Oregon Vacation Day 6 - Columbia River Gorge

On Wednesday it was raining yet again. We decided to take the Historic Columbia River Highway Scenic Drive anyway. This turned out to be my absolute favorite day of our vacation.

We picked up the historic highway 30 at Gresham and traveled east which was uphill to Crown Point. Construction on this highway started in 1913 and finished around 1922. When you think about that and look at how the highway is engineered to create as little disruption of the landscape as possible, it was an amazing feat of engineering.

The drive up to Crown Point takes you past orchards and vegetable farms. I haven't mentioned it before, but I was very surprised by how much farming takes place in Oregon. I knew that grapes, apples and evergreen trees grew here, but I had no idea how many vegetables are grown here, especially this late in the season. We also learned that Oregon is the grass seed capital of the world. I had no idea it was so verdant and green this late in the year. I guess all that rain is good for something. It was interesting to see farms with rows of vegetables interspersed with rows of Christmas trees or willow trees.

The last part of the trip to Crown Point is again very steep with a sharp drop off on one side of the highway. Once we could stop, I took over the driving for the day. This time I did not let Grandad drive again that until we were safely out of the mountains. Vista House sits atop Crown Point and boasts a breathtaking view of the Columbia River Gorge. It was built in 1916, at the same time as the highway to provide a rest stop for travelers. I thought it was interesting that the architect was Edgar Lazarus, brother of Emma Lazarus, who wrote the poem on the Statue of Liberty.

Vista House was not open while we were there so we didn't get to go inside, and, as you can see, the views in every direction were limited by clouds and rain. There was, however, a very nice park ranger there who gave us lots of helpful advice and directions. I did not get a good photo of Vista House from the bottom of the gorge, but it's really striking to see how high this point is. There is an excellent photo that will give you a great perspective of where the Vista House sits. I highly recommend that you click here and go see it.

Next, we continued down the highway which took us down the mountain, still on the Historic Columbia River Highway. The highway winds down the side of the mountain into a fifteen mile long area that contains some of the most spectacular waterfalls that you will see anywhere. The entire gorge contains some 77 waterfalls. Many of them are visible from the highway.

Our first stop was Latourell Falls which plunges 249 feet down the cliff-side. It is accessible by car, and you can hike to the top. We hiked about halfway up to the first overlook. It wasn't a hard climb at all. We imposed on a stranger who was hiking down the trail and he took a really nice photo of the two of us.My husband thought the cliff had been defaced with paint, but a little research explains that the large patch of yellow is actually lichen. I also learned that that patch of lichen makes this one of the most popular waterfalls for professional photographers.

Next down the highway is Bridal Veil Falls. It's a 2/3 mile round trip down a mostly paved trail down to the falls. Because of his arthritic knees and his fear of heights, Grandad elected not to make the climb down to see these falls. I went by myself. Part of the trail is paved and part of it has steps, so it's a fairly easy hike, although in places the incline is steep. I did question the wisdom of making this hike alone, but there was a young couple near me on the trail. I was pretty sure they would have helped if I'd needed it. It's definitely worth the hike. Bridal Veil Falls is a two-tiered fall with a total height of 112 feet. The tallest drop is 78 feet. You can hear this waterfall for a long time before you can see it.

The next falls were Wahkeena Falls. These falls are especially beautiful because they have both falls and cascades that fall in tiers down the side of the mountain. It's easily accessible from the highway and there is also a scenic overlook where you can see the gorge below.

Last stop for us on the Columbia River Gorge Historic Highway was Multnomah Falls. This is the most impressive of all the falls we saw. It's total drop is 611 feet. The top falls drop 542 feet and the bottom falls is 69 feet. At the base of the first falls is the Benson Bridge. You can walk up an inclined path and cross the bridge. More adventurous hikers can go beyond the bridge up a very steep path to the top of the falls. Grandad climbed the stairs to the viewing area at the base of the falls. I made the hike up to the bridge. It's not a hard hike, but it is fairly open on the side. If you have a fear of heights, this climb is probably not for you.

