We spent 3 nights here and stayed at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel – a MUST STAY!

They have amazing custom service, and an INCREDIBLE lobby bar, The George, and it’s a very easy walk to Public Market. The rooms are basic, but great…we spent most of our time in the common space anyway.

1) The George – go for breakfast or dinner.  They have AMAZING seafood & cocktails.

2) Olympic Bar…one of the prettiest bars I have ever seen, and there’s a fun speak easy in it too, The Founders Club located behind a bookshelf!!

3) Le Panier  for morning coffee, French pastries and jambon sandwiches!!!  There is a constant line, but it’s totally worth it!

4) Pike Place Market is fun to walk around and see the throwing fish, flowers, the gum wall, etc.  But there’s LOTS of people, which is not our scene, so we didn’t do much of this at all.

5) We took a day to drive out to Whidbey Island and did the Naval base, crabbing in the bay and cooking said crab for dinner that night.  This was a day we will never forget.  You MUST do the islands of any sort when staying in this area – there was INSANE seafood everywhere we went.  The crab is to DIE for!

6) Drive up to Local Tide – their counter service is PERFECTION and the food was to die for (we did lunch here one day & then Theo Chocolate factory for dessert)!  It’s in the Fremont district, with lots of shops and fun restaurants/coffee shops.

Overall we enjoyed it, but it is so sad to see the streets overrun with people living on them.  We never felt unsafe…but it’s really sad.

We did 2 nights here, and honestly, it’s such a sad downtown.  You can tell it was amazing about 5 years ago, but not what we had hoped for at all.

We stayed in The Nines and it was an amazing hotel with a yummy restaurant and beautiful rooms.  Departure, the restaurant at the top of the Nines, was a fun experience with a beautiful bar overlooking Mt St Hood.

1) Multnomah Falls – make sure you sign up for the time slot to actually go on the hike (it’s a $2 parking fee and entrance).

2) Cannon Beach

3) The Willamette valley & the Columbia River valley are breathtaking.  THE MOST INSANELY HUGE rivers I have ever seen!

4) Powells Books is THE LARGEST bookstore I have ever seen.  It takes up the entire city block – Joe spent hours here!

5) Jakes Grill – THE BEST salmon we have ever had.

6) Take some scooters to Scotch Lodge!  100%.  It’s a total speak easy…you can’t even tell what door to walk through, then you go down the stairs and find yourself in a 1920’s secret bar with EVERY SINGLE KIND OF SCTOCH, WHISKEY and creative cocktail you can imagine.  We sat at the bar, which I highly recommend – the bartender was so fun.  Joe had the best time hearing all about what scotch to try with the kinds he likes/doesn’t like.  They had IT ALL…even ones no longer “buyable” or in stock. (Obviously not for kiddos…Joe and I went on a date night here.)

This is a MUST SEE.  It’s in the middle of nowhere and was so hard to make happen, but I’m SO glad we did.  It’s beyond what I thought it could have been.  AMAZING hikes and NOT very crowded at all.

We rented an Airbnb that was incredibly secluded just north of Klamath Falls where the boys got to swim in their private lake, canoe, and play with their dogs.  (They do live next door, but are so easy and kind.)

We drove into Klamath falls and had dinner at Thai Orchid Café…yup…Thai…in the middle of nowhere…and it was AMAZING!

We drove down from Portland and stayed for 3 nights at an Airbnb in Northstar resort.

A couple takeaways:

If we ever go again we will stay in Incline Village on the Nevada side on the lake.

The Nevada side is so much less crowded and pristine feeling.  The California side is SO crowded and too touristy for us.

1) Hike to the bottom of Emerald Bay – the view from the top is breathtaking and the hike to the bottom is intense and fun.

2) Hike up to The Ritz on the Northstar ski slopes.

3) Visit Truckee – cute town…not what I expected, but cute, and there’s fun shopping.

MUST eat at Moody’s – we did it two nights in a row and it was so good!

Ice cream at the Little Truckee ice creamery truck.

4) Drive around the lake and get the feel for the different towns.

5) If you want to, gambling is super fun and easy.

6) Jet skiing on the lake.