DOWNTOWN PORTLAND
We started in downtown Portland and hit up Voo-Doo Donuts, which always has about a 30 minute line! It was such a unique place, quite the experience, and the donuts were delicious! Although, Brandon and I agreed that the difference between a good and great donut is marginal enough that we probably won't wait in very many 30 minute lines for one. For the rest of the trip, Voo-Doo Donuts was a joke between the two of us and we kept wanting to tell people that we discovered this awesome donut place (which we definitely did not discover and it is already a huge hot spot).
We went to Saturday's Market and explored all the booths and people. Oh man, I cannot describe the weirdness of people in downtown Portland. It was absolutely insane! Every single one was eclectic and unique, and it was unlike any place I had ever been. The city doesn't seem very kid-friendly to me, due to all the weirdness and homelessness. I don't know if it has more homelessness than other cities, but there were homeless camps right in the city and it just seemed more in my face there than in other cities. Portland also had more of an industrial feel than I expected.
Then we went to Washington Park on the west side to visit the Rose Garden, and the drive through the park blew my mind. I made Brandon circle around more than once and got out to take a picture. Gorgeous trees everywhere! The garden was so impressive and the entire park was so well maintained and preserved - a stark difference from downtown. Then we went to dinner on 23rd Ave and sampled a bunch of different restaurants - we split a burger/fries, sushi, blackberry cheesecake & homemade ice cream. We loved this part of the city and had a great time exploring!
We decided that only a couple who had been married for 11 years could get away with splitting a burger and sushi for dinner. Then when we got to our hotel and there were two queen beds and we decided that we should each sleep in our own bed, which would also fall under the "11 years married" category (the rest of the hotels had only one bed, so we lived it up while we could). :)
MULTNOMAH WATERFALLS
The next day, we drove out east to Multnomah Waterfalls at Columbia River Gorge and saw the most incredible 620 foot waterfall. Then we went on a six mile hike from there where we saw at least 4 more gorgeous waterfalls! It was so lush and green and gorgeous. It was also shady because of all the trees. Again the trees and scenery just BLEW MY MIND! We joke that I am obsessed with trees because I am. When I talked to my mom on the phone, she asked what I thought of the trees and I told her that they were amazing. Brandon's response to that was, "That's the understatement of the year!" We ran across this saying and I thought it was a perfect description, "Trees are poems nature writes upon the sky." I loved hiking and talking with Brandon and being in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. (All the pictures below were taken on our iPhones from this one hike!)
We talked a great length about the largeness of rivers in the northwest - they are miles wide, and we feel like there should be a name for these types of "rivers". It doesn't seem right to call the Columbia River a river the same we way we call the Provo river a river. While we were traveling and figuring out how wide and tall everything was, I was super helpful figuring out the length or distance by using my science skills and estimation powers to the test. I had some super "official" measuring techniques and I think Brandon was pretty impressed. Not! ;)
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| Multnomah Falls, OR |
OREGON COAST
Just when I thought Oregon couldn't get any better, we drove out to the coast (on the same day as Multnomah Falls). We stayed in Seaside, Oregon and were pleasantly surprised at the beach!! The sand was gorgeous and the water was gorgeous! Only downside is that it was only 66 degrees, but that didn't stop Brandon from jumping in the water. I don't mind putting my feet in, but swimming in the ocean is not really my thing. Then we just laid on the sand and soaked it all in.
Around sunset, we headed down to Cannon Beach and oh.my.word. I almost was brought to tears, it was that awesome and beautiful! Haystack Rock jets out of the ocean 235 feet with lots of other little rocks and interesting landscape points. By the way, none of our pictures do any of these places justice!!
The next morning we went exploring and came across Crescent Beach (look up some google images). We had to go on a strenuous, 1.25 mile hike to actually get to the beach, but once we got there, there was not another person there! It was a beautiful beach, and so we just explored and took in the views. Brandon challenged me to explore around some cliffs by going through a very small tide area. If we are being real here, I was being nervous nelly and was stressed the tide would come up while we were exploring the next beach. I am very lucky that Brandon puts up with my wimpy nature. I did it with him, but only stayed a few minutes since I was stressed. Sometimes I feel that I am a lame match for Brandon's adventurous spirit, but I also feel very lucky that he puts up with my wimpy nature.
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| Seaside, OR |
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| Walking up to Cannon Beach & Haystack Rock |
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| Crescent Beach, OR |
The next day, we visited the Washington Park Arboretum and walked through many beautiful gardens. They had a huge variety of trees so that was fun to see. Then we went and explored University of Washington campus. We were pretending to fit in as students all morning, until I realized that I was wearing my "They call me mom" shirt, which probably totally blew our cover! From there, we rented paddle boards on Lake Union and rode them across the Lake to downtown and back. It was an amazing view of the skyline and super fun to be doing something outdoorsy together. We also got to check out a bunch of houseboats and homes on the water, which covered almost the entire shoreline. There were also many sailboats and seaplanes landing and taking off. We also made a quick stop for a picture at Fremont Troll under George Washington Memorial Bridge. Later that night, we did a little shopping and went to the Captain America movie.
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| Washington Park Arboretum, WA |
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| View of downtown Seattle from Lake Union |
SNOQUALMIE FALLS / PIKE'S PLACE
My parents mentioned that when they visited Seattle years ago, they drove out to Snoqualmie Falls, so we looked it up and thought it would be worth the drive. We got up super early to squeeze it in and it was breathtaking (268 foot waterfall). My dad said, that the few times he visited his grandma (my nana) when she lived in Washington, that he went to breakfast with her and Papa Joe at the lodge at the top of the falls.
We headed into downtown for our trip to Pike's Place / Public Market for some shopping and site seeing. We walked up and down and checked out all the flowers, produce, fish, crafts, etc. and Brandon said he didn't get what all the hype was about, and asked if we could go to Target instead. We walked around a bit more to make sure we didn't miss anything, and then headed to Target and Ross and I did some shopping for myself while he picked out some toys for the kids.
Oh yeah, our kids! We kinda missed them :), know that they were well taken care of by my mom, Nancy & Rachel (who lives in Utah now at Nancy's house while they look for a house!), Val & Dave, who also suffered the consequences of their wives babysitting. We are so appreciative to everyone who helped us get away!!
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