Oregon with Gigi

My mom and I have done a few incredible adventures over the years but they seemed to halt when I got married.  But alas, we stole away, just the two of us, to Oregon this summer.  It was perfect timing with the baby on the way and Eddie's mom and sister came into town to help with Shep and, well, summer.  Perfect time for adventuring.  We had initially set our sights on New York City, but decided it was too expensive and busy.  We wanted the Great Outdoors and boy did we get it!  We definitely did not regret spending our adventure together in Oregon.

We flew into Portland at night and stayed at this cute, old inn in Camas, OR.  Then we set off to tackle the Waterfall Tour on the Columbia River Gorge.  First up was a 2.5 mile loop hike to Latourell Falls.

Next up was the infamous and obligatory Multnomah Falls.  We ended up doing a nice 5.5 mile loop hike around the falls and got past the crowds.  

We foraged and gorged on these delicate red berries that were somewhat similar to raspberries.  

We ended the Gorge hikes with Oneonta Gorge which we feared dropping our phones/cameras in the water since we had to walk waist deep at one point.  It was awesome even though it was a short "hike."  There was a huge, both high and long, log jam.  It was probably dangerous but we took comfort in that everyone was scrambling across it-old people, out-of-shape people, babies on backs, little kids- so we FOMO'd and went for it.  Then in order to reach the waterfall at the end, we had to wade into waist deep water.  I FOMO'd again and went swimming at the waterfall.  To say the least, it was cold.  Bummer that we didn't bring cameras.

We drove into Hood River, my new dream town, and stayed in an AirBnb home.  It was also very dreamy: in the country, great layout for the house, wrap around porch, good coffee, chicken coop, orchard potential, next to a trail along the creek with marionberries. Oh and the house was full of Irish blessings.  We ate at a brew pub and had to order a second serving of fries cause Gigi ate them all-stealing fries from a pregnant lady-the nerve!!  We were in the kite surfing capital of the world, but sadly, got there too late at sunset and didn't see any.

The next day was the Fruit Loop day.  Before starting though, we went to an organic blueberry farm next to our house.  We then meandered about Hood River and ate at a diner with the biggest cinnamon roll I've ever seen and a great crab omelet.

Next up was the Fruit Loop- a 30 mile loop of agricultural land in the area.  We planned on doing half of it on our way down to Bend.  We expected this to be a highlight of the trip and it did not disappoint.  We stopped at about 10 fruit stands along the way and bought cherries at half of them!  

Blueberries!

Cinnamon Roll!

Flower Farm

Hard Cider

lavender

Lounging at the lavender farm

  Then on our way south, we stopped off and hiked at Tamanawas Falls.

Then we drove up to the Timberline Ridge, the legendary hotel on Mt. Hood.

Mt. Hood

After a stay at the Econolodge in Madras, we hiked at Smith Rock.  Very cool!  It wasn't a long hike, only 4 miles, but it was a steep incline and slippery decline.

kairns!

 We stopped in at Sisters and had a great lunch and walked the town which was preparing for the famous quilt festival.

Then we went into Bend and stopped off at the Summer Fest and a small Farmer's market for cheese.  We drove over to LaPine where we stayed with Marcus's parents and niece and nephew.  

The next day, we met up with Maari and her mom and hiked in the caldera of the Newberry Crater.  Of course, there was a waterfall there too.

Hiking around Paulina Lake with Maari

Obsidian Rock

The next and final day, we drove back into Portland and ate at the foods carts and shopped for books at Powell Books.  Gigi finished off the amazing trip with an Oregon Rogue brew at the airport.  I feel incredibly blessed to get to take this trip with my mom, both of us healthy enough to do all the hiking that we wanted, eat great food, aka cherries!, be on the same page about loosely planning and exploring new areas, and actually enjoying each other!