Rain Or Shine, Friendly Portland Great To Visit Indoors, The City Has Something For Any Guest

Look at an Oregon tourism brochure, and you’ll probably see a photo of Portland on a sunny day, with the Rose Gardens in the foreground and Mount Hood in the background, a frosty ice cube floating in a clear blue sky.

But since this is February, a more typical view would be a dense, wet, gray rain cloud 50 feet above your hotel window (after all, the 36 inches of rain that Portland receives each year have to fall sometime).

But Oregon’s largest city remains an appealing getaway in winter, even in the rain, with the added bonus that you don’t have to cross a treacherous mountain pass to get there. From Spokane, it’s about a six-hour drive to Portland, and the scenery - especially along the Columbia Gorge - is considerably more interesting than Interstate 90 between, say, Moses Lake and Ellensburg.

Portland is, in my opinion, the most visitor-friendly city on the West Coast. If you’re staying downtown, you can walk practically anywhere in the city center, without steep hills like those of Seattle and San Francisco. The Willamette River, which cuts through the city, offers restaurants, views and acres of green space along its banks. Downtown, you can find parking without too much trouble, or catch a modern trolley when your feet get tired.

Portland also supposedly has more restaurants per capita than San Francisco; true or not, this is a great city for dining out. And, unlike many larger cities which empty at 5 p.m., Portland always seems to have plenty of people on downtown sidewalks.

In short, it’s a beautiful city to visit when the sun is shining, and it’s still a great destination - even for kids - when the weather is lousy.

So here are some ideas for visiting on a weekend getaway, with the emphasis on indoor attractions to keep you out of the rain.

OMSI (1945 S.E. Water Ave., across the Willamette River from downtown; (800) 955-6674 or (503) 797-4000). This enormously popular museum, which relocated to a new building in 1992, emphasizes handson displays. Many exhibits change with the seasons, but there are always a wide variety of science-related displays (my daughters especially loved the earthquake room, which shakes for a few minutes).

There’s also an Omnimax theater, and guided tours are available for the USS Blueback, a 219-foot submarine moored in the river (it appeared in the movie “The Hunt for Red October”).

The Oregon Maritime Center and Museum (113 S.W. Front, along the river; (503) 224-7724). This attraction is a little gem, for two reasons.

First is the museum itself, with beautifully detailed models of ships that once worked Oregon’s coast and rivers, along with historical memorabilia. The second is its sternwheeler tug, the Portland, which worked on the Willamette from 1947 to 1981 and is now moored a few hundred feet from the museum.

Visitors can climb up to visit the officers’ quarters and small wheelhouse, or descend to the engine room and admire the steam-powered machinery.

Powell’s City of Books (main store, 1005 W. Burnside, (503) 228-4651). For book lovers, the presence of Powell’s - the largest new and used bookstore in the United States - is much more important than the city it occupies.

More than a million books are found on the premises (pick up a map of the store at the door; you’ll need it), covering every conceivable topic.

Powell’s also has branches at other locations, some covering specialty topics like computers, travel and cooking.

Also make sure to pick up Powell’s Walking Map of Downtown Portland (free), an excellent little guide to downtown shopping and visitor attractions. If you’re ambitious, it also outlines a seven-mile walking tour.

My only complaint about Powell’s is the lack of a safe place to park kids inside while their parents browse; younger children, especially, shouldn’t be left in the children’s section because it’s too easy to get lost in the main store.

The Oregon History Center (1200 SW Park Ave.; (503) 222-1741). This tidy museum has a nice selection of exhibits on the Oregon Trail, Native Americans and Northwest art, plus interactive video displays. Kids will enjoy the covered wagons and a selection of crank-start automobiles.

The Children’s Museum (3037 S.W. Second Ave., just south of downtown; (503) 823-2227). I didn’t evaluate this personally, but my two research assistants, ages 3 and 6, liked it a lot, and thought it was superior to the Children’s Museum in Seattle.

The museum features a variety of hands-on exhibits, including a clay shop where kids can make something to take home. There’s a special Baby Room of textures and adventures for infants, a grocery store where kids can play roles as shopkeepers or customers; and a Kid City Medical Center, where children can play doctor to their hearts’ content.

Portland is also a shopper’s paradise. The downtown core has a variety of specialty and department stores, and you’ll find an antiques row at the east end of the Sellwood Bridge (across the Willamette from downtown) along southeast 13th Avenue.

Also across the Willamette is the Lloyd Center (lots of free parking, or take the MAX light rail from downtown). Thirty years ago, this was the largest covered shopping mall in the world. It subsequently fell on hard times, but has received a $200 million renovation and now has about 175 stores. There’s also a covered ice rink, which is fun for kids or grown-ups.

The Nike footwear chain is based in a Portland suburb, and its entire line is featured in a store/museum downtown, called Nike Town.

This state-of-the-art shopping experience features the entire Nike line, with glitzy displays and plenty of sales help. You won’t find sale prices, but it’s a fun place to look, or to buy. (930 SW Sixth; (503) 221-6453.)

Also in the heart of downtown is Meier and Frank, Portland’s old-line department store. Founded in 1857, the flagship store at 621 SW Fifth Ave. still has nine floors of retail sales space, from china to fashions to furniture. Generations of Portlanders have met “under the clock” on the store’s main floor.

And if you get tired of shopping, but the skies are still leaking, consider a river trip on the Portland Spirit, which makes brunch and dinner cruises, usually around two hours, up the Willamette River from its downtown berth.

Prices begin at around $20 for adults; kids are cheaper. For information and reservations (required), call (800) 224-3901.

On a brunch cruise we sampled, the food was good, the music was competent, and even the weather cooperated: It stopped raining for a little while.

Portland has much more to see, of course: the zoo, great parks, neat hikes, scenic drives. But save them for another visit, maybe in July, when the sun is shining.

MEMO: A sidebar appeared with this story under the headline “About Portland.”