My husband was not quite on this time zone and woke rather early. I, on the other hand, slept until 8:30. Breakfast at a Hampton is always good and this one was no different in that regard. However, they did have something I've never seen before- scrambled eggs with flank steak. It was terrific!
They also had tortillas, but I didn't see any reason to ruin those eggs with extra starch.
We left at 10:35, with 1155 on the odometer. It was cool with clouds rolling in. They were not a lie, we later discovered. Once again, there was heavy traffic on the 205, which we realized was due to the fact that it was one of the few routes that crossed the Columbia to Washington.
We parked up the street from the Oregon Historical Society at 11:10, having traveled 12 miles. We charged 3 hours on the parking machine to a credit card for $4.80. There was a park down the middle of the street, where we saw not only homeless people, but also a group of preschoolers being watched by their teachers as they played on some stone platforms.
The historical society charges $9 for 60 and over (my husband) and $11 for other adults. I had a $2 off coupon from the airport, which they applied to both rates to my surprise. They are renovating their interior, so there were only 3 exhibits to be viewed. That was fine, as the main one covered the history of the state. However, they never really said when it became a state, which was odd. It focused on society. They did not shy away from discussing the poor treatment of the Indians or the Japanese-Americans in WW II. In an exhibit called The Voices of Oregon, they even discussed the poor treatment of the LGBTQ community at times.
I had an interesting conversation with the clerk at the gift shop. There is no sales tax in the state. The income tax, which is about equal to the federal tax, does not always make up for this lack of tax. When someone brings up having a sales tax, it is a non-starter. There is no rainy day fund. If the state takes in more than it needs in a year, it gives it back! This can cause problems in bad years. And I thought Florida was crazy!
When we left at 1, we were hungry, but my husband discovered a place called East Side Deli was just a couple of blocks away. We still had plenty of time on the meter, so this was a good choice. En route, we saw a poster in a window apologizing for ever marginalizing the LGBTQ community and below it a poster with We Are Orlando and the names of the victims. I posted it on Facebook, so that the folks back home could see the support.
At the deli, we decided to get a 12" sub to split for $13, rather than 2 6" subs for $1 more. We chose the mufaletta, which was good, but had too many olives on it. I won't need an olive for quite a while! It was nice to get Sun Chips and we split a Diet Coke.
We left at 1:39 and saw a Safeway on our way back to the car. I need distilled water for my CPAP machine, so we made a detour. We also found Stash tea, which is locally made and local coffee, which the clerk kindly gave us the club discount on, perhaps because we are from out of town.
We finally got back to the car at 2 and headed off to Washington Park. The drive was interesting, as we were going up what is basically a mountain. We saw some great houses and fun parking, such as the house with a car in a tiny spot up against the hillside and lots of wooden steps up to the house itself.
After quite a search for a parking spot, we finally nabbed one at 2:20 (1170) between the Portland Japanese Garden and the International Rose Test Garden. Once again, $4.80 was charged at the machine for 3 hours of parking. It was grey and cool and I put on my poncho before we left the car.
It was a good call, as it started raining almost as soon as we started the climb to the Japanese gardens. It was a tough climb for me, steep and several sets of stairs. No wheelchairs can go that way. I was a bit winded by the time we got there, with my knees screaming. We weren't eligible for any discounts, so it cost $19.
My husband handled the map, while I wielded an umbrella and my camera. The rain was off and on and, luckily, it never poured. The gardens were lovely, well-maintained and sculpted. The red maples were particularly lovely. The koi were huge, of course.
The zen-style garden was much larger than usual and a sign explained that the circles were meant to represent the ocean. A view of the garden from a higher elevation let me see this idea in action.
There was a lot of climbing at times and my knees were a little better on the climb, and terrible on the descent.
There was a small shop that had no postcards, but I found some near the entrance. My husband discovered that there was a shuttle bus heading for the parking lot, so we got on that at 3:40. We were down in less than 5 minutes. That was better than the 15 minute climb up.
We dropped the poncho at the car on our way around the tennis court to the rose gardens. I chose the ramp down, rather than the stairs. We tried to glimpse Mt. Hood, but no luck. The gardens made up for it. So many roses! Many had suffered from the rain, but those that hadn't were lovely. So many colors, so many varieties. Some had that wonderful rose scent, but many did not.
Even though I had not wanted to descend to the lower gardens, I had to, when I found out the blackest rose was there, the Ink Spots.
It was worth the pain. We also discovered a rose down there called, most appropriately and humorously, Ketchup and Mustard.