And this stop is the site of my absolute favorite photo from our trip.

That's me standing on Benson Bridge looking down. This photo was taken with Grandad's Samsung Galaxy S-3 telephone. I love the depth of this picture. I think it's beautiful.

By the time I finished the short hike up and back down, it was time for lunch so we stopped at the nearby Multnomah Falls Lodge for lunch. It's a beautiful old lodge built right at the base of the falls. There's a beautiful view of the falls from the cozy dining room. For some reason, I did not take a photo of the lodge. I did, however take some food photos. I had the roasted turkey sandwich with Washington grown cranberry sauce, cream cheese and arugula. It was very good. Grandad had the meatloaf sandwich on a cheddar brioche roll with onion catsup. I tasted both of them. Mine was good, but that meatloaf sandwich was awesome. I also loved the beautiful china it was served on. I was disappointed that they didn't have split pea soup the day we were there. I've been told it's the best split pea soup anywhere.

By the time we finished our late lunch, the light rain had turned to downpour. Our next stop would have been the Bonneville Lock and Dam, but it was still raining when we got there. We were wet, cold, and tired so we headed back to the condo.

Oregon Vacation Day 5 - Portland's Pearl & Books

Tuesday was another rainy day. We decided to head back to Portland for a trip to the world's largest independently owned book store, Powell's City of Books. Powell's sells both new and used books. The store is in two buildings that cover one entire city block and part of another with more than a million books. It's huge! I could wander the shelves and stacks for days and days and never be bored. It's so big that I was afraid that Patrick and I would lose each other. They even have an app you can download that will give you turn-by-turn directions to any book.

We were there for a couple of hours and bought some new story books for Our Little Princesses. We could have stayed longer and bought more books, but the reality of carrying books back in our luggage kept my usually voracious appetite for books in check.

When we left Powell's, we went in search of The Nuvrei Patisserie which is known for its macarons. When we got there, they were already out of macarons. I was very disappointed. So instead of macarons, we walked around a while and chose Noodles and Things for a late lunch. We shared an order of pot stickers and an order of lettuce wraps. The food was delicious.

The Pearl District of Portland is an amazing mix of old and new. It represents urban renewal at its best. This was once an industrial district but now is a beautiful mix of living spaces, tourist spaces, shopping, dining, and cultural experiences. It is full of upscale shopping and hidden spaces. My second favorite stop, after Powell's Books, was Penzey's Spices, an entire shop of spices, herbs, and seasonings from around the world. I would love to live in an area like the Pearl District.

Next we had to find our car which was harder than it should have been. In the future, we should definitely make note of where we park our rental car. We had to go back to Powell's to get our bearings. By then it was 4 o'clock and we were committed to getting out of downtown Portland before rush hour. The traffic there is crazy. We saw on the news this week that Portland has the eighth worst traffic congestion in the nation. I would agree that it's pretty bad.

We did accomplish our mission and made it out of Portland before the gridlock set in. Tomorrow, we'll drive the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway.

Oregon Vacation Day 4 - Winding Roads, Goonies, and Shipwrecks

On Monday, We decided to head back to the Pacific coast along a different route and with a different destination in mind. We were headed for Astoria, the northernmost town on the Oregon coast. It sits near the mouth of the Columbia River. Our drive took us north of Portland into Washington, near Mount Saint Helens and then back into Oregon across the Lewis and Clark Bridge.

We enjoyed seeing some of the industry located along the river. The logging operation was really interesting, probably because we don't have logging in South Texas. Heck, we don't hardly have trees. The Lewis & Clark Bridge was under construction and there was quite a bit of traffic backed up to cross from both directions. I will also note that, even though we traveled near Mount Saint Helens, we did not see it because, once again there was a heavy cloud cover and rain. In fact, the reason we chose today for our drive to Astoria was because there was supposed to be less rain out in that direction.

