You're Going Where? Oregon & DLR TR

[zanzibar138]

Just a quick background on this trip for those who haven't followed my PTR...

After a few signs telling us that we shouldn't go to Bali for our anniversary trip, DH and I decided fairly last minute to go to the US instead. DH found good value premium economy airfares to LAX with Virgin which would get us to gold status with Velocity using family pooling, so it was more of a status run than anything else, and still very much a short, low budget trip.

We toyed with the idea of returning to San Francisco. When that was too expensive, we looked at Seattle. Still too expensive. So we continued our search along the west coast and came across Portland, which was decently priced. I'd remembered reading about some nice places in Oregon, and with the help of one of my facebook friends who is from there, started putting together an itinerary.

A recurring theme of our trip was the looks of disbelief we received when telling anyone that we were going to Oregon. Most of the time people would ask if we had family or friends there that we were visiting, as if that was the only logical reason we would have for visiting such a place.

I'd like to put it out there for people to consider as a destination if they're in the area or looking for a low budget alternative to NorCal. We had a wonderful time and there were some really beautiful areas. It was a lovely relaxed feeling place and great for driving around (good roads, not much traffic). Of course, we were doing all this in low season... in summer I imagine the crowds in some of these areas could get a little crazy.

So without further ado, I shall present my TR!

 

[zanzibar138]

Contents:

Day 1: Melbourne - Sydney - LA - Portland
Day 2: Portland
Day 3: Portland - The Dalles via the Historic Columbia River Highway
Day 4: The Dalles - Eugene via Bend
Day 5: Eugene - Lincoln City
Day 6: Coastal day trip from Lincoln City
Day 7: Lincoln City - Woodburn via Silver Falls State Park
Day 8: Woodburn - Portland - DLR
Day 9: DLR - LA - Brisbane - Melbourne

 

[zanzibar138]

It all began with the usual early morning rush to get to the airport. At least our first flight was only domestic, so it was nice and easy and we didn't have to be at the airport too much in advance. However, because we had been so disorganised this time around, we had spent most of the night packing and getting the house ready for the sitter, and only had one hour of sleep.

It was a fairly uneventful flight to Sydney, followed by a big rush to get to the next flight. We discovered that the Virgin Australia transfer bus does not go through the runways etc like the Qantas bus does - it goes around the roads and is subject to traffic delays. The security line at Sydney was moving ridiculously slowly, and boarding for our next flight opened while we were still in line. By the time we got through security, they were announcing the final call for our flight, so we ran to the gate and were among the very last people to board. Great. I was right at the start of a 14 hour overnight flight and I was already hot and flustered.

The flight to LA was quite good. I watched a couple of movies and then fell asleep for a fair few hours (about the only positive of depriving myself of sleep the night before lol!). By the time I woke up, we only had about 2 1/2 hours to go, and by the time I watched another movie and had breakfast, we were starting our descent. FWIW I didn't think premium economy in Virgin was as good as Qantas. The seats were large and comfortable, and the service was good, but Qantas provided a few subtle extras like 'setting' the table with a little tablecloth and proper silverware. The help yourself bar was a great idea though!

Because we hadn't booked connecting flights, DH had left lots and lots of time at LA. We breezed through immigration and customs, and check in for our Alaska Airlines flight to Portland. The security line was a big pain (as always in the US), but it moved relatively quickly (much quicker than the one in Sydney lol!). There was not much to choose from in the way of eateries at the Alaska Airlines gate. We found a diner style place to sit for a while with some drinks and snacks. We decided to leisurely make our way to the gate, then DH had the genius idea of asking if we could get on the earlier flight. Turns out we could have, but we had just missed it! We managed to fill in the remaining time and eventually boarded our flight.

We both fell asleep pretty much straight away (the only time I think I've ever slept through a take off!). When I woke up, we were flying over the mountainous terrain of NorCal.



As we flew further north, we encountered thick cloud cover, and the views disappeared. As we started our descent, we could just see the snow-capped peaks of a couple of mountains poking through the clouds. By the time we could see the city, we were already quite low, and landed not long after.

Soon we were on the shuttle on the way to pick up the rental car. I decided to drive since I'd had more sleep than DH, so he set up the GPS and navigated for me. It took us a while to find the hotel (Econo Lodge City Center). The streets were all one way, so whenever we missed a turn, we had to do a full block lol! Eventually we found it and got settled in. I had asked for a quiet room and was pleased that we had been given the back corner room on the top floor.

I was still doing my 100km challenge (walking/running for the month of February), so we mapped out about a 5km route and headed off. The weather was cold and overcast, so we grabbed our coats and rain gear. Our route took us down to the river, where we found a café for a very late lunch.





We followed the river along for a while, enjoying the various bridges and parkland.







On the way back to the, we stopped in at one of the bars as we passed by for a drink or two. By the time we got back to the hotel, we both collapsed in heaps and passed out for the night.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Subbing in.

Great start! Wet, wet, wet in Oregon.

