We had a nicely uneventful flight home, everything was on time and the flights were pretty smooth. We did take a really nice route past Mt. Hood as we were flying out of Portland and Katy took a couple really nice pictures. In the second one, you can see Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier in the distance.
Tomorrow: Back to work... :-(
Today we visited Washington Park, a huge urban park that includes the International Rose Test Garden, the Japanese Gardens, the World Forestry Center, and the Portland Zoo.
We started out at the Rose Test Garden, which is where they try out new types of roses and decide which earn the right to get an official name instead of just a number. As you can imagine, it's beautiful and peaceful (until 3 tourbuses of retirees show up), and smells wonderful. Luckily we were pretty much done wandering through it when they showed up.
Next we headed up to the Japanese Gardens, which is actually a collection of five separate Japanese Gardens -- the site is actually too large for a traditional Japanese Garden due to the typical landspace restrictions in Japan.
We had an extremely talkative guide that led us through the gardens, each of which was unique and serene. The flat garden was especially impressive -- the custodian that does the patterns creates them in solitude, with none of the guides ever having actually witnessed their creation.
Finally just before dinner we walked up to the entrance to Washington Park and saw the Lewis & Clark (who are all the rage here in Portland) Monument. As with virtually everywhere in Portland, the view was impressive.
You can see the rest of our pictures here.
Tomorrow: Airports, time changes, and waiting around!
We headed out bright and early for downtown Portland. The day was clear and cool, which was a nice change of pace from the somewhat overcast days we'd gotten used to.
We began our walk at Pioneer Square, and wound our way through downtown Portland. We explored the South Park blocks and headed north through Waterfront Park, which had a nice view of Mt. Hood. From there we walked through the Saturday Market with its wide variety of small shops selling everything from paper lamps to chocolate. Next up was Chinatown where we stopped at the Classical Chinese Garden, a nicely tranquil change-of-pace from the urban landscape.
We then walked through the North Park blocks and tried to find the 24-hour Church of Elvis, which we later found out had sadly closed a few years ago. At that point we were at the Pearl District so we grabbed lunch at a vegan cafe/yoga studio.
After our morning of walking we headed back to the hotel to watch the second half of the Ohio State game, which from what we gathered was the only half worth watching. Go Bucks!
Just before dinner we drove up to Council Crest Park and got a nice look at Mt Hood, Mt Ranier, Mt Adams, and Mt St Helens. Finally we headed back to the NW district and had a delicious dinner outside as the sun set.
You can see the rest of today's pictures here.
Tomorrow: Washington Park!
This morning it was in the 40s, cloudy, and windy. After consulting the weather, we realized the next two days were going to be beautiful, so we decided to do our indoor activities today.
We started off by heading to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. The museum had lots of amusing hands on activities, but due to a Star Wars exhibit that begins next month, quite a bit of the museum was closed for the installation of the exhibit. We saw a mediocre OmniMax movie on Greece, which I don't recommend. The highlight of the museum ended up being a tour of a decommissioned submarine, the USS Blueback, that was in service from the 1950s to the 1990s.
After spending the morning at the museum, the sun had come out and it had gotten quite a bit warmer, so we headed to the Pittock Mansion. It was built in 1914 by Henry Pittock, the driving force behind The Oregonian newspaper. The house had many innovative features such as a central vacuuming system and an intercom system. It is situated on a hill overlooking Portland, and the views are stunning.
In the evening, we headed to the trendy Pearl District for some window shopping and dinner.
The rest of today's pictures are here.
Tomorrow: More Portland!
We awoke this morning to find that we had quite the day on our hands -- windy, 40 degrees, and raining. We passed some time by eating breakfast at the lodge buffet and Katy got the biggest hot chocolate I've ever seen in my life. She should have brought her camera with her because no one will believe how big it was. It was huge.
The bright side of being stuck inside was that we were stuck inside at the Timberline Lodge, which is pretty much designed for being stuck inside. It's got lots of places to hang out and a warm (3 story) fireplace. It was built in 1937 by the WPA and basically looks like something straight out of White Christmas.
We bided our time reading but it didn't look like it was going to clear up any time soon so headed to Portland, never having seen Mt. Hood while actually on Mt. Hood, but we've been told it was actually there.
We're currently at our Portland homebase resting up for our 3-day city extravaganza. Our hotel is near one of the trendy neighborhoods so we're going to head out to find something for dinner.
You can see the rest of our pictures here.
Tomorrow: downtown Portland!
Today we conquered the Columbia River Gorge. Our first stop on the Columbia River Scenic Highway was the Portland Women's Forum Viewpoint. It was one of many stunning vistas we enjoyed during the drive.
The next stop was the Crown Point Vista House, which was originally built in 1916, and renovated this year.
Next, we had to take a slight detour as the Historic Highway was closed. After navigating the detour, we ended up at Bridal Veil State Park. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but it also had nice views of the gorge.
The busiest place on our Gorge tour was Multnomah Falls. Here, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Here are some of the "lesser" waterfalls on the trek:
Next we headed to the Bonneville Dam, where we had to pop our trunk to show we weren't terrorists. Unfortunately, the Power Station and Spillway were closed, probably because the terrorists have won. We did enjoy watching fish swim up the Fish Ladder and had a nice view of the Dam and Locks. We also were privileged to see a real live fish counter (human), who was providing commentary while counting each and every fish that passed through the dam.
After stopping in Hood River for a quick snack, we headed to Rowena Crest for yet another gorge-ous view.
