DAY 21- Portland and the Oregon Wilderness

Nancy at the beach in Seaside

So....we're sort of losing track of our days here.  At one point today we weren't sure which day of the week it was, how many days of the trip we had left, or even what town we were in....good lord I think we are all going a little nuts!  Honesty, I think all the traveling is just starting to wear on us and we find ourselves in a constant state of tiredness.  Time to up the dosage of coffee and energy drinks I guess.  All in all, we actually did have a pretty nice day in Oregon.

A lot of people in Portland like to ride bikes

We woke up early in Seaside to explore the coastal town during the daytime.  The weather was just gorgeous and we walked down to the beach and browsed in some of the local shops where Nancy again picked up a few souvenirs.  I swear our car is so full it's going to overflow any day now, leaving us all stranded on some highway somewhere in North Dakota.  After the morning ritual of picking up some Starbucks and tabloids, we left Seaside bound for Portland.  Seaside was the northern most point of our road trip, and from here our direction turns due east as we head back across the states for the last leg of our journey.  When first arriving in Portland, we checked out the world's largest new and used bookstore- Powell Book City in downtown.  This was quite an amazing place and we spent about an hour roaming through the multi-story building.  After picking up some good new reads, we went across the street to a local pizza shop for a surprisingly very good lunch.  From here we had some time to kill before we were scheduled to meet up with a friend of Andy's for some drinks, so we walked around the section of the city known as Old Town/Chinatown.  Not very impressed, we soon headed back to the main area of "downtown" to meet up with our friends John and Oscar at a bar for a couple of drinks and catching up time.  It was a lot of fun seeing these guys and we enjoyed some pleasant conversation over a few drinks at a not-so-crowded bar.

The Colombia River Gorge, as seen from Vista House

By now we had had our fill of Portland and decided to head out of town to drive along the Colombia River Gorge.  This is one of the most famous drives in the northwest and we were sure glad we took the time to check it out!  The Colombia Gorge Scenic Highway winds along the Colombia River for several miles, passing many high cliffs and lookout points, most notably the Vista House, rising some 700 feet above the river.  A little ways on down the road, we passed several breathtaking waterfalls.  We checked out a couple within walking distance of our car, but the most amazing one by far was the 650 foot Multnomah Falls.  These are one of the most photographed falls in the world and it was incredible to get to walk right below them and cross the bridge.  The drive through the gorge was definitely one of the best so far!

Multnomah Falls

Dan at Multnomah Falls

From here we headed for another scenic drive, which took us around one of the most massive peaks in the northwest, the 11,000 foot Mount Hood.  Our route took us pretty far up the mountain to the point where there was even snow in the woods along both sides of the highway and the temperature dropped more than 20 degrees from what it was at the base!  Once back down the other side, we stopped for dinner at the Ice Axe Cafe, part of the Mount Hood Brewing Company.  Our food here was pretty excellent as were the couple local beers we sampled that were made at the brewing company.  By this point it was pretty late in the day and after dinner we high-tailed it through the night to the sleepy town of Madras....we really are in the middle of nowhere.  Our hotel for the night is definitely the sketchiest one of the trip so far...so pray we wake up tomorrow morning with no bed bug bites!

Mt Hood, Oregon

Until we meet again,

The Weary Road-Trippers



Total Travel Time: 10.5 hours
Total Miles: 256.1