5 Fun and Frugal Day Trips from Portland

Traveling to Portland is great (and our airport has been rated #1 for the 3rd year in a row by Travel + Leisure). There are so many things to do in the city and suburbs when you visit, but if you’re looking to get out and do something less “hustle and bustle,” you may consider a frugal day trip. You can have a great time on your travels by doing a bit of planning and even spend less.

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Multnomah Falls – An hour drive east of the city will take you the second highest year-round waterfall in the United States at 611 feet. The drive on I-84 is a beautiful one next to the Columbia Gorge. Once you arrive, you can park for free and then admire the falls from the ground. To get a closer view, you can hike to the bridge and take the obligatory photo. For those who are more adventurous and brought their good walking shoes, hike the remaining mile to the top of the falls to get a totally new point of view. After your exploration of the falls, have lunch at the Multnomah Falls Lodge, browse the gift shop, wander the visitor’s center or get a cup of coffee from the kiosk out front. There’s so much to do while keeping most of the money in your wallet.

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Tillamook Cheese Factory – Take a trip to the coast and make a pit stop at the famous Tillamook Cheese Factory.  Admission is free for you to take a self-guided tour and watch how cheese is made. Nearly one million people visit the factory every year, so you know it’s a great tourist attraction. Bring your camera, some comfortable shoes and your appetite, because the 30,000 square foot visitor’s center has cheese and ice cream to sample and purchase. Tillamook makes over 40 flavors of ice cream, but you can’t get all of them at the grocery store, so the factory is a great place to try any of them. Like what you tasted? Get a cone or buy an insulated bag to take any ice cream or cheese you loved back to your hotel. If you’re really hungry, The Farmhouse Café is on-site for actual meals. Hit up the gift shop for other fun goodies.

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Oregon Garden and Gordon House – South of Portland you’ll find Silverton. It’s home to the only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in all of Oregon. For $7 admission to the gardens and $5 for a tour of the Gordon House, enjoy both remarkable and historical architecture and a variety of plants and flowers. Multiple gardens are grouped together to form the Oregon Garden demonstrating the diversity of the plant-life in Oregon. The gardens also include gift shops, events, historical sites, activities and even a resort for those wanting to stay in Silverton and experience more that it has to offer.

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Hood River – Only an hour’s drive from Portland, Hood River sits right along the Columbia River Gorge. With beautiful views of Mt. Hood, you’ll also find plenty to do in and around this little town. The winds whipping through the Gorge provide ideal conditions for kite surfing and windsurfing and this area has become known as the Windsurfing Capital of the World. You can rent equipment for both activities – as well as for kayaking and sailing – take lessons or sit along the shores and watch others practice or even participate in windsurfing competitions. The area is also home to many orchards and vineyards. Spend your days wine tasting or picking fruit, such as apples, pears, cherries and peaches, or take a ride on the Mt. Hood Railroad’s scenic route.

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Cottage Grove – Oregon has no shortage of beautiful scenery, but a romantic drive through the country never hurts either. Two hours from Portland is Cottage Grove where you can drive the Covered Bridge Tour. This loop has six of Oregon’s historic covered bridges, which can be driven in a few hours. The route is open all year long and provides picture-postcard views. Stop for more historical architecture in the city of Cottage Grove, with buildings dating back to the 1920s, and a bite to eat if you haven’t packed a meal for your road trip.

Portland is a great family-friendly destination, as well as one for a couple’s getaway. Not only can you enjoy all the benefits of a metropolitan city, but also the desert, beach and mountains all within close proximity. It also a very budget-friendly destination if you know where to look. Want to know more cool things to do here? Check out my 48 Hours post.

How to Make Friends when Traveling Solo

Traveling alone doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be lonely. There are travelers and friendly people all over and if you want to meet them, you only need to seek them out and be open to new experiences. Don’t live your vacation life in a bubble. Get out and have fun while making new friends along the way.

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Solo travel has become very popular. People are leaving their lives behind and traveling full-time and just as many are taking relaxing getaways alone in order to have a little me time. If you’ve never traveled alone, it can be very freeing, since you don’t have to answer to anyone and can do whatever it is you want. Maybe you don’t have a travel companion and want to get out and see the world. Don’t let that stop you, because you’re never alone when you travel. Here are some ways to make friends while you’re jet setting around the globe.

