Has anyone been to Portland?  My teenage daughters and I will be going with my husband there in August--my husband is attending a conference.  We plan to rent a car for the last couple days and maybe drive to the coast.  What is there to do and see in Portland?  Have any of you been to the coast?  If so, what town would you recommend to stay?

driven through Portland, never really stopped or stayed. I'm wondering if they have a tourism website where you can find some of this info? Driving along the Oregon Coast is beautiful & there are lots of places to stay but during the summer months, it's very busy so places may be already be booked. Several years ago we were driving through on the way back from California & every place had a 'no vacancy sign', so if you want to stay you should probably get on it. 

While you wait for some responses here,take a look at the official state of Oregon website.

http://traveloregon.com/

I also like to go to Frommers travel site.Lots of well-seasoned travellers there who may be able to help out.

www.frommers.com

head for the coast ....you will never want to leave. smiles

you'll probably want to be in the north-coast area perhaps around Seaside or Cannon Beach - no further south than maybe Newport.  Of course driving down the  the coast further is very scenic but you don't want to be seeing it all from the inside of the car.  Seaside is very busy and family oriented but does have kind of a kitschy-Coney-Island atmosphere.  I too wouldn't wait any longer to make reservations - unfortunately I can't recommend much myself because we always camped.

For Portland - does your family like history?  If so, don't miss the End Of The Oregon Trail Museum - it's in one of the outlying suburbs but easy to get to by car.  You might also want to consider the Spirit Of Portland river cruise excursions - very scenic.

Two things I love about visiting Portland: their brewpubs/beers (some of the best craft beers in North America -- and I'm a very loyal BC beer fan!), and their food carts. If you're with your teenage daughters it might limit your ablity to to enjoy 1, but you can definitely check out 2. Portland has probably the best and most varied collection of food cart anywhere. Check out this web site for a listing and a handy map of the key locations.

Seriously, you could eat every meal while you're there off a food cart and never eat the same thing twice.