My wife and I visited the Oregon coast a couple of years ago. Flew into Portland and rented a car. The traffic in and out of Portland was horrendous, about as bad as I've seen anywhere.
Other than that, we had a great time. My advice would be to find a different way to get there, avoiding Portland. And that's not even considering the current political mess.
Ever fly into Seattle, lol?
PDX is a great small /medium airport and is outside of downtown Portland.
In fact, you can be in the gorge in 45 minutes - rush hr not withstanding.
Cross the 205 and take the Washington side.
