It had a rock climbing area as well as a campground:P) One out-of-the way spot that I found on my road trip, that I hadn't heard of before and most people I've talked to hadn't heard of, but that was amazing, was the Ancient https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristlecone_pine Forest. There's one grove of these ancient trees near Bishop, CA (including the Methuselah tree: around 4,800 years old). There's another grove with some super old ones in Utah/Nevada area, I'm told.

Thanks, everyone! I'll be hiking and camping in Glacier, but otherwise staying in motels. bartonlong, I have explored the NorCal coast quite a bit- Sea Ranch in Sonoma County is one of my favorite places ever. And I definitely want to check out the Oregon coast too. I plan to head slightly north out of Portland to Astoria before turning south.