Day 2 - Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls and Portland Exploration
We woke up and left the hotel at 4:50AM, which was pretty easy considering the great night’s sleep and our body’s still being on central time. We picked up Katy, the amazing photographer I had found and we headed due East 30 minutes to the gorgeous Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. This gorge is the natural state border between Oregon and Washington State. We were the only ones there at 6AM and had the most popular natural tourist attraction in the state mostly to ourselves for the entire hour we were there. Normally, the place is crawling with thousands of tourists and buses that start arriving mid morning. We were super lucky that the famous Benson Bridge mid-way up the waterfall had just reopened after being closed for the last year after the horrific 2017 Eagle Creek Fires. Talk about an impressive 611 foot water fall that we won’t soon forget.
We then headed a few miles further east to The Bridge Of The Gods that connects Oregon to Washington in the middle of the Columbia River Gorge. We were going deep into the Washington State Forest in search for a much more secluded waterfall down a 5 mile gravel road. We would have never known how to find this magical place with no parking lot or sign, if it hadn’t been for Katy. We pulled over just before a random bridge and walked down a steep path to this magical hidden gem of a playground for the kids called Steep Creek Falls. We threw in a super cool family photographer/tour guide and had the most amazing relaxing experience. The colored rocks at this waterfall really stood out to me. The girls and I even played several games of tic tac toe with the colored rocks and of course, Delaney found a perfect heart rock to remember this beautiful place and morning.
After a swim in the pool, including our family fun push up contest for Pringles and a nap, we were ready to explore Portland for the rest of the afternoon and evening. First we celebrated such a great 4 hours of taking photos, that we all got to go to Portland's famous Salt and Straw for ice cream. Addison's s'more ice cream was incredible. Then without much of a plan, we decided it would be fun to show the kids how to ride mass transit. We found the bus stop, found he correct bus and rode up all the way to the top of the hill in Portland which is where their major hospitals are. There was great balcony lookout that we enjoyed trying to count all the bridges and then we rode the Air Tram down to the base of the river. What a cool ride! Delaney was a little anxious about it getting on but ended up loving it. We then walked one of the newest bridges, called the Tilikum Crossing, in “bridge town” and had a beer across at Mt Hood Bewary, to cool off.
We took the bus to Powell Books, the largest bookstore in the world. The kids learned the real meaning of deceiving, looking at it from the outside, doubting it was truly that big. However once we got in there and saw it was at least 3 stories and the building took up the entire block, they were believers. We spent over an hour wondering around and reading books. It was a perfect place to escape the extreme heat. The sun started going down behind the buildings, so we walked the downtown city streets to dinner and enjoyed the beautiful Portland evening.
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