The Adventures of Bushwhack Jack: 2016-08-28 - Jack and Amys Oregon Vacation

Jack and Amy's 2016 Oregon Vacation

Day 1
Columbia River Gorge and Downtown Portland

Sunday, August 28th, 2016
Multnomah Falls, Dutchman Falls, Weisendanger Falls, Fairy Falls, Wahkeena Falls, Powell's World of Books,
Fat Heads Brewery, Portland Rose Garden at Washington Park, 10 Barrel Brewing Company, Pittock Mansion,
Latourell Falls, Vista House at Crown Point

Jack and Amy at the Upper Drop of Multnomah Falls

For this years big vacation Amy and I decided on Oregon.
Why Oregon?
Here are a few of the reasons:

Waterfalls Galore
10,000+ feet Glacier Capped Mountains
Beaches unlike anything you will find on East Coast
One of the deepest and prettiest lakes on the planet
More Craft Breweries than any other place in the world
Neither Amy or I have ever been to the Pacific Northwest

Technically Saturday was Day 1 of our trip, but after a day of travel, by the time we landed, retrieved our bags, picked up the rental car, and arrived at our first Accommodations in Gresham, NC we were beat!

So we went to bed relatively early in order to get a head start on the first full day of our Oregon Vacation!

Multnomah Falls is one of the most spectacular in the USA. It is also the most popular tourist attraction in the state or Oregon. Therefore, if you want to beat the crowds, it is essential to get an early start! Which is exactly what we did by arriving at the parking area off of I-84 shortly before 8:00am.

Multnomah Falls

We had the place to ourselves for a little while and I was able to get some rare shots of Multnomah Falls without any people on the bridge!

Multnomah Falls

Amy and I have different vacation styles! I like to get in as much hiking and see as many sights as possible, while Amy likes to take time to relax, read, and do a little shopping. So for the rest of the morning, I decided to do a 6-mile hike while Amy would stay back, read her Kindle, and explore the gift shops at the Multnomah Falls Lodge.

I did a clockwise loop hike starting with the climb up to the top of Multnomah Falls.

The top of Multnomah Falls

I continued on upstream past Dutchman Falls

Dutchman Falls

Then on to Weisendanger Falls

Weisendanger Falls

The next few miles were uneventful, but after gaining over 1,500 feet in elevation it was a welcome relief to be hiking on flat ground! And there were a few nice views along the way!

view from the trail

Eventually I came to Wahkeena Creek and a few tributaries. Even though I am color-blind and can't really see greens too well, I was amazed by the greenery in these streams!

Cascades along Wahkeena Creek

While nowhere near as tall or as impressive as some of the others, Fairy Falls was one of the prettiest that I saw in Oregon!

Fairy Falls on Wahkeena Creek

The final waterfall of the loop was Wahkeena Falls! Another beauty!

Wahkeena Falls

By the time I met back up with Amy at the Multnomah Falls Lodge, the place was swarming with Hundreds of people! We would save further exploration of the Columbia River Gorge for later after the weekend crowds die down!

We decided to head to downtown Portland for the afternoon, making a quick roadside stop along the way.

Amy along the Columbia River

I mentioned earlier that Amy likes to read, so we visited the largest bookstore in the world!

We had lunch and my first flight of the week at Fathead's Brewery

Me enjoying a Flight at Fathead's Brewery

We strolled through the Portland Rose Rose Garden at Washington Park

Amy taking time to stop and smell the roses!

We stopped at another brewery for my second flight of the day

Me enjoying a flight of 10 at the 10 Barrel Brewing Company

We finished up our visit to downtown Portland with a drive (Amy behind the wheel) up to the Pittock Mansion. I was not overly excited about the Pittock Mansion, but with all the hiking and breweries planned for this trip, it was also essential that we also do some things that Amy wanted to do. The Pittock Mansion was one of those things!

Fortunately the view was a very pleasant surprise! The grounds outside the mansion offer up some of the best views of downtown Portland and on a clear day, the view of Mount Hood is spectacular!

View of Downtown Portland and Mount Hood from the Pittock Mansion

View of Mount Hood from the Pittock Mansion

Since our accommodations in Gresham, OR were only about 10 minutes from the Columbia River Gorge, we decided to head back there for and after dinner Sunset. I decided that Vista House on Crown Point would be a good place to view the sunset!