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During your Portland vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
World Forestry Center Museum
Although Oregon depends less and less on the timber industry with each passing year, the World Forestry Center Museum is still busy educating visitors about the importance of our forest resources. Step inside the huge wooden main hall and you come face to bark with a very large and very lifelike tree. Press a button at its base and it tells you the story of how trees live and grow. In other rooms you can see exhibits on forests of the world, old-growth trees, a petrified wood exhibit, and a rain forest exhibit developed by the Smithsonian Institution. There are also interesting temporary exhibits staged here throughout the year, from photographic exhibits to displays of the woodworker's art.
24-Hour Church of Elvis/Where's the Art?
This is Portland's longtime temple of kitsch, the city's most bizarre attraction. Coin-operated art, a video psychic, cheap (though not legal) weddings, and other absurd assemblages, interactive displays, and kitschy contraptions (such as the Vend-O-Matic Mystery Machine with whirling dolls' heads) cram this second-floor oddity. As celebrity-spokes-model/minister S. G. Pierce says, "the tour is the art form." If you pass the customer test, you can even buy a Church of Elvis T-shirt. Great fun if you're a fan of Elvis, tabloids, or the unusual; and if you've seen Elvis anytime in the past decade, a visit is absolutely mandatory.
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)
Located on the east bank of the Willamette River across from the south end of Waterfront Park, this modern science museum has six huge halls, and both kids and adults find the exhibits fun and fascinating. This is a hands-on museum, and everyone is urged to get involved with displays, from a discovery space for toddlers to physics and chemistry labs for older children. Simulated earthquakes and tornadoes are perennial favorites. There's plenty of pure entertainment at an OMNIMAX theater and the Murdock Sky Theater, which features laser-light shows and astronomy presentations. The USS Blueback submarine (used in the film The Hunt for Red October) is docked here, and tours are given daily.Between mid-June and late September, Samtrak (tel. 503/653-2380), a small open-air train, runs between OMSI and Oaks Park Amusement Center. OMSI is also the departure point for several different boat cruises up and down the Willamette River.
Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel
Nearby Airport:* Portland International Airport - 1 MileNearby Cities:* Troutdale - 10 Miles* Vancouver - 10 Miles* Clackamas - 11 Miles* Gresham - 11 Miles* Camas - 12 Miles* Oregon City - 15 Miles* West Linn - 15 Miles* Beaverton - 16 Miles* Milwaukie - 16 Miles* Washougal - 16 Miles* Tigard - 18 Miles* Lake Oswego - 20 Miles* Sherwood - 26 Miles* Hillsboro - 29 Miles* Wilsonville - 30 Miles* Estacada - 34 Miles* Longview - 48 Miles* ...
Hotel Monaco Portland-A Kimpton Hotel (formerly 5th Avenue Suites)
The Hotel Monaco Portland is located at the corner of 5th Avenue and Washington - just 5 blocks from the Waterfront and in the heart of downtown Portland's shopping, dining, entertainment and business district. One block away is Portland's Pioneer Courthouse square and access to Max, our convenient light rail system. Pioneer Place Mall is located one block away and has 70 specialty shops. Close to several theaters, Portland's Art Museum and restaurants. Red Star Tavern and Roast House ...
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