Don't go chasin' waterfalls...

Off to the Columbia River Gorge for the afternoon after a morning of relaxation. We started our day at Maltnomah Falls. We hiked up to the overlook bridge, but decided to forgo the hike to the top, because someone else on the trail said she didn't think it was worth it, because she couldn't get close enough to the falls for her liking.



This is the lower section of the waterfall, with the bridge we hiked to at the top.



This is the upper section of Maltnomah Falls, so tall I couldn't fit it all in the camera with my widest lens on the good camera - I had to switch over to the small camera!


From there, we headed west on the Historic Columbia Gorge Highway to the next waterfall - Wakheena Falls.









It went much much further up, as you can sort of see in this picture.

Then, on to Bridal Veil Falls (a 2/3 mile round trip hike), and the overlooks (a 1/3 mile hike).






This was cool, because we got to hike down to the water for some other views. Fortunately, I only brought the small camera, because I would not have hiked down with the expensive camera!



I just had to take this one! The mossy tree looked too life-like to pass up. This was on our hike to the overlook points.









The lichen grows all over the trees here, in very cool patterns!

After Bridal Veil Falls, we drove a little further, and spotted Latourell Falls, visible from the road. There were two paths, one up and one down - I chose to hike down to get our closer view.






The rocks behind the falls here were a interesting pattern.

The last stop on our Columbia River Gorge tour was the overlook point at Vista House at the top of a hill (or mountain).










All in all, a great day! One left, and we're still not completely sure what the plans for tomorrow include...

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A long drive

Today we went out to the coast. We headed up past Portland, into Washington briefly,then back into Oregon near the mouth of the Columbia River. After a quick stop at McDonald's, we ended up at Seaside, a cute little town right on the ocean.









Apparently, this little town enjoys their twinkies and bacon (among other things) - covered in chocolate, or deep fried next door!





Geoff spotted this lovely car in a parking garage - we're pretty sure it's blue under all that dirt!






We had actually spotted these recumbent bikes earlier in out travels, but were not able to whip out the camera quickly enough, so I was happy to see this one again!



These bike carts were a big hit as well. Made for 2 to 6 peddlers, you can still fit a child in the front basket!




After Seaside, we got back in the car (the giganto-car) to head down the coast to Cannon Beach.



I was amused to find that this hotel was a "Historic New England-Style Hotel" about as far west as you can get - far from New England!



Tolovana Beach was a great place to go for some good picture of the giant rocks on the beach.






For a scale on these rocks, notice the people on the right side of the picture, still quite a distance from the rocks!



There was a group doing wedding pictures on the beach as well!

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Day 2 Part II - Japanese Gardens

When we finished up at the zoo, we headed over to the Japanese Gardens. Again, parking was a little tricky, but we managed to find a spot as someone was pulling out. First we went down to the Rose Test Garden.










From there, we went up the hill to the Japanese Gardens.






































And then cooking in the Big Green Egg. Bratwurst and salad for dinner, and karaoke after dinner! A great evening with awesome friends!

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Day 2 Part I - Oregon Zoo

Today, we headed over to Washington Park to visit the Oregon Zoo and the Japanese Gardens. Parking was not easy in either place and we had to wait until someone left a spot in order to take it. The line for the zoo tickets was pretty long as well - it took about 15 minutes in line to get tickets!












Gotta love a polar bear - one of the cutest animals capable of eating us!







There were at least 4 elephants, including a baby!







Geoff's favorite exhibit was the penguins.










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