Use Social Media

You use it for making friends around the world, asking for suggestions on where to have dinner and to discuss the latest episode of The Walking Dead, so why not use it to find people to hang out with when you travel? If you aren’t sure where you want to go, see where you have Facebook friends in cool places and message them about what they would recommend doing on your visit and suggest getting together when you are there. They probably would jump at the chance to show you their city and meet you in person. Turn those virtual friends into real ones!

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Hook up with friends’ friends

Just because you don’t have friends in vacation destinations doesn’t mean your friends don’t. Ask them if they have a friend, cousin or sister there that might be interested in meeting you. Chances are your awesome friends have equally awesome friends and family. Expand your social circle and maybe do a favor for your friend by delivering a gift for them. It’s almost certain that your friends will have talked you up and their friends will be psyched to meet you and possibly play tour guide for you while you’re there.

Volunteer

You like to do good deeds, right? “Voluntourism” is huge right now and it’s a great way to help people and travel at the same time. Join a group of volunteers anywhere in the world where you can do things like build houses, teach English or work on a farm. There are tons of ways to give your time and often you can stay and eat for free in exchange for your labor. You just need to come up with money to get there and back and for any outside activities you want to do while you’re there.

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Take a tour

Sightseeing all day by yourself can be fun. You can go at your own pace, see everything you want to see, stop to take as many photos as you wish or sit in the park all day watching people. Book a city tour and meet a bunch of like-minded people who are interested in the same things you are. Not all tours are created equal, so if you have taken one before and didn’t like it, try again. Walking tours are perfect ways to meet others and also get exercise while you do it. Make friends with your fellow tourists. It’s also a way to get some better photos of yourself at your destination.

Meetup

There are solo people everywhere. Use Meetup to find people who are interested in the same things as you are. Someone starts a meet-up and gathers fun people through the website to enjoy an activity. These can be locals or tourists or a mixture of both. It’s hard to be anti-social when you’re hanging out with a group of people who you have something in common with. Heck, you can even use Meetup at home, too.

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Invite for a Bite

Plenty of people don’t like eating alone. There’s no shame in that. There are only so many meals you can eat while reading the newspaper, surfing the Internet on your phone or doing a crossword puzzle. Getting take-out is an option, but wouldn’t it be more fun to have a dining companion? Log onto Invite for a Bite and find other solo ladies looking to meet for a meal. You can use it for other activities as well. It’s a safe and easy way to meet friends around the world and share your travel stories with someone. They may even be able to give you ideas on what to do next.

Sit at the bar

When you eat out alone, sit at the counter or the bar and talk to locals, wait staff and bartenders. It’s a great way to learn more about your destination, get suggestions for other good places to eat and maybe even find someone who would like to do it with you. You can really get a feel for a city by hanging out with people in local pubs and eateries. You’d be surprised how many people will strike up a conversation with you seeing you there alone. It’s definitely an easy way to meet people, since the most outgoing people sit at the counter.

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Take a class

Maybe you always wanted to learn how to make coq au vin or macarons. Maybe you want to learn the hula or how to make a traditional lei. Whatever sounds fun to you, there is probably a class you can take when you travel. It’s also another fab way to meet locals and even other tourists. You’ll be learning a skill you hoped to acquire and be able to chat with others doing it too.

Go all-inclusive

If you’re worried about being alone when you travel solo, surround yourself with people who are interested in doing similar activities by going to an all-inclusive resort. You’ll meet other travelers who enjoy being catered to and you can hang around the resort with them. This also works on a cruise. Because most ships have dining arrangements, you have the chance at talking to other cruisers at each meal. Find your table curiously empty? Your wait staff is thrilled to talk about real life with passengers. They might be from one of your port cities and, even if they’re not, it’s fun to exchange suggestions on what to do in your hometowns. Talk about your favorite TV shows and books, in case they are looking for something to do on their downtime. When away from the dining room, connect with others during ship activities like bingo, trivia, classes, alcohol tastings and even excursions on port days.

There are heaps of ways to make friends while traveling if you don’t want alone time. You just need to be willing to put in the effort or know how to meet like-minded tourists and locals. Make some new acquaintances or even lifelong friends just by having the courage to get out and do it on your own. Check out this article on Travel + Leisure for the best countries for solo travel.

Have you ever traveled alone?

Happy Independence Day

I hope you're all having a great Fourth. We're celebrating with friends and a good old fashioned luau. Here's an infographic with some fun stats about this American holiday:

Source: EasyFinance.com

Enjoy your freedom and the fireworks!