Portland Pursuit

Over MLK weekend, I convinced Ian to go to take a break from everything and spend some time exploring the Portland area! Originally, we planned to go for Saturday and Sunday night, but Ian got into the spirit and we decided to drive down Friday after I got off of work. We were so excited to visit another city and enjoy ourselves!

Friday night we relaxed and rested, but Saturday we were up and ready to go. The plan for the day? Explore the Columbia River Gorge and all the waterfalls! We set off, stopping at Subway for some cheap food we could eat on the go. The skies cleared, and even though it was about 40 degrees, it was perfect outside for our adventure!

Upper Latourell Falls

Our first stop was Latourell Falls. We were impressed the second we stepped out of the car. There was a massive pounding waterfall pouring down over the cliffs. We looked, and then had to hike up and around the the higher Latourell Falls. Apparently it's the place to have a sportswear photoshoot. We skillfully avoiding everything associated with fancy photos, and made it to the top! The hike up was very enjoyable, and we loved the lush forest common to the Pacific Northwest, and the trickling streams that would have been all dried up if we had gone in the summer.

Lower Latourell Falls. We loved the neon green moss!

Upper Latourell Falls

Can you spot Ian? I swear every waterfall was so big, so we played the game of "run down there so I can take a picture of you, then run back so I can be in the picture." This one was super neat because of how it twisted. Ian ran behind to take a picture of the backside of a waterfall. He said some movie quote I can't ever remember or recognize.

We continued on our adventure and I was able to check off an item on my bucket list that exists in my head...we saw Multnomah Falls! Holy beautiful. This is something I've seen on pinterest a billion times, and have pinned at least 100. I was so overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of this massive waterfall that I wasn't even bummed that we couldn't walk across the bridge. I encourage everyone to go here sometime. Also, we got another ornament for our collection here! Score!

See? Beautiful!! A nice woman even took our picture and made it look like no one else was around. I could have stayed here forever. We did end up stopping here two other times throughout the day, once to eat our sandwiches in a parking spot, and once to use a clean bathroom. I definitely didn't mind having to keep going back to this beautiful wonder, but I'm not too sure about Ian.

Our third and last planned out waterfall hike was to Elowah Falls. This is yet another pinterest find, and it was just as beautiful in person. The hike to this one was a little bit more steep, and a littler longer, but just as beautiful. It was also sprinkled with people hiking with awesome dogs. Anyway, Ian loved this one because he could really get up close and personal with it. 

Elowah falls. I loveeee this picture! I wish I had a fancy camera to take better ones!

From here on out, we just stopped at a variety of waterfalls, most less than a mile from the road. The last hiking one was supposed to have two waterfalls along the trail, but we only found one. It was Triple Falls, and the beauty of it made up for missing a waterfall somehow.

SO pretty. And not edited. Wow.

After our feet and legs were sore and our eyes had been wowed by 9 different waterfalls, we headed back to our hotel, rested, and used Ian's birthday giftcard to Outback for dinner. We are now out of giftcards (ahemmmmm). 

Alrighty. Sunday. Road trip during a road trip day! We headed out to Canon Beach! The drive was semi depressing though, because of all the logged forests. I had NO idea that the beautiful forests over here were used for logging. It was an eye opener, and I would like people to get trees elsewhere. Anyway...we made it to the ocean town of Canon Beach, parked, walked down a random neighborhood road, and popped out on the beach. There is something magical about Oregon beaches and all the dark rocks and rocks poking out of the water. Oh, and Haystack Rock. We could see it from the road two miles away from the beach! So neat! We enjoyed a nice walk on the beach, rested and watched the tide come in, and then continued on our road trip.

view from the first sighting of the beach

Taking a picture of Haystack Rock as close as possible and trying to avoid waves can be challenging..but I succeeded the 2nd time.

We then headed towards Astoria, Oregon and got to cross a green suspension bridge! Ian was ecstatic when we made a spontaneous decision to drive across and visit Cape Disappointment State Park. It had two neat lighthouses, and we could once again eat the other half of our Subway sandwiches in peace and not get strange looks. We hiked to both lighthouses, saw "Deadman's Cove" and enjoyed the beautiful combination of ocean, estuary, and forest. 

North Head Lighthouse

we found this empty cement room on a hike to a lighthouse. Also, note the "we're going on a road trip, not hiking" outfit. I should have known better.

We ended our fantastic and mostly spontaneous road trip with a stop at a delicious mexican restaurant and Voodoo Doughnuts, Too (because the original was just too far away). It was such a great trip, and I just love exploring new places with Ian! It's great to be able to get up and go somewhere. We're soooo stoked for our next big vacation in April!