Head west for more sales-tax free shopping
By Jennie L. Phipps • Bankrate.com

The Pacific Northwest has lured many an adventurer, but today's travelers don't have to be Lewis and Clark to discover bargains. Head straight to Oregon, which doesn't charge sales tax, meaning the price you see on an item is the price you pay at the register.

One word of warning: Every state that has a sales tax also has a use tax. These laws are designed to collect sales tax on products you buy in a tax-free jurisdiction but "use" in your home, sales-tax-collecting state. Enforcement and collection of use taxes varies from state to state.

Central Portland offers a wide assortment of well-known retailers, but if you'd like something funkier, try the city's Pearl District. This former warehouse area is filled with art galleries, chi-chi shops and Powell's, the world's largest, independent bookstore. Powell's files new, used, hardbacks and paperbacks right next to each other on the shelf. It also has a huge inventory of out-of-print new books that sell for pennies on the dollar.

If you bring along a box of old books, Powell's will buy them for cash. The store, which is open 365 days a year, says it acquires an average of 3,000 books every day.

Portland's Saturday Market along the waterfront claims to be the nation's largest continuously operating open-air market for handcrafted goods. There are more than 300 craft booths, as well as an international food court and lots of live entertainment.

Down the street is Hippo Hardware, probably the country's largest architectural salvage operation. You can find anything from dismantled mansions to a whole roomful of mantelpieces to an array of doorknobs sure to match something that you own. These guys are amazingly organized pack rats and attract shoppers restoring old houses as well as those furnishing new abodes and who are looking for a matching hinge or a piece of chandelier. The prices aren't necessarily cheap, but you won't find anything else like it anywhere.

Outdoor enthusiasts can check out Andy and Bax, one of the nation's largest military surplus dealers. If you're looking for outdoor clothing, camping or boating supplies (military or otherwise) this is an economical place to find whatever you need.

You can try out your new gear at the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area that straddles the Oregon-Washington boundary just east of Portland. The river canyon, 80 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep, cuts the only sea-level route through the Cascade Mountain Range. You can hike, mountain bike, windsurf, camp, fish, boat, bird watch, picnic and rock climb or simply take a leisurely drive and enjoy the vistas, including several waterfalls.

If you're more of a city slicker, stay within Portland's boundaries and, during basketball season, catch the NBA's Trailblazers in action. After the game, toast the victory with a local ale. Portland is considered by many to be a craft-brewing mecca, with its first craft brewery housed in what once was a cordage factory that made ropes for turn-of-the-century sailing vessels.