Driving up the Coast
For Katie and I, Oregon holds a special place in our hearts. We met in Portland, fell in love, bought our first home and started our family here. Portland is also where we both started our work life after college. We spent the better part of a decade exploring the state, watching the little big town grow and making some great friends. As we crossed the border from Cali in Oregon, we both felt the exhilaration that one can only get when coming back to something they have missed greatly.
The Oregon coast is one of the most rugged and beautiful sites you will ever behold. High craggy cliffs give way to sandy beaches in a beautiful dance as you go from looking at the beach out your window to looking down at the ocean from 100’s of feet up. The water can range in color from seafoam grey to almost jade green depending on the day. The landscape is lush green with moss covered rocks and towering old growth trees rising to the sky. It’s really breathtaking and we highly recommend to anyone a drive up the Oregon coast on highway 101.
We spent a few days on the Oregon coast, stopping in Newport for a night and some delicious Rogue beer and ending up in Cannon Beach. One last stop before Cannon Beach took us to Tillamook, OR. For those who don’t know, this is the home of the Tillamook Dairy company, and possibly the best cheesemongers in the US. We love the cheese and ice cream and used to come visit the factory when we lived here. We stopped for a short visit and were amazed how much the “little” cheese factory had grown in the decades since we left. They still make awesome dairy products and are worth the trip down to see them.
Cannon Beach
When we lived in Portland we would take day and overnight trips to Cannon Beach. The town is very art focused but still keeps an easy beach vibe. There are miles of flat sandy beaches to walk and relax on. The real treat of this beach is that you can get up close and personal with one of the 100’s of Oregon rock islands. These rocks tower from the surf and awesome to behold as waves crash against their bases. They are also home to many migratory birds, including the rare Puffin. The big rock in Cannon Beach is called “Haystack Rock” and when the tide is out you can walk right up to the base and see all the abundant sealife contained in its tidepools. We also had a great visit during this part of our trip from Fred and Barb! (Katie’s parents) The kids loved this stop. They got to hang with Grandma and Grandpa, run free on the beach, frolick in the icy cold Pacific and search for strange creatures in the tide pools. There was also some kite flying, which is a cultural rite of passage in Cannon Beach. We knew we were in for a special trip after our amazing stay.
The Rose City Adventures
After a short hour or so drive from the coast, we landed at our home for the week. We rented a nice home on the west slope of Portland which was a perfect location for us to explore the city from. This time of year in Portland is amazing! There are countless numbers of flowering trees, shrubs, and bushes and they were all in full bloom. Colors ranged from soft pastels to vivid oranges and all the spectrum in between. This made driving around town a delight. Grandma and grandpa gave us a nice gift on the first day we were there and took the kids to the zoo. The kids had a blast but more importantly, Katie and I got some much needed alone time to explore the city unencumbered by small clingy humans. We drove by our first home and many of the other haunts we used to frequent. It was a really nice homecoming. The rest of the week was spent seeing sites and enjoying many of the things that are uniquely Portland. We went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), shopped downtown, visited the famous Rose Test Garden, and had a seafood feast to commemorate Mother’s Day and grandma’s birthday. We had an awesome time with Katie’s parents and we couldn’t be happier that they joined us on our trip.
Japanese Garden
One of Portland’s most incredible sites is the Japenese Gardens. They are located near the top of what’s called the West Hills which sits hundreds of feet above Portland. So the views are amazing. But the gardens themselves almost defy explanation. They are peaceful, serene works of living art that immediately relax the soul and bring joy to the heart. We hope the pics do a little justice to this great space and please put this on your list if you ever make it to Portland. As an added bonus this time we got to see a collection of Bonsai trees, some were over 200 years old! Just amazing!
Bonsai Garden
Old Friends
Katie’s parents left late in the week and we still had a handful of days left in our old home. One thing we looked forward to most was reconnecting with our old friends. We invited our friends Marissa and Kevin over to the house for a nice home grilled meal. They brought their two great boys over which was awesome for our kids. Colette, Sienna, and Lennox have not had many opportunities to play with kids so this was a treat and they enjoyed it to the fullest. The adults had a wonderful time catching up and sharing stories of the past decades that have gone by. It was really nice to see some friends from the past and felt as though no time had gone by at all.
One of Katie’s hometown friends who she grew up with in East Jordan lives out near Hood River. Hood River is about an hour east of Portland and sits along the banks of the mighty Columbia River. It’s a beautiful drive along the Columbia River Gorge. The gorge walls rise hundreds of feet up either side of the river and are covered with green pines and rocky cliff faces. The river is about a half-mile wide and provides a beautiful juxtaposition with the rugged landscape on either side. There are also many waterfalls along the way. The most famous is Multnomah Falls. We have stopped there many times in the past and thought it would be great to show the kids this cool landmark as well. While still beautiful, the falls were a bit sad because of some massive wildfires in 2017 burning much of the landscape around the falls which caused the park service to close many of the trails that were once available. We met Cathleen at the Full Sail brewery in downtown Hood River and she surprised us by bringing her husband Mike whom we thought would be working. We only had an hour with this great couple but it was filled with lively conversation and lots of laughs. Cathleen and her family will be coming back to East Jordan in the summer so we’ll get to see them and their children back home.
I got to reconnect with some of my best friends from the college days. Portland sits very close to the Columbia River and on the other side of the river is Washington state. I met Frank and Todd Limberg during my undergrad at the Western State University of Colorado. We were close friends all through college and I lived with Todd when I first moved to Portland back in the late 90’s. It had been at least 10 years since I last saw these two hooligans and their lovely wives. Both Katie and I we super psyched to spend some quality time with all of them. This time came in the form of a Mother’s Day bbq at Todd’s house. Todd is married to Becky and they have a son named Riley. Frank is married to Maria and they have two kids Cash and Ella. As an added treat we got to see their parents, who we became friends with, Donna and Mike. It may have been over a decade since our last visit but it felt as though a day hadn’t passed. We ate, drank and laughed the night away. And even though their kids are quite a bit older than ours, they all played and had an awesome time. When it came time to leave we didn’t want it to end. I think we will all try a little harder to make sure another decade doesn’t pass with us not getting together. This was our last hurrah in Portland. The next day we headed north…way north to about the farthest north and west you can go and still be in the United States. Orcas Island here we come.
