West - Pacific NW in November?

Hi all,

Mr Saint_Em and I are looking to burn a few of our bmi miles (seems like there's a lot of it about!) and head to the US/Canada for a couple of weeks in late October/early November this year.

We'd like to visit the Pacific NW, particularly Vancouver, BC, Seattle and Portland before finishing off with a couple of days in Vegas. I think we'll have about 2 weeks in total, with probably 3 of those saved for Vegas.

I think I like the idea of this part of the US, but I'm not sure about a few things.

Firstly, will the weather in November be just awful? We're Brits, so used to rain/cold/darkness, but we'd still like to be able to enjoy a bit of sightseeing. We've got some ideas for wet-weather activities (Boeing tour, Museum of Flight, etc), but are we going to find that, for example, we can't do wine tours out of Portland or that ferries/boats will not be running because of the time of year?

Second, we like beer, which is the main reason Portland is on the list (though we've heard very good things about it that don't all involve beer!). Is it still true that Portland is the place to be for microbreweries? Any other towns we should be considering?

Third, can we do this without a car? Looks like there are decent public transport options in the cities themselves and Amtrak links them all together, but would a day or two with a car mean we can do more, i.e. would it be worth doing a couple of days from Seattle with a car to visit Boeing and maybe the coast or one of the National Parks? Again, will it being November affect this? I don't really want to drive in snow.

Another thing - we're hoping that this trip will tie in with the election. Any suggestions for where we might spend election night? I guess we want somewhere fairly lively with big screens showing the results coming in, I don't know how much of a big deal bars, etc, make of it.

If it helps, we like transportation and industrial history (so planes, trains, old mills, docks, etc), local beer and food (and not fine dining, I mean everyday food - diners, food trucks, big ice creams, that sort of thing). We're not really into art galleries or shopping and we like sport (watching mainly). In terms of active-ness, we like walking but we're not 'hikers' really, and snow sports aren't something we've ever done.

Obviously award availability will dictate this trip to an extent, and we may need to back-track if we can't find a flight from PDX-LAS, for example.

Any advice/suggestions much appreciated.

Firstly, will the weather in November be just awful? We're Brits, so used to rain/cold/darkness, but we'd still like to be able to enjoy a bit of sightseeing.The weather up here can be a crap shoot any time of the year but October is usually very nice (my favorite month actually) and early November is OK. Yes, it may rain but unlikely to be the endless gray days we get in Dec/Jan.

Fall (autumn) colors are best around that time too.

Third, can we do this without a car? Looks like there are decent public transport options in the cities themselves and Amtrak links them all together, but would a day or two with a car mean we can do more, i.e. would it be worth doing a couple of days from Seattle with a car to visit Boeing and maybe the coast or one of the National Parks? Again, will it being November affect this? I don't really want to drive in snow.You'd have to be very unlucky to experience snow that time of year, providing you don't intend to drive up or over any mountains. I'd rent a car otherwise you'll spend a lot of time trying to get around by public transport; it looks 'decent' but in reality it's somewhat of a time-consuming ordeal outside the cities.

Thank you for the reassurance re. the weather. We won't be there any later than mid November I wouldn't have thought so hopefully it won't be too bad.

I think having a car for a few days will be useful - we will want to get to a supermarket or two to stock up on supplies to bring home at some point at least!

+1 on the weather being a crap shoot. Wally Bird is right to point out that late Oct-early Nov should be decent.

I'm based in Portland and can confirm that most if not all local wineries are open. Local brews are also the big thing in PDX these days as are the food carts. A wide variety of food choices scattered around a few blocks of downtown. PDX Saturday Market will be in full swing. Always a good way to spend a couple of hours.

You wight want to re-think the National Park visit. Most activities are limited after early September. Most in the PNW will be open but many roads may be closed.

PM me if you have any specific questions.

JRS

+1 jrsinpdx.

You're Brits....November weather - Noooo problem.
With your location listed as Newcastle my regards and thanks for handling ManU, 3-nil, always a pleasure to catch a thrashing like that.

Agreeing most emphatically with jrsinpdx - anything outside of the main-metro area is difficult with public transportation.


For a taste of home and to catch some football matches:
Seattle: George and Dragon Pub
Portland: Horsebrass Pub

For a taste of the Northwest:
A general offering for Seattle and Portland, that even most locals still enjoy are the McMenamins restaurants/pubs/hotels/theatres.
The McMenamins Hotel Oregon (south of Portland) offers overnight lodging paired with Winery tours, once a month and/or admission to the Evergreen Aviation Museum. Other facilities have overnight accommodations, theaters that show movies, along with concerts and stage plays.

For other siteseeing around Oregon with a car, there are 'covered bridges' that are not closely accessible but enjoyable if you're after some history and scenery.

There are plenty of winery/tasting rooms and breweries open for touring if you want that specific experience however, it is my opinion that there is plenty of variety in and around the city that you can hit a local event, catch local music and sites, and sample a wide variety of brews without putting many miles on a car.


Edit: Oh, about 'election viewing' - Whether in Seattle or Portland you'll likely want to wait until your arrival to determine where to view. The smaller-weekly-publications (Seattle=Tribune // Portland= Willamette Week or Mercury) will often publish various viewing parties, to include specific 'local candidate gathering locations.

.cj
YNWA

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

I'm afraid I'm from the other Newcastle...nearer to Stoke on Trent (you might know about Stoke City!), but I agree, it's always nice to see the underdog win!

The McMenamins places look great - I'll check out the hotels.

The McMenamins places look great - I'll check out the hotels.

Too much good food & drink (even non-fancy stuff as you wrote earlier) in town to waste any time eating or drinking at a McMenamins. If anything, maybe a movie at one of their pub-theatres would be interesting. I'd personally recommend the Bagdad on SE Hawthorne.

Too much good food & drink (even non-fancy stuff as you wrote earlier) in town to waste any time eating or drinking at a McMenamins. If anything, maybe a movie at one of their pub-theatres would be interesting. I'd personally recommend the Bagdad on SE Hawthorne.

Ok, thanks - the places look cool from their website, but if there are better places to try then that's that!

As ever award availability is not being our friend at the moment, but we will stick with it.

The weather here in early November is about like it is at home for the OP -- possible sunbreaks, but chilly and wet with weather moving in. Look for inside things to do if you come and don't bet the trip on lots of outdoor excursions or activities involving views and vistas.