Mount Hood and the Fruit Loop

Today we left Portland and headed East towards our next destination. We knew that we'd be spending tonight in The Dalles so that we could head to Idaho tomorrow, but we hadn't really planned our activities or route until this morning. The quickest way to The Dalles is on I-84 and it is only a 2 hour drive - which would be a strangely short day, leaving tomorrow a heavily weighted 8 hour drive. We never intended to drive straight to our hotel, and wanted to do something that would help us capture our final day in Oregon - and I think we stumbled across the right plan.

Mount Hood is south of I-84 and there is a scenic byway that loops down around it, rejoining the interstate just before The Dalles - it's nicknamed the Fruit Loop because of all of the orchards and vineyards along the route. We stopped at several along the way, enjoying some tastings (Wasson Brothers was a favorite) and stocking up on fresh blueberries and cherries (which I am munching on as I type) at The Gorge White House . The real highlight of the day, though, was the mountain.

Mount Hood is a majestic dormant volcano that stays snow-capped year round. We drove up to the Timberline Lodge, where we rode a one-mile ski lift (along side skiers and snowboarders) up to an amazing vantage point. The leisurely walk back down to the lodge was a fantastic break in the middle of the day and gave us a real appreciation for the splendor of this region.

Pedal Bike Tours

Carmela and I planned a single day to stay in Portland after her conference was over, not knowing what we would actually do - we would just figure it out while we were here. I looked at lists of gardens and tours, and for a little while intended to spend the day at the zoo, but then luckily stumbled upon the perfect solution. We booked a tour with Pedal Bike Tours and headed out of the city.

While they also offer several interesting tours in the city (Portland is one of only 3 "Platinum" biking cities in the U.S.), we opted for the Columbia Gorge Tour. We drove 45 minutes out into the Gorge, making a couple of beautiful vista stops, and then biked a 9 mile stretch of the Historic Columbia Highway. I have only been on a bike a couple of times (with students) in the last 20 years, and Carmela hasn't been on one at all since she got her driver's license. The old saying proved to be true, though - you really don't forget.

Our guide, Scott, didn't actually ride with us - he drove the van from stop to stop, ahead of us, so that we always knew where to pull off and had fresh supplies if needed. Once we were on the bikes, each stop ranged from 1 to 3 miles apart - very quick. It certainly wasn't all flat, but at each stop we were rewarded with a new (and incredibly different) waterfall. The entire trip was absolutely fantastic - I will have to put together a proper slideshow of the waterfalls and views, but I wanted to get this post up while the excitement and memory was still fresh. In the meantime, you can see more about our route by going to http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2141/itinerary/53147 - this is a suggested itinerary for driving the scenic byway, and we drove to stops 3, 4 and 5, then biked to each of the others through 9. This picture was taken in front of Horsetail Falls.

Portland Eats

I do love to eat! The fact that we have so many dietary restrictions does make it a bit of a challenge when we travel, but we struck gold here in Portland. I haven't said much about the city itself - in large part because I'm mostly stationed in the hotel room working on curriculum while Carmela's in her conference - but tonight's meals inspired me to reflect a bit more. One of my duties when we travel is to scout out Carmela-friendly places to eat, and in the past couple of days we have found, tried, and loved - Great Harvest which is a bakery that actually stone-grinds their own flour and has vegan options; The Flying Elephant which is a cool deli that, like Great Harvest, uses local and sustainable foods; Bangkok Palace with some great Thai food; and Old Towne Pizza which is supposed to be haunted.

Tonight we grabbed take-out at the Vegetarian House (all vegan Chinese food) and ate down by the Willamette River, but beforehand we stopped at Voodoo Doughnuts . I would compare Voodoo Doughnuts to Mike's Pastries in Boston - the food is great, and it's worth waiting in the half hour line outside (that's when we took the "Keep Portland Wierd" picture, too) because of the place itself. I've seen this place on the Travel Channel and the Food Network several times and just had to go - it turned out that they have an impressive selection of vegan donuts, so Carmela was able to do more than join in the wait. Sometimes the vegan donuts are made with bananas as the binder, but we lucked out because today they used apple. "Do you know how long it has been since I've had a creme-filled donut?!" Carmela exclaimed as she enjoyed her first bites.

The picture is taken back at our hotel room (this took a lot of will-power to not eat them on the walk back). Starting from the left, going clockwise, is the Portland Creme, a Chocolate Coconut (which Carmela found misleading because she expected the donut itself to be chocolate rather than a chocolate glaze), the Old Dirty Bastard (a raised donut with oreo and peanut butter), and a Triple Chocolate Penetration (yes those are Coco Puffs, which is why I'll have it in the morning for breakfast). You can see me starting to eat my Old Dirty Bastard, but it's still sitting half finished next to me - so I gotta go.

Multnomah Falls

The best part of the excursion today was the stop at Multnomah Falls. This is the second tallest continuously flowing waterfall in the US, and is really beautiful. We had an hour and a half here and it was plenty of time to hike up and back. The hike up was only a mile and a half, but rather steep - lots of switchbacks. In truth, the bottom was the best place to appreciate the waterfall, since the platform at the top is situated a bit back so that you can't really see over the edge. The view from the top is beautiful, though, positioned right over the Columbia River (check out the video from the top). As you can see in the pictures, the waterfall is in two parts and the mist is splendid when you're standing on that bridge. Just like in the redwoods, it's hard to capture something so large in pictures, but we did our best.

Visit to the Bonneville Dam and Hatchery

Today Carmela's conference had an excursion out of Portland and we bought a ticket for me to join in. We headed out of Portland on 3 coach buses and went East into the Columbia Gorge. One of the stops was at the Bonneville Dam (hydroelectric) and Fish Hatchery. At the hatchery we saw huge sturgeon as well as trout of various sizes. One of the videos is of a sturgeon, since the picture doesn't really do it justice. The other video is of the little trout trying to jump up the incoming water - practice for their future travels.

Headed to Portland

At the conclusion of our quick hike we also had to say goodbye so that Carmela and I could head up towards Portland. Carmela has a work conference, but we’ll be back soon for the wedding. While the drive was long, it was not uneventful. We chose to stay off of I-5 for as long as possible and drive the coastal route 101 – a renowned scenic byway up the coast of California and Oregon. It was well worth the extra driving, and will hopefully be incorporated into a future visit. We headed inland to stay in Eugene, Oregon for the night. Friday is the last couple hours to Portland but we'll have to see if there's any good stops along the way.