Day 6: Portland via the Columbia River Gorge

Dew dew dew dew! No, that’s not a song in my head! We woke up literally inside a cloud. If you touched the side of the tent, whatever touched it was soaking wet! We gingerly emerged from the tent and looked around. Well, we couldn’t look far as we were still inside a cloud! The sun was desperately trying to burn off the fog, and we were praying it would because we didn’t want to pack a wet tent!

After a slow start, we finally had everyone up (read Andy), and were beginning to reorganize and prepare for departure. By the time we had some coffee and got the kids cereal, the sun was beginning to shine strongly, but not on the tent as we were in the shade! But it was shining on the road, so we uprooted the spikes and placed the tent in the middle of the road. Fortunately it was a quiet road, but every once in awhile, we’d have to spring into action, with the two big kids and Steve and I grabbing a corner and running it back to the grass to let a car pass. It was pretty comical!

As we waited for the tent to dry, Emily, Pete and I took the small trail to the area overlooking the beach. The combination of fog and the tide being out made for a very misty, cool view. It is amazing how much beach becomes exposed when the tide goes out! We watched a man walk across the beach towards the water’s edge until I couldn’t see him anymore in the mist.

With the tent as dry as it was going to get, we finally got everything broken down and were soon on our way. It was much later than I had hoped, and this makes me concerned for the Crater Lake night when we have to be up and GONE by 9am! Oh well, I’ll fret about that in a few days when it’s time.

The next three hours were spent making our way south along route 101 and then Hwy 5 headed for Portland. We were close to the shoreline most of the way, but not close enough to see the Ocean. At one point, Mt. St. Helens came into view and it was amazing. I found some photos of what it looked like before it exploded in 1980, and you could sure tell that it is now missing it’s top. I found descriptions of the explosions and how it affected the surrounding area. Check it out if you’d like:
http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/StHelens.html

Once we had made it across the Columbia River, we headed east down the gorge for only about 30 miles. While I would have loved to really explore the gorge, we were only going to be able to treat ourselves to the Multinomah Falls. While everyone seems to stop there, and it was quite crowded, the falls were beautiful. At a 620ft. drop, they are one of the tallest falls in the US. After much oohing and ahhing, and photo snapping, we were on our way.

We headed into Portland and made our way to the Kennedy School where we were going to spend the night. What a place! It is an old converted school which not only has lodging (we stayed in Mr. Jack’s room), but also has a movie theater (not like what you’re used to: think couches, coffee tables and a waitstaff ready to bring you pizza and beer), three bars (the Honors bar, the detention bar and the boiler room bar which has pool tables), a soaking pool which is kept at 100 degrees and has minerals in it instead of chlorine, a restaurant which is located in the old cafeteria and on weekends you can dance in the gym! It is decorated in a really funky way, and was just so cool. If you’d like to see more photos, check out their website at: www.kennedyschool.com and go to the Kennedy School link.

Once we checked in, we headed back into Portland to see what we could see. We wanted to find the Rose Gardens, but instead the GPS took us to the Rose Garden Arena. Nice if you want to watch the Trailblazers, but not very good for viewing flowers. We finally figured out where Washington Park was, and headed across the river and up onto the other side.

We parked inbetween the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden, and first took a walk through the Japanese Gardens. They were so beautiful! The Ambassador to Japan has stated that it is the most authentic and beautiful Japanese Garden outside of Japan! There were also fabulous views of Portland with Mt. Hood in the background.

After the Japanese Garden, we headed down to the International Rose Garden. As it was getting late, and we were getting hungry, we didn’t spend much time there, but we did marvel at all of the different types of roses. This was truly a beautiful place!

Once to the car, we headed back to “school” where we ended up having dinner in their restaurant, and then the kids took a quick dip in the soaking pool. I was impressed that Pete got into the hot water. I guess the desire to swim can outweigh the sting of hot water. He got used to it quickly, and I ended up having to drag him out after 15 minutes. It was getting late, and his cheeks and ears were all red. We were all overheating!

We made it back to the room, where we got the kids settled in for the night, and then Steve and I headed back to one of the bars to plan for the next day. It was a very fun experience to have found this place to stay tonight. Tomorrow, the coast!