If you're going to get a hotel room, rather than like a Motel 6, you'd do well to probably get a couple roomies and hit up the con hotel. You can get a discount that way (I think we're getting $30 off when using the convention code to reserve a room). If you're gonna go the low-price motel style, you might want to do a search on Google or somesuch regarding the locations of those.
Another idea: Find out if where you are going has a mini-fridge. Coming from Alaska probably rules out brining a cooler, but if there's a fridge in the room, you can put drinks in there (water and/or juice are HIGHLY recommended), and thus save yourself money getting stuff outside of a supermarket. And the more food you can stash, the less you'll spend on $6+ fast food meals. Also, Oregon does not have sales tax - remember that.
PezCat