We spent a week in Portland after our Alaska cruise, using Marriott points for the hotel (the full cost breakdown is in our Portland to LA on points post). Portland surprised us. Better still, it is a great starting point for two very different day trips: Mount St. Helens and the Oregon coast.
Vancouver to Portland
We started with a short Alaska Airlines flight from Vancouver back into the US at Portland. It cost more than we expected: $723 for the two of us.
The new main terminal at PDX is beautiful, and its style fits the region well. It opened in August 2024 under a 9-acre mass timber roof built from wood sourced within 300 miles of the airport (ASCE). Walking through it feels like stepping into a Pacific Northwest forest.
We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel downtown. It cost over $60, and we sat in traffic long enough that the MAX train would have been faster as well as cheaper.
Know before you go
- TriMet's MAX Red Line is the budget option: $2.80 from the terminal to downtown, versus roughly $30 to $45 before tip for a taxi or rideshare (TriMet). The ride takes about 38 minutes (Travel Portland).
Portland: a week downtown
We stayed about seven nights at the AC Hotel by Marriott Portland Downtown. After a decade of bad press, we found a funky city with lots of restaurants and a very walkable downtown, and the Chinatown gate is worth a look on the way past.
Two things pushed our costs up: food and parking. Grocery stores were hard to find downtown, so we ate almost every meal out, and there are few truly inexpensive options there. Portland is also spread out. A car would have helped, but a rental plus parking would have eaten nearly our whole daily budget on its own. So we went car-free until our last couple of days, then rented for the two day trips below.
Our hotel brand didn't help. AC Hotels offer no elite breakfast, no parking perk and no club lounge, even with the Platinum Elite status that comes with the Bonvoy Brilliant card. The closest thing is a $10-per-person food and beverage credit that Platinum members can choose as their welcome gift (Frequent Miler). That was a sharp contrast with our Hyatt stays later in the trip.
Mount St. Helens
With the rental car, our first day trip was north into Washington to see Mount St. Helens.
On the way we stopped at the Cedar Creek Grist Mill near Woodland, Washington, to check it out. It turned out to be closed that day. We went on a weekday, and the mill's website lists public hours only on Saturday afternoons (1:00 to 4:00 at last check), so check before you plan around it (Cedar Creek Grist Mill). The mill was built in 1876 and is now a water-powered museum (Wikipedia). We walked the grounds anyway. The old wooden buildings are photogenic, and the covered bridge right next to the mill made a good photo stop.
Our first stop on the mountain was the Mount St. Helens Interpretive Center, run by Washington State Parks on Silver Lake. We skipped the paid exhibits and enjoyed the outdoor areas, which are nice and well maintained, and the photo spot is great. From there it was another 30 to 45 minutes up Highway 504 toward the mountain.
I knew the basics of the 1980 eruption, but being there is something else. We hiked the Hummocks Trail, which starts from a parking area right beside the gate where the highway is currently closed. Walking it, you realize a huge chunk of the mountain was blown across the valley, and the hills under your feet are pieces of Mount St. Helens itself. The scale is immense.
We didn't camp this time, but the area would make a great future trip.
Know before you go
- The Interpretive Center is about 5 miles east of I-5 at exit 49, connected to Seaquest State Park by a pedestrian tunnel (Oregon Hikers; WA State Parks). Parking requires a Washington Discover Pass, and the indoor exhibits charge admission; the outdoor areas are worth a stop on their own (Seaquest brochure).
- Johnston Ridge Observatory, the classic crater viewpoint, has been closed since a May 2023 landslide destroyed the only road in. WSDOT began rebuilding the bridge in April 2026 and expects to finish in fall 2026; the Forest Service then has to repair the observatory before it reopens (WSDOT). Check the current status before you go.
- The Science and Learning Center at Coldwater, Coldwater Lake and the Hummocks Trail remain open. A day-use pass is $5 per vehicle; the Northwest Forest Pass and America the Beautiful pass are also accepted (Mount St. Helens Institute).
- The Hummocks Trail is an easy 2.5-mile loop with about 250 feet of gain, right through the debris-avalanche mounds (Hike of the Week).
- There is no food or gas past Toutle, so fill up before you head up Highway 504 (Mount St. Helens Institute).
A Goonies day on the Oregon coast
The next day we kept the car and went on a Goonies adventure.
First stop was Astoria and the Oregon Film Museum. It sits in the old Clatsop County Jail, where the movie's opening jailbreak was filmed. It's worth a quick visit, but filming ourselves in the green-screen studio wasn't our thing, so we headed for the coast.
Next came Ecola State Park, where more of the movie was shot. The drive through the park is beautiful, and the viewpoint looks down on Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock, where the pirate ship hid in the film. From there we drove down to Cannon Beach itself, walked out to the rocks, and enjoyed a misty afternoon on the sand.
Know before you go
- Oregon Film Museum: 732 Duane St., Astoria. Admission was $6 for adults when Willamette Week visited in 2024, and the museum was planning a $10.1 million expansion.
- Ecola State Park day-use parking is $10 for Oregon residents and $12 for out-of-state visitors, and the permit covers any other Oregon state park that day (KPTV).
- Astoria is roughly 2 hours from Portland, and Cannon Beach about 30 minutes south of Astoria.
Details were checked in October 2026. Fees and closures change, so confirm before you go.
Next stop: the redwoods
From Portland we drove south for the redwoods: Driving the Redwoods and the California Coast. For what the whole trip cost, see Portland to LA on Points.