For our vacation this year, we booked a glamping experience at an airbnb near Portland, Oregon to give us an opportunity to hunt for waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge, explore Portland, and pay a brief visit to the Oregon coast. It was a quick trip, lasting just a few days, but it was packed with over one thousand miles of driving and about twenty miles of walking and hiking. We dedicated a couple of days to Portland, and a couple of days to the gorge, one day on the Washington state side, and the other in Oregon.
The middle of June is a bit earlier than we would normally like to vacation in the Pacific Northwest, especially this year, where our Spring was colder, grayer, and rainier than normal, but we got really lucky with the weather. However, this week was the only window of opportunity all three of us had to be able to make it happen. It rained on our drive to and from Oregon as well as a couple of nights, but during our daytime explorations, we experienced heavily overcast skies with just a few rare sprinkles, and temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s.
Multnomah Falls, Colubmia River Gorge National Scenic Area
Mount Hood
Activities
Oregon Coast
On our drive to Oregon, the radar informed us that it was raining inland, but not on the Oregon coast, so we drove through Astoria, Oregon, the widest crossing of the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon. I timed our crossing at four minutes, travelling at 55 MPH. A Google Map confirms that the bridge is 3.7 miles long. We made the following stops on our drive:
- Fort Clatsop: In the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, a replica of the fort built by the Lewis and Clark expedition is located on a densely forested area of the Lewis and Clark River.
- Fort Stevens State Park: This park located where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean has the remains of an old shipwreck and a military battery which saw action against a Japanese submarine during World War II.
- Ecola State Park: We stretched our legs on a hike through a forested area that led to an overlook of a lighthouse rock. The views of the sea stacks at Cannon Beach were exceptional as well.
Portland
In Portland, we did a three-mile walking tour of the city, which featured the following highlights:
- Lan Su Chinese Garden: This small but exceptionally well-designed garden proves the importance of quality over quantity. Its buildings, water features, bonsai, and even walkways were artistically designed. It was one of the highlights of day for us.
- Powell's City of Books: In an era where Amazon dominates online retail, especially when it comes to books, it is refreshing to see that Powell's Books still thrives as the largest bookstore in the world. At 68,000 square feet, the store features over one million new and used books. If you want to read it, you can almost certainly find it at Powell's. Well, we did actually look for titles by self-published author, Michael L. Lewis, but alas, neither of his novels were available. :-(
- Portland Central Library: A sprawling three-story library with large reading rooms and art exhibits. We were impressed with the set of globes of the Solar System in the Research Library.
- Pittock Mansion: Built in 1914, this 16,000 square-foot estate with park-like grounds overlooking the city of Portland was owned by area newspaper mogul, Henry Pittock. Sadly, he and his wife passed away within five years of its completion.
- International Test Rose Garden: When visiting the City of Roses, one must visit the rose garden in Portland's sprawling Washington Park. While we visited pre-peak for rose blooming, many of the 10,000 plants were demonstrating some phase of color.
- Portland Japanese Gardens: A nicely-manicured example of Japanese gardens, we were very impressed the first time we visited this garden years ago, but since Raymond and Mike have been to gardens in Japan, this one doesn't quite hit the mark of the meticulous design and grounds-keeping of an authentic Japanese garden. And it's a little pricy for its size. ($20/adult for a 12-acre garden.)
- Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden: While we were a little early for roses, we were a little late for rhododendrons, but we were nevertheless impressed with this excellently designed garden. There were still enough trees blooming to enjoy the color as well. And this one was well worth the price of admission ($5/adult for a 9.5-acre garden)
- Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge: We took a pleasant stroll through this wetland adjacent to the Willamette River. We even saw several deer who didn't mind us occupying the park with them.
- Portland Art Museum: At $25/adult, this was the most expensive attraction that we took in on this trip, but it was totally worth it. We spent a few hours here taking in the varied exhibits in two four-story buildings. The collection consists of Asian, Native American, and European works, including works of Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, and Picasso.
- Portlandia: The 2nd largest copper repoussé in the US (next to the Statue of Liberty) is located in Portland. It was a fitting end to our visit to Portland to pay homage to her.
Waterfalls
Thirteen waterfalls on this trip. With more time, we could've seen many more, but we prioritized low-hanging fruit (easy, short hikes.)
- WA Side of Columbia River Gorge: #1 - #4
- OR Side of Columbia River Gorge: #5 - #11
- Hood Valley: #12 - #13
Each link below contains a photo of each waterfall.
- Dougan Falls
- Duncan Creek Falls
- Dog Creek Falls
- Lower Labyrinth Falls (aka Rowland Lake Falls)
- Latourell Falls
- Shepperd's Dell Falls
- Bridal Veil Falls
- Multnomah Falls
- Wahkeena Falls
- Horsetail Falls
- Upper Horsetail Falls (aka Ponytail Falls)
- Punchbowl Falls
- Dead Point Falls
Daily Favorites
| Monday (Portland) | Tuesday (Columbia Gorge - WA side) | Wednesday (Columbia Gorge - OR side) | Thursday (Portland) | |
| Raymond: | Powell's City of Books | Beacon Rock Hike | Latourell Falls | Rhododendrom Garden (waterfalls and waterfowl) |
| Suzanne: | Lan Su Chinese Garden | Dog Creek Falls | Upper Horsetail Falls | Rhododendrom Garden (bridge) |
| Mike: | Lan Su Chinese Garden | Beacon Rock Hike | Upper Horsetail Falls | Rhododendrom Garden (flowers and blossoms) |
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