From there on the map it looks like a fairly straight drive on US 30 to Astoria. What is not evident on the map is that US 30 goes in, over, and around the Cascades. It's a scenic drive that can only be described as hugging the side of the mountain.

Now, you should know that we are from the coastal plains of South Texas. We're used to driving on long, flat highways. The standing joke in Texas is that we've got miles and miles of miles and miles. I should also tell you that my husband suffers from acrophobia.

Acrophobia (akrəˈfōbēə) An extreme or irrational fear of heights.

Since we did not realize that this was such a high and winding road, he was driving. The nature of the highway was such that there was no place to pull off and change drivers. It would have been possible to stop at one of the scenic overlooks and change drivers, but that would have required him driving onto a parking lot that hung over the side of the mountain. It's likely that would have been more catastrophic than just talking him through the actual drive. I can't tell you how much I wanted to level my camera and snap a photo of him gripping the wheel like it was trying to get away and sweating profusely. As soon as we got to a little town that had a place we could stop safely, I took over the driving duties and he was able to relax and NOT look out the window.  So, once I started driving, there are no photos of the drive. Taking a picture would have required looking out the window.

Astoria has several attractions that we wanted to see. We are HUGE fans of the movie Goonies which was filmed in Astoria. So, naturally, we started at the Oregon Film Museum.

The Oregon Film Museum is located in the former Clatsop County Jail. Goonies fans may recognize this building as the site of the jailbreak scene at the beginning of the movie. I have to say I was a little disappointed in this museum. It really has very little memorabilia on display. It's main features are cut outs of the Goonies. They have the costume worn by Jonathan Ke Quan as the character Data.

We did enjoy the opportunity to have our mug shots taken. My friend and fellow grandma blogger, Grandma Kc who blogs at AmaraLand, asked about our height difference yesterday. She wondered if I was extremely short or Grandad was very tall. The answer is yes to both. I'm less than 5'1" and Grandad is 6'5". That's a height difference of 16 inches. Here we are trying to look serious for our mug shots.

By the time we finished at the museum, it was mid-afternoon and we were ready for some lunch. The attendant at the museum recommended The Wet Dog Cafe and Astoria Brewing Company which sits right on the waterfront. No seriously, you actually drive out onto a dock and park. The view was stunning. Astoria is a deep-water port and it is seriously busy. We could see seven ships anchored offshore.

We ordered lunch. I had half of a roast beef sandwich and a cup of the most delicious sun-dried tomato and blue cheese soup. Patrick had the build your own quesadilla with chicken and Italian sausage. Then we split an individual Marion berry Cobbler which came with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream on the side. Delicious! We had never tasted Marion berries before. The waitress described it as if a blueberry and a raspberry had a baby. She was right. It was soooo good!

I really wanted to see the Astoria Column which sits above the city on Coxcomb Hill and provides beautiful panoramic views of the Pacific Coast and the Columbia River.We could see it from the waterfront. I volunteered to drive up, but Grandad thought it didn't look too high so he wanted to drive. MISTAKE! It's way higher than it looks and, again, the road has a steep drop off on one side all the way up. When we got to the top, I took over the driving for the rest of the day with no argument from Grandad.

Here's what the Astoria Column web site says about the view from the top:

Majestic views of the countryside surrounding Astoria are the great Pacific Ocean to the west and the mighty Columbia River to the north. Snow-capped volcanoes of the Cascade Range rise to the east and Saddle Mountain reaches to the sky on the southern horizon.

As you can see, the view was slightly different on the day we were there. We were actually inside the clouds and could see very little. I didn't even bother to climb to the top of the column. I would not have been able to see anything. But, I did take a photo of the winding staircase inside. We stopped at the gift shop and ran into a couple from Ohio who are staying at the same condominium where we are staying, a trip of 135 miles each direction. The four of us were the only visitors at the top of the hill while we were there.

