Portland:
I was excited about seeing Portland, Oregon again. I often visited family here when I was
young. What a treat we found when we
arrived at our Airbnb! Our hostess had
provided all kinds of food, especially geared toward our low-carb diet! Additionally, her husband, Keith Tucker, drew this welcome
sign for us:
Keith is a professional cartoonist and animator!
The Columbia River Gorge is a beautiful place to visit. We began our scenic drive at the Vista House.
Look at this lovely view!
There are several waterfalls along the scenic drive. To see Bridal Veil Falls we hiked a
little. It was certainly worth it:
One of the most famous waterfalls in this area is Multnomah Falls. It can be seen from the road; however, it’s
best experienced close up. It’s a fairly
easy walk up to the middle of the falls where the bridge is.
There is still a lot a snow on Mt. Hood. We drove up partway, but had to turn around
because we didn’t have chains or snow tires.
But we did get this great view:
Bonneville Dam is especially known for it’s nearby locks where the
salmon swim through when spawning. We
didn’t see any salmon this time of year.
But we did drive to a nearby Fish Hatchery and saw lots of huge
sturgeon!
Portland has a lovely zoo.
Currently much of it is under construction as they expand their viewing
areas. Nevertheless, we were able to see
some animals:
What would a trip to Portland, Oregon be without going to the original
Voodoo Doughnuts! This is a VERY popular place – with a VERY long line!
Is it worth it? They are
certainly fun AND tasty doughnuts!
I told you that we were on a factory tour roll – next we headed to
Bob’s Red Mill in Milwaukie, Oregon for a tour:
Milwaukie is also known as the end of the Oregon Trail, so we visited
this museum commemorating that history.
I love the building – it looks like a wagon train!
Astoria:
Our most northern stop in Oregon was near Astoria, just across the
water from Washington State. We visited
the Columbia River Maritime Museum here.
It provided an understanding of the dangers of the mouth of the Columbia
River. Even today the Coast Guard has to
lead ships in and out.
Also in Astoria is the beautiful Astoria Column which depicts the
history of the area. The view from the
hilltop and the top of the Column are spectacular!
While staying in this area, we drove along the northern Oregon coast to
Ecola State Park and Cannon Beach.
We drove all the way down to Tillamook for yet another factory tour – this time
a famous cheese factory! Of course we
had free samples of cheese, but we also bought a scoop of their ice cream. Not as good as Blue Bell, but it was a yummy
treat!
We had a few treats near our Airbnb!
One afternoon we saw this beautiful rainbow!
Elk were very prominent in our area:
And how about these buoy decorations!
We did drive over the Astoria Bridge to Washington State:
But more on eastern Oregon first!
Pendleton:
I’ve always loved Pendleton fabrics and apparel. So we made a short stop in the town of
Pendleton, Oregon especially to visit the original woolen mill.
They have an exhibit about the history of the Mill, how it was
originally a wool scouring plant and then later converted to a woolen mill that
produced blankets and robes for Native Americans. Now there are
multiple mills and the one in Pendleton offers a tour on the
manufacturing of some of it products.
As we continued on our eastern Oregon journey, we visited one of the 7
Wonders of Oregon, the Painted Hills.
There is a lot of agriculture in this area, so you can imagine our
surprise when we first saw these hills with red dirt:
Look at this brush along the road – I think these may be the paint
brushes used on the hills!
Were we surprised with all of the beautiful colors as we drove further into the hills:
Klamath Falls:
Our last stop in Oregon is Klamath Falls. We were told earlier in our trip that it
would not be possible to see Crater Lake because the roads are closed until
June. This was one of our bucket list
items. As I mentioned earlier, we have
been trying to stay away from snow since we do not have chains on our tires or
special snow tires.
However, Klamath Falls is VERY close to Crater Lake and we decided to
see how far we could drive.
We were rewarded immediately with a view of Diamond Lake. I’ve never seen a frozen lake, so this was
exciting to see!
We kept driving. As we got
higher, so did the snow drifts on the side of the road:
We were really taking a chance.
Even if we made it to the top to view the lake, there is a strong chance
that it would be foggy or too misty to see much.
We keep on “truckin”…
It was indeed a lucky day! What
an awesome view!
This is the proper way to complete our visit to Oregon! Next up, Washington state.