Damp and Lovely

So now I can show you what we saw while visiting Portland. This collection is mainly of the Columbia River Gorge and waterfalls surrounding it. It was a gorgeous way to spend the day. It was also the only day that I was good about taking pictures. These first two are of Latourell; the colors of the moss and the pounding of the water were surreal.

We went to an observatory that overlooks the Columbia River Gorge. Sadly, it reopened for spring the next day; from the state of the construction tape and unfinished projects inside, it seemed hard to believe that it would really be ready as scheduled. Redgardless, it was a breathtaking site. By the way those good looking guys belong to me. ;)
The drive was gorgeous and it was nice to stop along the way. The hillsides glowing with tulips and daffodils made up for the lack of sunshine (there was some sun...just intermitent...sun/hail/sun/drizzle/rain/drizzle/sun/drips...and so on).

I don't remember what this one is called. What I do remember is that my five year old is terrified by waterfalls and that my future father in law will kindly risk a raging river for a dropped lens cap.

As for the waterfall tour, this stop was the end of the trail. While driving through downtown, I was wondering how you could choose from all of the quality places to dine; which led me to wondering about whether or not Rachael Ray had ever done a "$40-a-day" in Portland. So, I checked when I got home and found that this last stop would have found her approval. After hiking to the top and crossing the bridge (which almost feels like verb-embellishment...it was a short trip), we ate lunch at the Multnomah Falls Lodge. It was delicious; I agree with her.

The very last thing that we did was visit the fish hatchery. It was good that we stopped here after lunch because the fishes looked delicious. Rather than wishing to eat them, we fed them; they do tricks; you should try it; seeing a trout dance across a pond is definitely neat.

Then we celebrated Easter and enjoyed each others company; we ate lots of delicious homemade goods...so tasty; I made a trivet ;).

On our last day, we ate delicious Hawaiian food and started our goodbyes at lunch time. The last thing we did was walk through the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. The flora was amazing (I kept thinking of when Patrick Dempsey told a cheerleader that she had the best pair of rhododendrons on the block in"Can't By Me Love"); the fauna was entertaining - the boys challenged the geese and there were some blue billed ducks I'd never seen before.