Next on the agenda was a trip to see the wreck of the Peter Iredale at Fort Stevens State Park. The four-masted ship ran aground in heavy southeast wind in September of 1906. The impact was so hard that three of her masts snapped off on impact. She's been a tourist attraction ever since. As we drove across Young's Bay, the drizzle turned to driving rain. By the time we got to the beach where the Peter Iredale sets, the parking lot was covered in mud and a walk across the sand dunes to the wreck was out of the question.

I love the story of the shipwreck and the subsequent rescue of her crew from the Oregon History Project. Not a soul was lost.

After he was helped ashore, the red-bearded Captain Lawrence, stood stiffly at attention, saluted his ship, and said “May God bless you and may your bones bleach in these sands.” He then turned and addressed his men with a bottle of whisky in his hand. “Boys,” he said, “have a drink.”

Once we abandoned our attempt to reach the shipwreck, we headed back to Welches and our warm, dry condo. The drive through the mountains on Highway 26 was rainy and foggy. But Highway 26 is a much better, although less scenic, drive. We were both happy to get back to the condo that night.

Oregon Vacation Day 3 - Brunch and Roses in the Rain

On Sunday, we were up early. The two hour time difference compounded by the "fall back" time change has really caused big problems for my sleep patterns. Note to self - never, never, never schedule a vacation during the time change. Since we were up early, we headed in to Portland to meet some family for brunch.

Even though she's younger than our kids, Cielle is Grandad's first cousin. Her mom and Grandad's Mom are sisters. Cielle is recently married to Jerome and they live in Portland. Getting to spend a little time with  them was an unexpected bonus for our trip. They live in the Hollywood District of Portland and we had them choose a place for brunch. They met us at The Screen Door, one of Portland's most popular brunch sites.

To paraphrase Paul Gerald, The Breakfast Guy, who blogs at Breakfast in Bridgetown, in Portland they don't go to church, they go to brunch and The Screen Door is considered the holy of holies. The wait for a table is more than an hour, but we didn't mind. The wait gave us time to chat with Cielle and Jerome, which was the main thing we wanted to do anyway. Cielle is a grad student working on her certification as an K-12 art teacher. Jerome is following in his father's footsteps as an appliance repairman.

The food was wonderful. In the photo is the pimento cheese and bacon grilled cheese sandwich which was served with two eggs and seasoned fried potatoes. It was the best grilled cheese sandwich I've ever tasted. Both Cielle and Jerome had fried chicken with waffles. I wish I had taken a photo of the stack of food they got, but I didn't. Take a minute and click over the The Breakfast Guy's review of The Screen Door. Then scroll down the page and look at the chicken and waffles. They looked just like that ... three chicken breasts with sweet potato waffles, served with maple syrup. We lingered over brunch and enjoyed the company as well as some hot apple cider with spiced rum. They gave us some advice about things we should see and do while we're in the area.

After lunch we drove up to Washington Park to take a look at the International Rose Test Garden. It had been drizzling all day, but by the time we got to Washington Park the drizzle had progressed to full out rain. In the spirit of Oregonians, we were not deterred. Grabbing our umbrella which was furnished by our condominium, we ventured out into the gardens. The rose gardens are spectacular, acres and acres of rose bushes of every type in various stages of bloom. But the weather got progressively worse with wind, rain, and temperatures in the mid 40s. We only lasted about 20 minutes before we headed back to the car. But we did see some beautiful blossoms and I feel inspired to plant some new additions to my rose bed this winter.

This Texas girl is definitely not used to this much rain. We've been in a huge drought for several years now. Rain is an event in South Texas. We've been told that Oregonians can identify the tourists by their umbrellas. The locals just ignore the rain and go right on with life. We've seen people skateboarding, walking, and bicycling in the ever-present rain. The rain continues, and we're just getting on with our vacation. 

On the agenda for tomorrow is a trip to Astoria for a visit to the Oregon Film Museum.

