Take a day trip down the coast. Start out at all the cheese places (the Tillamook one is huge, not as fun as the smaller ones, I remember a brie place called Blue Heron maybe?). Buy some cheese and food for a picnic lunch. Drive down the coastal highway, look for whales and random places to park. All the beaches are public, so you can easily find hiking trails that lead down to secluded rocky beaches where you will be all by yourself. Have a picnic lunch. Stop for dinner in one of the amazing small harbor towns, we found a seafood restaurant that sold all local fresh caught seafood, you could see the name of the boat that caught it and find it out in the harbor. Watch the seals bark on the piers.

That was one of my favorite days around Portland, although we also did the waterfall hikes thing and my favorite hike when we hiked up to the glacier on Mt. Hood. Although we did that in the summer, I'd imaging now it's probably more like winter mountaineering up there so that might not be an option for you guys.