Oregon

Columbia River Gorge (east end)

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Our original plan for Sunday morning was to head to the west side of Mount St Helens.  However; after checking the weather report, it seemed like it might be a bit useless.  Overcast throughout the entire region for the whole day.  No matter, one of the greatest things about this area of the country is if you head an hour in any direction you’ll hit a different climate zone.  So that’s exactly what we did.  When we went out to the Columbia Gorge last we were a bit rushed and didn’t get a chance to check everything out that we wanted to.   This time we took I84 straight out the gorge and didn’t take any detours until we passed route 35 (the farthest out we made it last time).

Rowena Crest Panorama

We happened upon a few good viewpoints along the way (such as those at Ruthton Park) but our luck severely turned when we chatted briefly with a Ranger at the Twin Tunnels Trail.  She told us a little history about the road we were on and how the rest of it was closed to all but bikers and hikers (with a permit).  She then told us about an excellent viewpoint, called the Rowena Crest, coming up along the Historic Columbia River Highway and gave us directions.

Rowena CrestThe Rowena Crest is one of the best overlooks of the Gorge that we’ve seen.  To get there you start heading east and it gets drier and drier the farther out you go.  This makes for some dramatically different scenery.  This was perfect for today as it was overcast and damp in Portland.  Once we reached the Rowena crest, we spent a little while walking around the trails and getting shots of the curvy roads we’d have to take.  Then we headed back to Portland to visit with the Hamalainens and the new Heath family for one last get together before everyone headed home.  We only stayed for a short while before heading on to our next stop, Bend Oregon.

What little we saw of Bend was very pretty.  However; Bend was really only a halfway point for us to make the drive to Crater Lake tomorrow shorter.

Downtown Portland and 3 Things Everyone Should Know

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From a bicyclist somewhere along the Tom McCall Waterfront Park:

There are 3 things you need to tell everyone about Portland when you get back home

  1. Portland Sucks
  2. The Weather is Horrible
  3. The People are @$$ holes

Keller-FountainI don’t think I can agree with the 3rd one. We met several different people today and all of them were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met anywhere.

The Bicyclist – What he said was all in good fun, but it stems from a reality. Portland is a victim of huge population growth. It’s probably one of the reasons Oregon has one of the worst unemployment rates in the country right now. From what I understand, people from southern california and other places with high taxes (*cough* NY *cough*) are flocking to Oregon in droves. People who live in Oregon now like it the way it is, and don’t want it to change. Naturally, the more people Oregon gets the less like the current wilderness it will become.

Keller-BikerThe Trick-Biker – We wandered the city a while until we happened upon the Ira Keller Fountain. It’s probably one of the coolest fountains I’ve ver seen. It’s very abstract and modern, with many different levels and cascades, as well as many different viewing platforms of various sizes, orientations and locations. Just as we were about to leave 2 kids showed up on trick bikes and started jumping from platform to platform while doing tricks. After chatting for a bit we learned that they like to come down at least once a week by bus just to ride around the city. Keller Fountain is one of their favorite spots. I asked if I could take their picture and they were ecstatic, especially after I showed them the result. I got their e-mail address and told them I’d send them copies.

Zweigles man – Zweigles hot dogs are definitely a local Rochester NY thing. I didn’t even think anyone outside of our area had heard of them, or would even care. However; for some reason SuperDog in downtown Potland OR carries them, claiming in their menu: “Zweigles white hot – direct from Rochester.” When we saw that it floored us, and naturally we had to eat there. While doing so I struck up a conversation with the cook who was just as shocked as we were to find out we were from Rochester NY.

mills-endWe struck out with the goal of seeing Mills End Park, the worlds smallest park and we saw it (don’t blink, seriously, one square foot of park is easy to miss) however we saw and learned much more along the way. Just the way we like it.