Oregon Vacation Day 2 - Trees, Cheese, and Beaches

On Saturday, we woke up to drizzly rain and temperatures in the forties. After checking the weather forecast, we decided to just do what the locals do, just get on with our plans. As we drove away from Welches, near the base of Mount Hood, the weather warmed slightly and the rain became patchy.

We found a Starbucks about fifteen miles down the road in Sandy, Oregon. After we fortified ourselves with coffee, we started our drive to Tillamook. Our drive took us through Portland and then out Highway 6 right through the Tillamook State Forest. This is a 364,000 acre forest located between Portland and the Pacific coast. About an hour west of Portland, we stopped at the Tillamook Forest Center, honestly, to use the bathroom. But it was a real treat. This is a beautiful visitors center with hands on educational exhibits perfect for kids and adults. Grandad was very excited to see that the exhibit includes a forest fire lookout tower that you can climb.

The exhibits teach about this forest from the time when it was inhabited by Native Americans up until today. This entire forest was destroyed by a series of forest fires in the 1930s and 1940s. More than 550 square miles were blackened by the fires. The loss of this timberland had a tremendous economic impact on the entire state. The State of Oregon undertook the largest reforestation project in history. In the 1950s and 1960s the forest was replanted by hand using volunteers, paid workers, and prisoners. More than 72 million saplings were planted. The site where the Tillamook Forest Center sits today was entirely planted by schoolchildren.

My favorite part of the exhibit was a place where people who helped plant the forest, most of them as children, can write down their memories. They are collecting and compiling those memories as part of the exhibit.

A walk through the TFC and out the back door takes you to a suspension bridge across the Wilson River which leads to a series of hiking trails and camp sites. We considered the 3.4 miles round trip hike to University Falls, but took a shorter hike instead. That turned out to be a good thing, because just after we returned to the Forest Center building the light rain turned to hail. We spent a little while in the gift shop waiting for the storm to pass.

Next stop Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Ever since we decided to visit Oregon, Grandad has been excited about visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory. There are few things in this world that Grandad loves more than cheese. You may remember that last year when we went to New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, a stop at Cabot Cheese was among the highlights of the trip. I've teased him since then that he ate so many samples they probably forwarded his photo to all other cheese factories with a warning to keep an eye out for him.

The good news is, we didn't get kicked out for over-sampling. There really isn't much to see. It's a self-guided tour with a small sampling table at the end. The tour takes you upstairs to a viewing gallery located above the factory floor. They were not making cheese while we were there, but they had one line open where they were cutting and packaging cheese. They have an impressive company store with lots of different cheeses. My favorite was the Garlic Chili Pepper Cheddar. We left with several varieties to eat this week.

They also have a cafe and ice cream counter. We had a late lunch of beef barley soup with ice cream for dessert. I also picked up a couple of Christmas gifts in the gift shop.

We left Tillamook and drove to the coast in search of one of Oregon's lighthouses. The weather had warmed into the upper 50s and it was still raining off and on. It's only a short drive from Tillamook to the coast. We were delighted to arrive at Cape Mears and Symons State Scenic Viewpoint. We pulled off the road into a parking lot to take pictures. Some other beach visitors encouraged us to walk down the beach and go through a short tunnel to a hidden beach. We were intrigued enough to give it a try. About half of the tunnel is paved, after that it's rough going with rocks and standing water. It ends with a steep rocky path that you have to climb down. That's where we stopped. But, we could see the back side of the rocks, so we stood there and snapped some photos before turning around. We were struck by the differences between this rocky coastline and the sandy coast of Texas.

We drove on up the coast a little bit to find the Cape Meares light house.

It was almost sunset when we got there, but we decided to walk down the path anyway. When you approach the lighthouse from the path, you are at the same level with the light because the lighthouse is actually built down the side of the coast. The path winds all the way down so you can stand at the base of the lighthouse. Another couple kindly took a photo of us. After snapping a few pictures, we headed back up the trail. We got pretty soaked by the time we got back to the car which made for a pretty cold drive back to Welches, about two and half hours away.