We walked through the Shakespeare garden, which, unlike other gardens of that name that I've visited, had all of its plants along the walls.
After taking an untold number of photos, we went back up the ramp to reach the restroom and the shop. I found some nice Oregon postcards, as well as a rub-on rose perfume that will be good for travel.
At 5:13, we were back in the car discussing our next move. My husband had found a pizza place, but I suggested that this might be a good opportunity to go out to the Columbia River Gorge Highway. It was not a good day to try to see Mt. Hood on its scenic byway, but the river should work. At 5:24, we set off.
We drove east on I84, planning to go on historic Route 30, when it branched off. At 6:04, I84 officially became the Columbia River Scenic Highway at exit 17. Six minutes and 5 miles later, we took Exit 22 at Corbett to follow Route 30. Things were quickly different. We saw a sign for fresh lavender, which you just don't see every day of the week. It was all more rural.
At 6:15 (1196), we pulled off at Portland Women's Forum State Scenic View. And what a view it was!
Wow,just wow. We could see a rainbow up the river for a few moments. We could see Vista View, our next stop upstream. My husband asked a young guy to take our picture, which he happily did.
Back in the car at 6:29. It took only 4 minutes to go the 2 miles to Crown Point Vista State Park.
The Vista View building was closed, but the restrooms were open, as they would soon be hosting a concert. We ran into the same young man and his mother. She was trying to take a panoramic with her iPhone and didn't know how. After I told her, and demonstrated with my camera by doing a good 180 degree shot (maybe more) with mine, she introduced herself as Mary from Delaware. She was in the area for a wedding on Mt. Hood tomorrow. She was chatty and friendly. After she left, I got some more good shots, before my husband and I agreed that we might as well try for Multnomah Falls and set off at 6:58.
Little did we know what lie between us and those falls. First, there were the wonderful woods we drove through, with their tall, straight pines. The road itself dates to about 1915 and is well-maintained and only two lanes. Then, we found that there were several falls to stop at.
First up was Latourell Falls, which we reached in 6 minutes, with the odometer at 1200. They were lovely and high. It was getting a bit cooler.
At 7:10, we left and drove for 12 minutes and 6 miles before stopping at Wahkeena Falls. Here it was down right nippy! I videotaped the falls briefly to capture the terrific sound. The temperature chased me back and we were on our way at 7:26.
Just 3 minutes later, we were parked 1/4 mile away-at Multnomah Falls. We could see them over the lodge from the parking lot. So tall! The tallest in the country that can be easily seen year-round, I believe. I found we were near the far side of the pond that we could see from Vista View. We walked up the macadam path to the falls and could soon see the lower falls below the bridge.
It was really chilly and was that mist or rain? I didn't care, I left my husband to see what else he wanted and I headed for the gift shop. When he arrived, he had the umbrellas, as I'd requested and it was a good thing, as it was raining. It was a large gift shop and we found our 2017 calendar. We like to get calendars on our trips to be able to relive the trip for a year. I found postcards, stickers for the album I'll make and pins for my collection..
We found out that the restaurant upstairs would be open until 9, so we climbed the stairs and were seated in the newer section with tall glass windows and roof that allowed views of the upper falls at 7:58.
The sun even shone at 8:07! Prices weren't cheap, but I wasn't overly surprised. I chose a delicious Flat Iron Steak Salad for $19, whose steak was very tender and had caramelized onions, too.
I drank a Diet Coke, while my husband chose a delicious Boneyard RPM, that smelled and tasted of pineapple. He ordered a big elk burger, whose fries were also large, for $16.
We really enjoyed the meal and the location, finishing it off with Lemon Panna Cotte that came with blueberries for $6.50. Very refreshing.
When we left at 9:07, the wedding rehearsal dinner with about 54 people in attendance (!) in the main room, was still going strong.
We saw lots of tiny flying insects as we headed to the car. I was glad that we hadn't seen any on our walk up for one last look at the falls. We were soon on I84 westbound. There was a viewpoint, that we stopped for at 9:20 (1214). The sun had set and we still had light off to the west that made for lovely shots.
We could still see the mountains along the river to the east, too. (I can't tell you how happy I am at the ease with which I typed west and east correctly just now. The mountains and ocean are on the wrong side for me and often confuse me for directions!) We stayed for just 5 minutes, but it was nice. Soon we passed a sign, that indicated we were leaving the scenic highway. At 9:45, we arrived back at the hotel, with the odometer at 1232. We'd seen a lot of great stuff in the 77 miles we'd covered today.
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