Portland by train is possibly the best idea I could ever have had.  Kind-of.  Participating in the Travelocity ‘Go Seize the Summer’ challenge, I was given a credit towards travel with the family and tasked with a summer excursion.  As readers know, I like to do educational trips and was in a conundrum as to what to do.  My husband was away for most of August whilst climbing Kilimanjaro so I had a number of opportunities for the boys and I. In the end we decided on three nights in a Portland, Oregon hotel and we would pay for an Amtrak train and expenses ourselves.  Booking the hotel was simple.  We chose the city and dates, and I selected different options on Travelocity.ca to fit into our price range.  It was confirmed immediately and very easy to do.  (When I was contemplating a cruise for the same period I actually called and the customer service was very good as well.)  With a few hours of relaxation on the train, my boys helped put together this list of 12 tips for taking kids to Portland, Oregon.