Tomorrow, we'll spend a day in Portland and have lunch with Grandad's cousin, Cielle, and her husband, Jerome. We can't wait to see them. They're both Texas kids who are living in Portland. I think they miss being close to family.

Oregon Vacation Day 1 - Travel and Time

We have arrived in Oregon safe and sound. Our trip was long and uneventful. Thank God.

We were on the ground, changing planes in Denver, when we heard about the shooting at LAX. We were not able to get any details at that time. When we arrived in Portland, there were three local news stations trying to interview arriving passengers. But none of us knew anything about what was going on, so they weren't having any luck getting an interview.

It was cold in Denver, we could see a few snowflakes falling, but it wasn't cold enough for the snow to stick.

We drove out of Portland toward Mount Hood, less than an hour away. This was our view from the highway.

We are ensconced in a lovely condominium in the shadow of this beautiful mountain. Today it was in the upper 50s and mostly sunny. They are expecting a winter storm tonight which will last the next few days with high gusty winds and a wintery mix of precipitation including snow at the higher altitudes. The locals tell us that we shouldn't have any trouble driving back towards Portland and over to the coast because the weather is expected to stay above freezing. If it's too bad, we'll just cuddle up in front of our wood-burning stove and watch movies over the weekend.

Speaking of the locals, we took the advice of the front desk clerk and went to dinner at a local place called The Rendezvous. It was great! I started with the soup of the day which was a harvest squash soup. It tasted like Thanksgiving in a bowl. I had Grilled Trout Almondine which was served over jasmine rice with a delicious mix of root vegetables on the side. Patrick had grilled local salmon in a white wine sauce with chanterelle mushrooms and the same mixed root vegetables and jasmine rice.

The food was outstanding, but the people there were what made it so special. We arrived at 5 o'clock local time and we were the first customers of the evening. Everyone went out of their way to be friendly, to recommend the best dishes, and to give us tourist advice. Even the chef was out in the dining room checking on customers. After we settled our bill and went out to the car, the host came running out and tapped on my window. He just wanted to be sure and thank us for coming in and to wish us a great vacation. How nice is that? I think were going to go back for dessert and coffee one evening. It should be wonderful.

I'm having a little trouble staying awake tonight. The local time is 9:35, but in Texas it's 11:35. I'm afraid it's going to get even worse tomorrow night when the time changes back to standard time and the clocks "fall back" an hour.

I'm not sure what's on tap for tomorrow. We had planned to drive to the coast, but we'll have to see what the weather is like before we make a final decision. If it's rainy and cold, it might be a good day to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory or we may just hunker down and cuddle up.

I'll let you know what we decide.

Here I Am

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted on my blog. Since school started in August, I have worked at least four days almost every week. In addition, I've been sewing and doing alterations like crazy. I actually had to start a list on my big chalkboard so I can keep up with what belongs to who and the order I need to get them done in.

I sewed almost 14 hours straight yesterday trying to get caught up. I still have four items to sew, but they'll have to wait a couple of weeks. We leave on vacation tomorrow. First, we'll travel to San Antonio which means we'll be there for Halloween with Our Little Princesses. On Friday morning we leave for a week in Oregon.

We'll be staying in a condo in Welches, Oregon, out near Mount Hood. Our trip will include a couple of days in Portland, a day at Crater Lake, a day on the Oregon coast, and a day in the Columbia River Gorge. I've also left a day open so we can just look around and decide on anything else we want to do or see.

I'm planning to blog along the way, hopefully every evening. It helps me keep my memories organized and makes it easier for me to put together my photo album after the trip.

I hope you check back during the next week and follow along on our trip. I'd also love to hear from you if you're familiar with Oregon and have any recommendations for things we should see and do.

Watch out for the ghoulies and ghosties tomorrow and have a scary Halloween.