Day Thirty-Eight: All Good at Mt. Hood

We found out today that not only does our neighbor have one set of antlers, he has two! The second one is attached to the hitch in the back of his van. Why they aren't in front, who knows. And he didn't even sleep in his tent last night! Only the antlers did. We woke up to see his van covered in tarps and then he got out of it. There definitely are some characters out here.
Anyway, we had decided last night to go out to Mt. Hood National Forest today. We need to do some more research on these places before we head out, or something. We put it into our GPS and figured that the place it led to would be the actual park. Well, it didn't. It led us to a visitors' center in the middle of a town about 30 miles away. After stopping there for a few minutes, we kept on going out to the mountain. It's the highest point in the state. There wasn't much to do out there once we got there. It is definitely something that needs to be done in the winter when you can go skiing and do all those winter sports. It was a very nice drive, though. We took a different route on the way back and from there, you can see Mt. St. Helens. Pretty neat, but I'm not sure how I would feel living right between two volcanoes.But the land sure is pretty out there, and apparently very good for growing fruits and vegetables. We did learn that there are 16 volcanoes in Oregon alone, along with another 5 in Washington and 4 in California. It's an early night tonight because it's a long way tomorrow. Headed to Northern California to see some really large trees!

Day Thirty-Seven: The Rose City

Today has been, so far, one of our more-successful days. We were able to sleep pretty well, without too much trouble from the train. After our hearty breakfast of coffee, pancakes and sausage, we decided to go into Portland for the day. We were able to get into the city, but once we got there, we got confused and I almost threw the GPS out the window. The first stop we were going to make was to the International Rose Test Garden, which is in the middle of Washington Park. It is a huge park, with a bunch of other parks, and the zoo, inside its boundaries. Apparently everyone else had the same idea as us. It seems to be working out that way for a lot of our stops here. There weren't any parking spots, so we drove around some more, and decided to fill up with gas, since we figured we'd have a lot more driving around to do. Once we did that, we continued to drive around some more, and found a parking spot at the Garden. We spent an hour or so there. Luckily, we came at the right time of year, because the roses were in bloom, although some of them looked a little dried out. It was really neat because from the road you could see Mt. Hood, the city skyline, and then all of the flowers. Although in the pictures, you can't really see the mountain.
After that, we decided to take a detour and look for the house from Twilight. We found it, alright, and drove up the drive-way before realizing that it was not a road. I don't know how they ended up filming there, because it didn't look like there was much room around, but it is an AWESOME house! We were able to get a picture of the deck...then we realized we shouldn't be there and left very quickly. (The house is on Quimby Street, which for Simpsons fans out there, is the street that Mayor Quimby is named after. There is also a NE Flanders St. and a Lovejoy St. Matt Groening is from Portland and named his characters after the streets. There is also a Burnside St. which we are thinking may be where Mr. Burns came from...)
After that, we headed to Voodoo Doughnuts, which is a doughnut place (obviously) out here that has its own cult following. They make a whole bunch of different, random doughnuts, and apparently that's where you should go when you're in the city (the lady from Canada, who made fun of us for making coffee in the morning, told us, too). So, we found it alright, but the line was literally out the door, down the street, and around the corner. Again, same idea as us. So, we decided to forgo that, and kept driving. Maybe we'll try again on our way out...
Our last excursion was to Roloff Farm, for mom. Before that, though, we took a small detour to Beaverton. Nike's World Headquarters are located here. There was a gate, so we couldn't go down it. From there, is was out to the farm. It is on the outskirts of the city, maybe about 10 miles away. From the street, all you could see is the house, and not the rest of the farm. It's closed until pumpkin season, so we could only do a drive-by. We got the pictures, so that's good. Maybe during pumpkin season, we can come back for a $300.00 family-member-led tour. There's not much in the town either. It's in the "agriculture area", so there are a bunch of farms around.
After we found our way out of Portland (rather easy, which was surprising), we headed back to the campground. Since it is Sunday, there is a whole new group of campers here. Our neighbor is one of them, and he is mighty interesting, to say the least. The first thing he pulled out of his car? A pair of antlers. He proceeded to put them into one of his tents after he set it up. I'm not even kidding. He also had two inflatable kayaks. Those didn't go in the tent. They just book-end it. Then he asked us if we knew how the weather was supposed to be. Wouldn't you check before going camping?! He is one of those people who walks around barefoot. I guess when it's really dusty, it doesn't matter anyway. But, he was nice enough to offer us a spare lantern. (He probably has three more in his van.) I don't know where he went, though, he kind of just disappeared...
From what we saw today, Portland is now high on our list of favorite cities. But, now it's off to bed, and Mt. Hood in the morning!