 

[Zosha]

How dedicated are you?! All that travel and still went for a run! Can't wait to read more.

 

[zanzibar138]

Subbing in.

Great start! Wet, wet, wet in Oregon.

Welcome PIO!

How dedicated are you?! All that travel and still went for a run! Can't wait to read more.

As much as I would like to take credit for that, I feel I must point out that our 5km route was tackled at a leisurely walking pace with plenty of stops for food, photos and drinks lol!

 

[zanzibar138]

We got a late start today - woke up at about 10:30am, which was really bad for DH. He really struggled with jetlag for days after that. He's learnt his lesson. First morning of our next trip, he'll set an alarm. We had planned to go to the museum for the submarine tour this morning, but since it was so late, we decided to go straight to the zoo.

We stopped by a local Laughing Planet Café for breakfast. It's some sort of healthy organic restaurant chain in Portland. It was a bit TOO healthy and organic for us, and we both struggled to find anything on the menu that sounded appealing. We ended up with chicken burritos and smoothies. On the plus side, it was an awesome smoothie! After breakfast we continued into the city centre to catch the light rail up to the zoo. Our hotel was nice and convenient, only a few minutes walk to the stop.



The Washington Park station was halfway through a long tunnel under a big hill. Washington Park sounded great, with lovely sounding Japanese gardens, rose gardens, walking trails, and even a historic mansion as well as the zoo. We thought we'd check out the zoo first, then wander around the rest of the park. Some of you may remember me saying that we don't tend to visit zoos when we're away. I usually feel like it's a waste of time as most zoos tend to have the same types of animals and we could just go to the Melbourne zoo to see them. There were two main reasons why I was keen to visit this one. First of all, it came highly recommended by my facebook friend who used to live in Oregon. Secondly, when I looked it up online, I saw that it had a great Pacific North West area, and we would get to see plenty of local species. Plus, it was only $10 entry with your public transport ticket. It was a bit of a miserable day, cold and dreary, though it hadn't started raining yet. The lousy weather meant that the zoo was pretty quiet, which suited us nicely!

The Pacific North West section had obviously been recently improved. The enclosures were all open and spacious, and there were cute little sculptures around and bits of information planted here and there about the plants and other interesting features between the animals. We enjoyed seeing mountain goats, black bears, bobcats, eagles, turtles, beavers, otters, cougars and condors. Being winter, some of the animals were in hibernation mode, but there were little viewing windows in their dens so that we could still peek in.













Next there was a little barn that housed a petting zoo. Then we found one of the many planned improvements, the new elephant habitat. We've been a bit spoilt with elephant viewing, so we didn't bother to seek out their existing enclosure. After that were some different types of bears, and some monkeys followed by a reptile house. I was pleased to see that the zoo was planning new enclosures for both the bears and the monkeys.









Next was the highlight of our day. At the lions, we got to see the whole family playing and rough-housing, some very cute cubs, and a very handsome daddy lion. One of the lionesses was very curious about us!















After tearing ourselves away from the lions, we saw some more African animals and pretty much called it a day.







We had spent longer at the zoo than I had expected, and it was quite late by the time we were leaving. It had also started to rain. We decided to give the rest of Washington Park a miss, and headed back down to the light rail station.



We stopped off at what turned out to be a pretty high end bar for a drink, then wandered the streets for a long time looking for something between that and the street food for dinner. We finally found a casual English style pub, where I found out what a 'toddy' is (honey lemon drink). Slightly tipsy from a couple of cocktails and the dangerously alcoholic hot chocolate, we stumbled back to our hotel.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great pictures at the zoo! Looks like you had a lovely time checking out the local wildlife.

Shame that DH slept in and was a jetlagged after this.

 

[zanzibar138]

Great pictures at the zoo! Looks like you had a lovely time checking out the local wildlife.

Shame that DH slept in and was a jetlagged after this.

Thanks PIO We did have a great time at the zoo.

DH seems to be struggling more and more with jetlag on each trip I don't seem to get affected by it. Somehow I'm always tired enough to sleep at bed time lol!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Funnily we are both getting better with jetlag the older we get compared to when we were younger? We would have enjoyed the zoo! Pity you missed Washington Park though it sounded pretty too. Alcoholic hot chocolate sounds pretty good!

 

[zanzibar138]

Funnily we are both getting better with jetlag the older we get compared to when we were younger? We would have enjoyed the zoo! Pity you missed Washington Park though it sounded pretty too. Alcoholic hot chocolate sounds pretty good!

Yeah I was disappointed that we missed Washington Park having had such a late start. The place where we had dinner had a whole menu of warm cocktails (including the toddy). I forget what was in my hot chocolate now, but it was definitely more alcohol than chocolate lol!

 

[mzalicia]

Welcome to Portland! Great seeing my hometown from a visitor's perspective!

 

[zanzibar138]

Welcome to Portland! Great seeing my hometown from a visitor's perspective!

