Price winner of Portland

What a night out and a coaster can give you!

Winning a trip to America after a regular night out, is that really possible? We took the risk and brought a couple of coasters with a price competition on it with us. A couple of weeks and festivals later we got a phone call with the question; ‘did you have a good day at Dorst Festival? ‘We sure did!’. ‘That’s great to hear. The reason why I’m calling is this, you’ve won the Portland price contest’!. ‘Really? Is this a joke? No? Wow!’. Yes you can really win something after just a night out. Let’s go to Portland, Oregon.

foto portland winnaarPicture FLTR: Vincent van Leeuwen (BuroSix), Marijke de Vreeze (price winner), Christian Clerx (Zapper PR) and Jan Feenstra (Delta Airlines)

After receiving the actual price we started to realize that we were really going to travel to Portland, and everything would be taken care of. How often will this happen? We’ve been living together abroad for six months two times now, but because of work we are not going on holidays together that often anymore. So that this came our way was amazing!

‘Portland here we come!’

On the 25th of February we flew to Portland. ‘We still couldn’t believe we have won this trip!’. We were so excited and couldn’t wait to start our 8-day journey. When we arrived at the hotel a special surprise package was waiting for us. In the plane we had a discussion about who took the backpack with us, but unfortunately we both forgot it. So it was a great surprise to find two backpacks at our arrival. ‘Travel Oregon’ said the text on the backpacks’. And to top it of, there were two bottles of wine from the Famous Beer & Wine Country! What a great start!

On our first days in Portland we just walked around and visited all the popular hotspots. Great walks, although every corner of the street holds a bike rental, which is really fun as well! Off course we got lost a few times, but luckily the people were kind enough to help us on our way. We’ve been to the biggest library, Powell’s Bookstore, with around 1.5 million books. For the most beautiful city nature we had to visit the Chinese Garden, Japanese Garden and the Rose Garden, so we decided to check that out. Unfortunately there were, because of the time of the year, no roses in ‘Rose Garden’. But from this garden you have an amazing view over the city, so that made things better. The price also included to dinner vouchers, so the first two nights we could go to dinner for free. Nice restaurants, with amazing food! Portland has a lot to offer in terms of restaurants and little bars, definitely bucketlist material.

The third day we could pick up our rental car and drove the ‘Scenic Byway’. We drove past a lake, surrounded by the impressive nature and waterfalls. You don’t know where to look, the nature is amazing. We also wanted to ski at Mounthood, but after all those miles we arrived a bit too late. Luckily we got the chance to take a look around at the ski slope. There was a lot of snow, but luckily our 4×4 got us through it.

Newport

After the beauty of Portland we drove further on the scenic highway past the coast of Oregon. There were beautiful cliff tops in the water and the sun was there as well. Our hotel in Newport was right at the beach! A luxurious room with a view over the ocean, a hike with the scenery of the coastline that didn’t seem to end, but nothing could stop us to spot a whale.

portlaaaand

Eugene

At Eugene we had a warm welcome with a bottle of wine. We had a cosy wine-tasting at Oregon Wine LAB, where we also had to try the bear-tasting. As non-beer drinkers this did not seem that attractive, but you have to do it when you are in Oregon. We really liked it and there were a couple of great beers there! That evening we had diner in an old train station that has been transformed into a restaurant; the Oregon Electric station. It was really good, with great service and spaciously designed. Around the area of Eugene there are multiple hike trails and hotspots in the middle of the nature. On our penultimate day we visited the McKenzie river and the Terwilliger Hotsprings. Pleasant, and definitely a must-see! The way to get some rest while you are surrounded by the beautiful nature. 

portlaandDo you want to fully enjoy an 8-day holiday in Oregon? Get up early, spend the entire day enjoying all the beautiful parts of the province and end the day with all the different beers and wines. ‘Thank you Travel Oregon, Festival DORST, Delta/KLM, Zapper PR & Buro Six. We had a wonderful time and made the most out of our 8 days in America!”

 

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