(I know we haven't put any pictures up in a while- We're trying our best! The internet connection at the campground isn't the best, and it's taking a while to get them all up!
Life Is A Highway- here are a few pictures, hopefully!!)

Day Thirty-Six: Bridge Over Untroubled Water

Last night, we got a recommendation for breakfast at a place in Damascus called the Carver Cafe, so we headed out that way, after a night where the train didn't wake us up! Well, you can figure out why they recommend it, just by looking at all of the cars in the parking lot. And I guess since it was Saturday morning, it was probably even busier than usual. Well, we were hungry and didn't really feel like waiting for a table, so we ended up at our usual go-to, Starbucks. Not as exciting. Oh well. Maybe another time. On the way back, we passed a sign for a town named 'Boring'. Don't think I'd want to grow up living there...
After that, it was to Route 30 and the Oregon Historic Scenic Byway which is the Lewis and Clark Trail. A lot of people had the same idea as us. Again, probably because it's Saturday and the weather is gorgeous today. We stopped at Vista House. This was a building up on the cliffs, overlooking the Columbia River. There were a lot of people, there, too. (Mom, we did see a truck that said 'Roloff Construction'.) It was a look-out point. Along Highway 30, there are a bunch (5 or 6) different waterfalls along the way. The biggest one is Multnomah. (They actually filmed the falls in a few scenes from Twilight...) They are the second tallest all-year falls in the country. They are 620 feet high, which doesn't seem very tall, but they definitely are. There was a trail to the top, so we decided to take it. Man, that was a steep trail. They stretched it out over 1.5 miles, but parts of the trail were wicked steep. It was kind of funny watching the other people going up who decided, "Ehh... that's far enough," half way up. When we got to the end of the trail, there was a fork in the road, but the trail markers don't tell you where the two trails end up. So we decided to take the one that had more people (they couldn't all be wrong, could they?) and it was the right one. It led to a viewing deck, where you could look down onto the falls. You couldn't really see much of the falls, since the trees had grown over the water, but the view looking out and down were awesome. You could see Washington over the river. The way down was a lot easier than the way up. At the bottom, there where all kinds of gift shops and a small cafe. We went to the gift shop to get some postcards (which none of you are getting. :) and then we headed back to the car. There was another trail called the "Return Trail", hoping that it would take us back to the parking lot. Luckily, it did, and it was much better than walking on the road, which is what we did going there. It led us back to Wahkeena Falls, which was a smaller waterfall. There are quite a few in this area.
After we left the area, we decided to head back to camp for the night. We are trying out a few more grilling recipes, so hopefully we'll be successful! We are going to spend the evening updating, etc. We have tons of pictures that we are going to try to put up in the next few days. It might take us a while!

Day Thirty-Five: Oregon- Pacific Wonderland!

Last night was probably the best sleep we've had the entire trip. The kids next door were quiet (the moms threatened to take today's trip away from them) and it was actually warm out, so it was quite comfortable! We slept through our alarm, which turned out to not be a bad thing. We packed up and headed to our next stop, which was Cascade Locks. We got a little turned around, like usual (probably tired of reading about that and think, "What's the point of the GPS if you don't follow the directions?" We do. Or at least, try to...) So, after taking an hour or so longer, we got to Portland, Oregon. First impressions: it doesn't seem that there is as much 'city' as 'outside sprawl'. We did learn, though, that Oregon gas stations are not self-serve. The lady was kind of rude about it. Even though she clearly saw we were from out-of-state, as she grilled our license plate, and then came to help. Also, we are getting back to where it is warm. It was around 80 at 4:00 this afternoon. We have to re-acclimate!! Anyway, we kept driving out to our campground and in the distance, you can see Mt. Hood, which is Oregon's highest point. We are staying about 30 minutes from Portland, along the Columbia River. I sure hope the girls next to us invite us over for some drinks! They have an entire bar out there. But I hope that whoever is lucky enough to have the hammock doesn't roll out tonight. That would hurt. Since we got here pretty early, we were able to set up (in record time, probably) and make dinner. Tonight was Baja Citrus shrimp. It was delicious! We're getting good with the grill. And dessert, too- grilled pineapple. So, now we are going to plan the next few days out in Portland and the surrounding areas. (And Sarah, Oregon is up there, too, on our list of places, not just Washington! ;0) ) And, of course, this campground is also next to a railroad track. They have so many out here, I guess it has to be near something. And the bats. I hope they don't get me tonight. Robyn is being a jerk about them. Someone may end up in the car tonight...And then there go the dogs...