A while back my youngest son moved to Oregon to begin a new life with his soon to be fiancee. Of course my wife and I miss him, so this was a good reason to visit a place we had never been before. We began to plan a trip soon after my son and his intended settled in Beaverton, a suburb of Portland and the home of Nike. Our plan was to travel in the spring, visit with our son and meet his girlfriend's family, and spend a few days out on the coast. Being first timers, we weren't fully prepared for the natural beauty we were about to see.
Our first few days were filled with a whirlwind of activity. Our son's future father-in-law took us for a tour of much of the natural wonders that surround the Portland area of the state. The Pacific Northwest climate is perfect for a wide variety of vegetation. We went for an eight mile hike through Silver Falls State Park that included many waterfalls and more shades of green than I have ever seen in one place. Visits to Mount Hood, the Columbia River Gorge, and a variety of waterfalls leading up to the famous Multnomah Falls followed on subsequent days. However, as much as we wanted to, we couldn't spend the whole week with our son and his girlfriend's family. They had to work. So my wife and I headed for the coast and Cannon Beach for three days.
I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to spend a lot of time in Cannon Beach. It's a beautiful little resort town that sits right of the beach at the iconic Haystack Rock. Except for the tsunami escape route signs around town, we could have been in paradise. Never mind that a fault line runs right along the beach - we were in paradise. There are trade-offs to everything. Beautiful scenery, good food, great accommodations, great weather, and no earthquake. What more could you want.
Back in Beaverton, it was time to visit Portland proper. Portland is known as the Rose city. So we had to visit the Rose and Japanese Gardens. Both were beautiful. The Rose Garden contained an incredible array of roses of just about every variety. We also went downtown to stroll the weekend market and check out Powell's bookstore. If you like to read, this place can't be missed. Powell's takes up an entire block with several floors filled with an incredible variety of titles, new and old. And no trip to Portland is complete without waiting in line at Voodoo Donuts. They have every kind of decadent donut you can imagine with just as many creative names. How about a maple bacon donut and a blunt? No, not the blunt you are thinking about, but it was a donut the size of a Rastafarian Ganga blunt. I'm talking a serious sugar headache. As they say in Portland, keep Portland weird.
Our first visit was two years ago now and we have been back since. The beauty of that part of the world doesn't get old. We recently went back to Portland and drove up to Washington State as well. I will blog about that with a picture essay at a later date. We will visit again. The Pacific Northwest is an amazing part of this country and should not be missed.