Cannon Beach and Sand Castles

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Since we had the whole day to ourselves on Friday we headed to the coast.  We weren’t the only ones in the group with the same idea so we traveled out there with Roger, Tess, Heather, Liam and Jill.

flowersThere’s another observation we made almost immediately upon arriving in Portland which we’ve failed to mention thus far.  There are beautiful wild flowers absolutely everywhere.  They grow in fields, by the road and between the sidewalk cracks, literally everywhere!  On the way to the coast we found this really neat little fruit and flower stand where you could pick your own flower bouqette (as many as you could fit between your pointer finger and your thumb) for $5.  Rachel says this is a fantastic deal and I tend to agree (since I know what it costs to buy her a dozen roses…).  They had some good deals on Raspberries and Blackberries also so we picked up a quart of each for $3 a piece. Rachel says there were shasta daisies, spray roses , hydrangeas, lavender, fox glove and many more, although I only know them as the purple, red and yellow ones.

sand-castle-buildingFrom there it was on to the coast.  We arrived at Cannon Beach starving so we stopped at the Ecola Seafood Restaurant & Market and had our first Seafood of the trip.  It was delicious!

We had Liam with us and this was his first trip to the Pacific Ocean (I think it was his first trip to any ocean but I’m not sure).  His goal? to build the greatest Sand Castle the world had ever known.  We didn’t exactly fly to Portland with sand castle construction on the mind so we didnt’ have any tools with us and neither did he.  Fortunately, Roger came up with the idea of using the ice bucket & cups from the hotel so we snuck them along.  When Liam found out what we had, he was ecstatic.

coastWe ended up spending so much time at Cannon Beach building sand castles and exploring Haystack Rock we didn’t make it any further.  We had to head back for George & Stacie’s BBQ.  Since it wasn’t really that far out of the way, we headed south along the coast to Tillamook and then took route 6 back into Portland.  This is a beautiful drive so if you get the chance be sure to take it.  Some of the best Scenery we’d seen so far.

That night George and Stacie hosted a great BBQ with friends and family where everyone got to relax, have some good food, good drinks, enjoy great company and play some beanbags and wiffle ball.  An enjoyable and relaxing way to prepare for the wedding on Saturday.

Rehearsal and Dinner at Portland City Grill

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The rehearsal went off without a hitch at the beautiful Aerie at Eagle Landing.  Because Smitty wasn’t flying in until Saturday morning, I acted as a stand-in groomsmen, which was a first but fun.

Sunset over PortlandAfter the rehearsal always comes the good part… the dinner.  For this particular event we ate at the Portland City Grill on the 30th floor of the US Bancorp building.  The view was incredible, and we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset way up over the west hills.  Pictures can’t do it justice, and since I only brought my 50mm portrait lens (without a polarized filter through glass at night) my pictures of the city and the skyline were all but useless.  Since it was also Michael’s birthday George and Stacie had a cake for him which was absolutely delicious!

You’ll just have to trust me, the view from the Portland City Grill is well worth the cost of a meal, it truly is spectacular.

Mt Hood and Columbia River Gorge

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Mt HoodOne of the things on the must-see list in the Portland area is the Columbia River Gorge. A large group decided at dinner last night to meet up and head out for that at about 10am. Because we’re relatively early risers we thought we’d get a head start, do the Mt Hood loop and meet them out. It’s a good thing we did!

Multnomah FallsIf you get a chance to take the Mt Hood Scenic byway DO IT! That being said, we did. We saw the Oregon trail at laurel hill, the Salmon River, the White River and some fantastic views of Mt Hood. We also got some sweet cherries for a cool $1.50/lb at a local fruit stand. They cost more than $4/lb at home!

From there we met the group at Multnomah Falls along the Historic Columbia River Highway where a few of us hiked to the top. Getting to the top is quite a workout, 15 switchbacks and a mile later. The group headed back from there but since we hadn’t gotten a chance to see the Vista House, we stopped there for a vista and what a one it was.
vista house view
The whole loop : Highly suggested.

An awesome first day.