Woods, Waterfalls, Whales, and Wonders: Oregon 2017 Part 1

Our Annual Adventure! 16 years of marriage, and I'd still choose him to spend a week exploring out West  with!

Many years hubby and I strike out on a wild outdoors excursion and this year we hit Oregon, which has been on our bucket list since we lived in CO 15 years ago! I’ll get to Crater Lake National Park in another post. Oregon amazed us with its versatility for the outdoor lover.  From the metropolis of Portland, you could be in world renowned waterfalls or Mt. Hood Wilderness in 30 minutes!  In a 2 hour drive from Crater Lake, you could be watching elk in the woods just before hitting breathtaking vistas of the Pacific coast to see sea lions in another 30 minutes.  One day we were in the snow at Mt. Hood at Timberline lodge hiking around in alpine forests, and then hitting desert-like mountain climbing terrain in Central Oregon.  Surprisingly, Oregon looks like Hawaii in some places with so much volcanic rock everywhere. These mountains have been very busy!  

Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind! Psalm 66: 5

   Trillium Lake: We saw a man catch a 21 inch rainbow trout here. The Eagles love this place to say the least, and so did we! 

One of the GREAT things about visiting OR is that when you land in Portand you don't have a long drive to see some great sites!  The Vista House was constructed to provide travelers a place to rest and refresh themselves as they made their way down the magnificent Columbia River Gorge! 

The Columbia River Gorge

The View to Washington across the gorge.

Cascade Locks

These orange salamanders were all over Trillium Lake.  My Caleb loves lizards so this was for him :). 

Summit of  Hamilton Mountain

Mt. Hood from the plane!

Camping Buddy...well, he got me to  camp half the time anyway. 

Visiting Multnomah Falls is too easy! It's a 30 minute drive from the Portland airport to this iconic 611-foot-tall roaring, awe-inspiring cascade of icy water.   If you've seen The Shack, then this is that waterfall where the movie begins.

Mt. Hood is one of the only places you can still ski all summer! 

Timberline Lodge Area

Mt. Washington...let's just say the tip of this mountain has caused it to be renamed some other things. 

The Three Sisters: Faith, Hope and Charity

Alpacas were in a few places :).

It is coming people!  There are NO plastic bags used in OR...even at Walmart. They are VERY good stewards of God's great Earth. Every toilet is water saving; every sink turned off on its own; it seemed everyone recycled; there was very little trash on the roads; and EVERY grocery store chain sells local food.GO OR!  We'll talk about the pot in another post :).  

Also, this might be coming our way! Pay stations with a credit card at trailheads.  I also thought it was sweet that on the Washington side Washington Foster Families get into all parks free with veterans and active duty military.