Tour to Portland

Ready to explore the back roads of southwest Washington and west of Portland to the coast? Join us for our next tour to the Rose City August 13 and 14. We’ll head out bright and early Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. from our gracious hosts location at BMW Northwest, 4011 20th Street E, Fife. (This is a different starting point than we had in the original tour information.) Please plan to be there at 8:00 a.m. for the drivers’ meeting. If you went on our trip to the Gorge last year, you’ll remember some of these roads that took us all the way out to the Columbia River crossing at Astoria. This year we’ll head back from the coast and work our way through some of Oregon’s best twisty roads and end up in downtown Portland for an overnight stay in the city of bridges. Our scenic drive to Portland will include the best of ocean and mountain vistas. If you’ve ever made the trip to Portland on I-5, you know that it’s perhaps the most boring drive in the state. Our remedy is this trip, though a little longer to get there, which is much more challenging! For example, we saw deer at four different locations and at one of these places we had to slam on our brakes to avoid hitting one. By the time we get to Astoria, where the Columbia rolls into the mighty Pacific, you’ll wonder why Lewis and Clark would turn around and return to the Midwest. What were they thinking? Hotel reservation can be made. You are now able to make reservations at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower! For easy online booking, simply go to the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower website at www.portland.hilton.com and enter the three letter code: PUG into the Group/Convention Code box as you are making the reservation. This will allow you to book directly and secure the negotiated rate of $202 single/double for king or two double bed rooms in the Executive Tower. You may also call 1-800-HILTONS and speak with a reservations agent to book a room. In order to receive the group rate, reservations must be made by August 1, 2016. Please note we have a limited number of rooms at this negotiated rate. My wife and I stayed at the Hilton after we finished the pre-drive and were very comfortable. The hotel is located in downtown Portland and has many great restaurants and shopping opportunities. That and everything else Portland has to offer should allow us plenty of places to swap driving experiences over a tall cool one and great meals. Please RSVP to Phil Sanders at at philsand@comcast.net