TX3758 checking in

[crazas]

Hello fellow troopers, my name is Luis, CO of the Costa Rican Outpost.
I'm planning to go to Wizard World Portland Comic Con next January.
Will be there from Monday 20th until the 27th with my wife (TX 3756) and our kids.
Any suggestions about hotels? What to do in Portland before the con? Never been in you territory before so every piece of advice will be really appreciated.

Thanx in advance

Luis Carazo

[stevo502]

Hi Luis!

That's awesome that you're coming up and looking forward to meeting you! There's a Red Lion Hotel right across from the Convention Center where WW will be, that's a good place to stay to be close to the con.

http://www.redlion.com/conventioncenter

It's also walking distance to a MAX (light rail) station that will take you downtown Portland to see things there. Will you be renting a car? That will be a factor in suggestions.

Hopefully more people will come up with some fun ideas, but we'll definitely work on it!

-steve
CO, Cloud City Garrison

[carpe mindiem]

We'll all look forward to meeting you! Wizard World will be a really good time.

If you are renting a car, you should have plenty of time during your visit to make a trip a little ways (30-40 minutes or so) east of Portland to Multnomah Falls--our state's tallest waterfall. Maybe if it's cold enough it'll be frozen over. It's really cool when that happens.   Powell's City of Books--a huge, city-block sized, multi-level, independent bookstore. If you like books at all, it's not to be missed. OMSI is our science museum that's fun for kids and adults. There are soooo many good places to eat around town. Give us an idea of what kind of food you like and we can make suggestions of what not to miss. And if you're a beer lover, you'll find breweries all over the place. Some of them also have theaters, so you can eat, drink, and watch a movie at the same time. There are lots of other great things to see and places to shop if you're up for walking around, but that'll depend on weather conditions.

[crazas]

Big thanx!!
I always rent a car so I think we'll be able to move around.
Will love to trade 501st cards, still have a couple of Costa Rica coins and even if I ran out of Outpost patches I have some of the new 501st Latin America patches.

As I wrote before, I'm from Costa Rica, tropical country, lots of rain but no snow, any chance to have some at Portland or any nearby place? (My wife and kids have never seen it)


P.S. any chance to troop with you guys at the con?

[David A]

MT Hood.... there should be snow there 60 miles from Portland....

[stevo502]

P.S. any chance to troop with you guys at the con?

Definitely! Watch our event planning section for January 2013, we will hopefully start full-on planning for this soon!

[crazas]

MT Hood.... there should be snow there 60 miles from Portland....

60 miles? That's close enough for me!! Thanks!

P.S. any chance to troop with you guys at the con?

Definitely! Watch our event planning section for January 2013, we will hopefully start full-on planning for this soon!

Steve : do I need 501st clearance to get into that section of the forum or is it public?


Edit: forget about that last question, I just saw my status has already been updated. Thanks!!

[crazas]

It looks like Red Lion @ convention center is already sold out, any other hotel suggestion?

[stevo502]

This one is also across the street:

http://www.innatcc.com/

[carpe mindiem]

Since you'll have a car, you're not limited to staying right by the Convention Center, either. There are lots of hotels in that area and even right across the river on the west side of downtown. What are your priorities? Do you want to be really close to the convention center, somewhere with Portland style, something that's affordable?

[Mosi]

I just booked the Red Lion for Friday and Saturday night so it looks like there is still room. It may not be a terrible idea to stay at a different hotel and then migrate to the Red Lion for the weekend of the con. Use COMICCON for a discount.

[Han_Solo]

Just a few more suggestions on where to go, Eagle Creek is a great hike and has a slew of waterfalls there. Very pretty. There's also both the Japanese Garden and the Chinese Garden in the local downtown area, those are not to be missed! All of this stuff is very inexpensive, and fun for the whole family. :)But if you could only go to one place, I'd go to Multnomah Falls. That's a pretty big tourist attraction.

[crazas]

It looked like the red lion did not have 5 ppl rooms avaible but I'm going to book 2 smaller rooms so problem solved.
Thanx for all your advise!!

Just can't wait until Jan to be there!!

[Aysel]

For snow, being January, you just have to drive up to the mountain, if it's clear at all you'll see a couple of snow covered peaks. If you have time at all on your stay, you should try to get to the beach as the Pacific Ocean is very different this far north, also the Columbia being the 5th largest river in the world and it's right there.

[crazas]

Everything's ready, airplane tickets, Red Lion reservation, car and Con tickets!!!

Looks like I'm really going to be there!!!!

i'll be arriving on the 21st, late the night, any suggestions about what to do on the 22-23rd? (One day I'll be going to the waterfall and looking for some snow but still have no plans for the other)

BIG THANX!!!!