Welcome aboard

Maybe you can clear something up for us... I assume lots of people work in the city, and we were there on week days walking around at after work time, but we hardly saw any people or traffic. Where does everyone go? In Melbourne I almost get claustrophobic because of the huge crowds of people walking along the footpaths!

 

[mzalicia]

Hi!

Portland does not have those claustrophobic streets I have seen in cities such as Los Angeles and London. Also, you are visiting during our local schools' spring break and many people are off work. Where you find the people during rush hours is filling the MAX trains, buses, and highways, most people commute into the city.

I hope you have time to check out some of the food trucks, so many great options! And take advantage of No Sales Tax!

Alicia

 

[zanzibar138]

Hi!

Portland does not have those claustrophobic streets I have seen in cities such as Los Angeles and London. Also, you are visiting during our local schools' spring break and many people are off work. Where you find the people during rush hours is filling the MAX trains, buses, and highways, most people commute into the city.

I hope you have time to check out some of the food trucks, so many great options! And take advantage of No Sales Tax!

Alicia

We were actually there at the end of Feb - it's not a live TR. Makes sense that everyone was on public transport. Having said that, I never saw big crowds at the MAX stops either!

Unfortunately we didn't get to try any of the food trucks. We only had 2 nights, didn't really have dinner the first night, then the second night we wanted somewhere comfortable to sit. I was pretty disappointed though, they looked good!

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

Great read so far, looking forward to the rest.

 

[zanzibar138]

Great read so far, looking forward to the rest.

Great to 'see' you

 

[zanzibar138]

Today we got up relatively early (after poor DH had just got to sleep) and hit the road for our next adventures. Since we had missed out on our submarine tour the day before, we decided to head to the museum on the way and see if we could fit in with a tour group this morning. There was a HUGE line to get into the museum (I think we just arrived after a big school group), and it was a bit chaotic. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the front of the line, where we were informed that there was a tour leaving in about 10 minutes. I was expecting to have to pay the museum entrance fee as well, but we ended up only having to pay the $6.50 each for the sub, so it turned out to be a pretty good value activity. They even waived our parking fee since we wouldn't be long! We had a look around in the gift shop while we were waiting for the tour to start.

They do keep the submarine tours quite small since it is such a confined space. On the way down to the sub, there was a test door that we all had to get through unassisted to continue with the tour. There were a few little kids in our group, but everyone made it.

Our tour guide was informative, but a little gruff. We thought it seemed like he'd lost some of the passion for it along the way, and he was a little awkward with the kids. Still, that didn't bother us, and it was interesting to hear a bit more about life on the sub as we saw some of the various chambers and rooms along the way.







After the tour, we were left to make our own way back to the museum as the guide headed back down with the next group.



The museum looked pretty cool inside from what we could see. It would be a fun outing for kids. We really had to hit the road though.

We got a little lost along the way. We had programmed the GPS to take us to Multnomah Falls, but it wanted to take us along the freeway. We wanted to take the historic highway, and I assumed that there would be signs everywhere for it. Apparently not. After driving around in circles for a while we found it, and not too much later were driving through Troutdale, which was kind of the gateway to the parks.



We decided to stop in Troutdale for lunch, since we didn't know when the next opportunity would be. We had lunch at the general store, which was a very cute knick-knack type store with a little eat-in corner. We both enjoyed our lunch and a quick browse around the shop.



There were plenty of interesting things to see along the way, and we were really pleased that we'd managed to find the historic highway instead of driving along the boring old freeway.







We stopped briefly at the historic Vista House. Unfortunately it wasn't open being a Friday in off season. There were some lovely views though and provided some good photo opportunities.



Our next stop was Latourell Falls.



We spent quite a bit of time here and took the various trails to get photos of the waterfall from different angles.







There were a couple of interesting photo opportunities on the lower trail.





Our next stop was Bridal Veil Falls, where there was a short hike to the viewpoint.



Wakheena Falls was right on the road side, and very impressive!



We also stopped at Horsetail Falls, which was right on the road side too.



We finally got to Multnomah Falls, which was definitely the most developed and busiest stop so far. We grabbed a coffee and a pastry to eat while we were wandering. It was drizzly by this time, and the falls themselves were generating a lot of mist, so I didn't get my big camera out. We took the short walk up to the bridge before getting back on the road, which was still very scenic.



Not far from here, we rejoined the freeway, and arrived in The Dalles a while later. Our GPS had a hard time finding the hotel with the steep hills, and it was in a bit of weird area (all industrial looking, and there was a weird row of houses kind of on their driveway), but we found it eventually and settled into our room with a view.





For dinner we drove into town and went to a historic restaurant recommended by the hotel. It was good, but not cheap.



Then it was time to hit the hay again in preparation for a big day of driving tomorrow.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

Very pretty!

 

[bswift]

Wow you've got some stunning photos here!

Obviously it's too late now but if you ever make your way back to Oregon you should go to Voodoo Doughnuts! I've never been but it's the main reason Portland is on my to do list haha.