August 12-18, 2015
Summer Vacation
The plan this year was the Pacific Northwest. First stop Portland.
Our plane ascended into the lovely city of Portland, Oregon on Wednesday morning. Here we rented a SUV that would fit all six of us since my parents had decided to tag along on our adventure. We really only had the day to explore so we wanted to catch all that we could. Jason thought it would be good to check out the Portland Temple before we headed into downtown, so he mapped it on his phone. We drove for a bit and it was saying we were only a half mile or so away but we couldn't see anything that looked like the temple or surrounding grounds. Before long his phone proudly announced that we had arrived- but it wasn't the temple- it was Deseret Industries!! We got a pretty good chuckle out of that! Re-entered it on maps, this time being careful it was LDS temple not just the first choice to pop up when typing in LDS. The second try was successful and we walked around the green lush grounds and took some photos. The Portland temple is actually a sister temple to the Las Vegas temple so it was neat to see the differences and similarities. Next, we headed downtown to visit Powell's City of Books, the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. After browsing and buying a few items we walked around the block for lunch at Little Big Burger. Then we got a good aerial view of the city while riding the Portland Aerial Tram. The views from the top were amazing and while at the top we checked out a smidgen of the Oregon Health & Science University. Our next stop was the Pittock Mansion that sits above the city and has some spectacular views from the garden. It was built in 1914 by Henry Pittock who owned The Oregonian newspaper and is now owned by the City of Portland. After leaving the mansion, we made a pit stop at our hotel to freshen up before heading back out to visit Multnomah Falls. This magnificent waterfall is 611 feet tall and it's cascading waters were breathtaking from both viewing spots that we hiked up to. I loved all the green foliage and moss that was everywhere. We left there starving and ready for a good dinner- we found an Old Spaghetti Factory on the river back in Portland and it definitely hit the spot. After dinner we ventured back downtown to try out VooDoo Donuts. Their donuts were quite tasty and worth the wait in line to get one. By now we were beat and went back to the hotel to call it a night. The next morning we had breakfast, stopped to see my cousin Casey at his dentist office, then hit the road to Seattle. We made a small detour to get a glimpse of Mount St. Helens from a viewing area a few miles off of the I-5. We didn't want to take the long drive to get closer even though it was a hazy day and we could only see the outline of the mountain- but hey, we saw it!!
(Next post SEATTLE!!)
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| From the top of the aerial tram |
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| Jace waiting at the top for the tram |
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| View from the garden of the Pittock Mansion |
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| Pittock Mansion |
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| Multnomah Falls- we hiked up to that bridge |
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| River near the falls |
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| View from down in the river |
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| Fancy drinks at Old Spaghetti Factory |
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| Line to indulge in a VooDoo donut |
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| Stopped to see my cousin Casey who is a dentist in Portland |
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| Mount St. Helens in the distance |
1 comment:
I love the Portland temple and Multnomah falls, but next time I've got to check out Voodoo Doughnut!
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