That was the end of our gorge tour. We headed to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood for the night. It was very rainy and foggy when we arrived, so pictures of this magnificent building will have to wait until tomorrow.
See today's pictures here.
Tomorrow: Mt. Hood!
We started our day at the Tillamook Cheese Visitor's Center. The highlight of the self-guided tour was watching the machinery and workers on the production floor. The free cheese samples weren't half bad either. We also had ice cream at 9 in the morning. It's never too early for ice cream.
A mile down the road was the Blue Heron Cheese Company. There was quite a menagerie of animals outside, as you will see in our pictures.
We then headed out to the coast for the Three Capes Scenic Drive. We first stopped at Cape Meares, where a friendly group of inmates was doing work around one of the signs. There were short hikes to a nice view and a neat "Octopus" tree.
Next we headed to Cape Lookout. We started the hike out to the cape and had some nice views, but once we realized how steep the trail was becoming, we turned back to save our aching shins. As we climbed out, we passed the nice inmates who were headed down the same path. They were lightly supervised and carrying shovels, sledgehammers, and pickaxes, so having watched Prison Break the night before we mostly steered clear.
The last of the three capes, Kiwanda, was elusive. We found the town, but could find no signs for the supposed State Park.
Thus we began our long, but inevitable drive back inland. We stopped for a break in Salem, visiting the State Capitol. It was built in the 1930's, after the old Capitol had burnt down, so it was a very different style than other Capitols we have visited. It would have been nice to spend a little more time in Salem, but we did not have time in our schedule.
We headed up to Troutdale, the Gateway to the Gorge, to prepare for tomorrow's adventure. Our hotel is very unique, having been converted from a building that had been a Poor Farm. It has lots of artwork, a winery, a brewery, a golf course, and an amphitheater.
You can see today's pictures here.
Tomorrow: The Columbia River Gorge!
(Sorry this is delayed but the internet connection at last night's Best Western left much to be desired)
We started the morning with a delicious breakfast at the Columbian Cafe (which seemed to be run less by Columbians and more by Hippies than you'd think).
It started out rainy but cleared up as the morning went along, so we walked around town a bit and then visited the Columbia Maritime Museum and learned how mean the Columbia River is. "Graveyard of the Pacific" and all.
We headed up to the Astoria Column next, which involved climbing 162 steps to the top. Once we were up there and caught our breath, we enjoyed some views of Astoria and the surrounding area. Luckily it had mostly cleared up at that point.
Then we hit the road and grabbed lunch in Cannon Beach before hiking the Clatsop Loop Trail in Ecola State Park. After a bit of a hike, we ended up at the overlook, about which Meriwether Lewis said "I beheld the grandest and most pleasing prospect which my eyes ever surveyed".
Regarding the "bit of a hike" thing...we got to the base of the trail, at which point I noticed it was a bit uphill so I asked Katy if it was going to be uphill much. She starts reading from the guidebook "The Clatsop Loop Trail is a steep, 2 1/2 mile trail...". Twenty minutes later I discovered that the guidebook is prone to understatement. Imagine a ladder up a water tower. THAT's how steep we're talking.
(Chris is a huge whiner. - Katy)
Anyways, after a more enjoyable hike (downhill) back to the car, we headed off to the luxurious Best Western in Tillamook. You may laugh at "luxurious", but they were out of normal rooms with king beds, so they upgraded us free to a King Suite, which basically involves a couch, a 3-foot "wall", and two TVs that I could literally touch at the same time.
The dinner options in Tillamook left something to be desired (where something = a lot), so we drove a bit to Oceanside and had a nice dinner overlooking the beach at Roseanna's.
You can see more of our photos here.
After a homemade breakfast of Cranberry Buttermilk Pancakes with Fresh Nectarines, we headed out for Mount St. Helens. The day was cool and slightly overcast. Unfortunately, we never got to see the mountain entirely cloud free, but it was awe inspiring nevertheless.
Here a a couple of panoramic shots of the VOLCANO:
You can view more pictures here.
After fully experiencing the west side of Mount St. Helens (including 3 Visitor Centers!), we started the coastal portion of our trip by heading to Astoria, Oregon. We had a nice dinner at the Silver Salmon Grille and are currently trying to stay up later than we did last night.
Tomorrow: The North Coast of Oregon!
Okay, so we're actually in Washington for today, not Oregon. But you get the idea.
The traveling up to Portland was nice and uneventful until we tried to pick up our car, which was reserved as a run-of-the-mill intermediate car. Despite our "reservation", Hertz was out of intermediate cars, so they tried to pawn off a RAV4 on us. After we shot that down, they milled around trying to find a car for us until they offered to give us a Mustang, so we bit the bullet and took it:
We're now trying to stay awake until a reasonable hour at the Blue Heron Inn, which is quite nice. This is the view from our balcony:
And here's what the room is like:
We had some tasty pizza at Papa Pete's Pizza Parlor in the tiny town of Castle Rock. We're talking one-stoplight small.
Tomorrow: Mount St. Helens!
Yes, I know, I haven't updated in pretty much forever. All it takes is a victory in a #1 vs #2 college football game to wake me up!
Katy and I got some last-minute tickets to the game and cheered our Buckeyes on to victory last Saturday night. Here's a panoramic picture of the skull session before the game, which reportedly had over 6000 people attending!
(click picture for bigger version)
Also here's a small photo album of a few of the pictures we took!
