For
nine days we visited three destinations along the coast in Oregon. Portland, Tillamook, and Newport. Fall is here and we saw lots of falling
leaves and trees ablaze with golds and reds.
Portland (Sept 26 - 30)
There is a lot to see in Portland and you need more
than 5 days to slowly enjoy it all. But
we saw a lot during our time here.
Troutdale
We camped out in nearby Troutdale. Troutdale
is a small, cute town about 15 miles outside of Portland and is the gateway to
the Columbia River Gorge. When the
highway opened up in 1915, tourists flooded the gorge. There were very few conveniences along this
new highway such as gas stations, motels, restaurants. So Troutdale took advantage of the flood of
tourists and grew as it provided these conveniences.
We
stayed here at SANDY RIVERFRONT RV RESORT.
This is a large RV park with just over 200 sites. Most of the guests are permanent or seasonal
guests. Some of the sites are spacious,
but others are a bit close together. Our
site was squeezed in between two permanent guests, but we never saw or heard
them. We over looked the Sandy River so
our site was comfortable and pleasant.
Unfortunately, several yards up the Sandy River was a bridge. And on that bridge were train tracks where a
freight train ran about every hour, all day and all night, honking it’s horn
and making a lot of noise and shaking the trailer each time it went by. But believe it or not it was bearable and we were
able to sleep through it all.
View of the Sandy River behind our trailer.
The train crosses over that bridge in the background all day and all night
Next
to the RV park and walking distance was the historic area of Troutdale. We found some time during our busy stay here
to visit some of the unique shops on this street.
This is a huge store with everything in it. Three floors of stuff.
The basement floor is all Christmas.
Oregon
Zoo
This
is a very nice zoo. We spent four hours
here walking through the great Northwest, African savannas, swamps and rain
forests. There was a lot of fall foliage
to view as well. 25 elephants have been
born in this zoo. They are doing their
part in saving these species.
This is a wood carving of the "Great Northwest"
California Condor
Caracal
Historic
Columbia River Highway
Troutdale
is the gateway to this Historic Route 30; the Columbia River Highway. It was a partially cloudy day, but very warm,
when we decided to drive this route and see the sights. There are a lot of waterfalls with the most
famous being the Multnomah Falls.
Vista House View of Columbia River from Vista House
Wahkeena Falls
Multnomah Falls
Oneonta Gorge
Horsetail Falls
This
was interesting. The parking lot at
Horsetail Falls was completely blocked off.
This search and rescue was quite the set-up. Lots of vehicles and lots of people. We thought it was a practice session, but on
the news that night we saw it was the real thing. They were searching for a missing man and
that night they had ended the search with no success and called it off.
Lan
Su Chinese Garden
The
name represents the relationship between Portland and Suzhou, it’s
sister city in China’s Jiangsu province.
It was completed in 2000. 65
artisans from Suzhou lived in Portland for 10 months while they assembled and
completed the structures that were crafted in China. This garden is in downtown Portland and takes
up one city block. Once you walk inside
the walls, you are separated from the city and are in a peaceful, tranquil
place. It is a beautiful garden and even
has a tea house where you can enjoy different teas and snacks.
The brown structure in the back is the Tea House.
After
visiting the garden, we drove a few blocks away and met up with Kim Dallas, a
friend from our days living in Phoenix and volunteering with RESCUE; a cat and
dog rescue organization. Kim and her
family moved to China for 8 years and then to Portland. We moved back to the Bay Area. We met again on Facebook, and now we finally
met up for lunch, after about 15 years. It
was good to see her again and hear about her adventures in China.
Portland
Japanese Garden
Is
located near the Oregon Zoo and the Rose Garden. The garden is on a hill top. You can walk or take a shuttle. There is also a lot of walking and climbing
inside the garden. But you are walking
and climbing through lush, landscaped walkways, paths, manicured trees, rocks,
ponds and waterfalls. It was a warm sunny
day and an a perfect day to relax and walk in a garden.
This viewpoint overlooks downtown Portland.
On a clear day you can see Mt. Hood. But not today.
At
the bottom of the hill, where we parked, is the International Rose Test Garden,
so we continued our perfect day with a walk among the roses. Yes, they were still blooming.
International Rose Test Garden
Established
in 1917; more than 160 varieties of roses are planted on 4.5 acres of hillside
over-looking downtown Portland. It’s a colorful
display of Portland’s love affair with Roses.
Coretta Scott King
Marilyn Monroe
Honey Perfume
Troutdale was celebrating it’s 2nd annual
“Fall Festival of the Arts” on the day we departed for our next destination. The event was located right across the street
from the RV Park. So we ‘broke down
camp’ and hitched the trailer and walked over to the Festival. It was a small event with maybe 40 artists. It was in a park and because it rained during
the night it was quite damp and muddy in places. But there was some very nice art, glass,
pottery and jewelry to look at and everyone was in good cheer. We were done looking in less than an hour and
got back to the trailer just before check-out time.
One last thing to point out about the Pacific
Northwest. BANANA SLUGS. They are everywhere; all sizes, shapes and
colors. The Pacific Northwest is famous
for these yucky bugs. You will even see
them in gift shops; made of glass, plastic, clay, etc. Watch your step and walk carefully. We came upon this group walking into
Troutdale. I almost stepped on
them. Eeeewwwwwuuuuuuu…
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