Portland, Oregon

Mt. Hood: taken out of the sun-roof on our way to the mountain.

This past weekend my family and I checked off another two states off our list, Oregon and Washington! We chose Oregon so we could go skiing, check out a cool new city, and the travel expenses were pretty reasonable (especially for us living on the West coast!)

View of the Columbia River from the riverwalk behind our hotel

To make the most of a 3-day weekend, we all flew into Portland Thursday night, picked up our rental car and headed East to Hood River. Hood River is a small, outdoorsy town, home to some bigger companies such as Dakine and Tofurky, as well as mom-and-pop stores and local breweries. We stayed along the Columbia River at the Best Western Plus, known in the area as having the best breakfast in town!

 

 

 

 

Day 1

We headed to Mt. Hood Meadows bright and early Friday morning to make the first chair up (or 6th, close enough). Something we’ve learned over the years is the importance of getting to the mountain early during spring skiing. The snow quickly softens after lunch, cutting a full day of skiing short. The mountain was beautiful, and had the snow been a bit better, would have offered a great mix of groomers and technical runs.

Friday night we grabbed dinner at Solstice Wood Fire Pizza, checked out downtown Hood River, and crossed the Hood River Bridge to White Salmon, Washington! 

Day 2

A 5:30 AM wake-up call had us eating our talk-of-the town breakfast by 6 and back on our way to the mountain by 7. The parking lot was filled with locals by the time we arrived at 8, an hour before first chair.

Nonetheless, the skiing was better the second day and the longest wait for a chair was still less than 5 minutes!

Ski selfies with Mom

We ended our last run at the parking lot around 2, packed up, and headed back towards Portland. We wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to stop at “Oregon roadside attractions”, AKA AMAZING waterfalls.

As some of you may remember my obsession with fountains while travelling in Europe, my mom is equally obsessed with waterfalls. We stumbled upon Tamanawas Falls, and the touristy 611-foot tall Multnomah Falls. There were many more areas we could have stopped on our way into Portland, and I definitely want to go back and explore!

For dinner Saturday night we went to Laughing Planet Cafe, and walked a mile to the famous Voodoo Doughnut for dessert. 

Multnomah Falls

Day 3

 

Sunday was all about exploring Portland! Portland is a very walkable city, and we were easily able to go everywhere we wanted.  The day started with breakfast at Cheryl’s on 12th. They had a great menu, with options suitable for every diet.  Following breakfast we hopped between neighborhoods to check out some of our favorite stores (including REI, I have a problem!), along with Powell’s Books and the Portland Saturday Market.

In the afternoon we settled into a booth at a local bar for a few hours to catch the Portland Timbers vs Columbus Crew game. After the game we made our way to the oldest public Rose Testing Garden. However, as soon as I opened the car door, the skies opened up and it began to rain!

We took this as a sign to head to the last stop before the airport, Salt & Straw! If you travel to Portland (or LA), I HIGHLY recommend stopping and treating yourself to a waffle cone. I don’t often come across a “regular” ice cream shop that has amazing dairy free/vegan flavors, but Salt & Straw takes home the prize!

Overall, we had a great weekend and I can't wait to to go back to the Pacific Northwest!