Road Trip through Oregon - Day 1 (Portland to Cascade Locks)

 

Oregon is what I believe, one of the prettiest places on earth. I visited Oregon in 2016 and it was every bit as gorgeous as I expected. Oh and I had high expectations. The natural beauty is just absolutely jaw dropping. I've been wanting to return ever since, and Memorial Day break, I finally did.

We flew first class from Atlanta to Portland, and started our amazing journey. We picked up our rental car and started driving, making our first stop at the Vista House. Vista House is a beautiful viewpoint on the Columbia River Hwy. 

View at Vista House

Vista House is only open very limited hours. It was not open when we were there so we didn't go inside the house. Here's a picture showing its hours and interior.

Interior of Vista House

Next stop, Latourell Falls. Due to the sun, it was hard to take a good picture of this waterfall. It is a very tall waterfall however, and you can swim under the falls.

Latourell Falls

Next up is Shepherd's Dell. The parking lot is very small here. 

Upper section of Shepherd's Dell

Lower section of Shepherd's Dell

Due to the way the waterfall is shaped, it's impossible to capture the whole fall on one picture. With how small the parking lot was, I lowered my expectations for this one and came out fairly impressed.

Next up, the beautiful, Bridal Veil Falls. Just a quick clarification - we visited these waterfalls in this order because it means from the airport to our hotel, we don't need to do any backtracking. Everything is in the direction to our hotel. There are MANY more waterfalls than what we stopped at along the way, but I chose these because of the shortness of hikes, the ease of access, and the waterfall itself. 

Bridal Veil Falls

Next up, Wahkeena Falls. Absolutely breathtaking. 

Wahkeena Falls

The hike to Wahkeena Falls can be done with a loop trail where you can see several waterfalls. The hike is beautiful in itself as well.

Wahkeena Trail

Next up, the most photographed waterfall in Oregon, the Multnomah Falls.

Multnomah Falls

Next up, Horsetail Falls. You can definitely swim at the base of this one as well.

The sun beaming on Horsetail Falls

It really didn't take very long to visit all these waterfalls. They are close together and not crowded. Most of the hikes are pretty short and the parking is easy. After Horsetail Falls, we are only 10 minutes from our hotel for the night in Cascade Locks, a beautiful area with lots of beautiful hikes that we don't have time for. Cascade Locks is a very small town - I'm not sure if it even has a red light. We are now ready for dinner. There are only a handful of restaurants in Cascade Locks. We chose Thunder Island Brewing Company. It's really good!! 

Thunder Island Brewing Company

We tried a flight of their beer, which feels well deserved after all the hiking we did.

I got the Pork Schnitzel sandwich and Teddy got the Kimchi Reuben.

Pork Schnitzel Sandwich (huge)

Kimchi Reuben

The restaurant has floor to ceiling windows with views of Columbia River and Mount Hood. It was pretty awesome.

Our hotel for the night is at Best Western Plus Columbia River Inn. The room is surprisingly spacious and the river view room upgrade is well worth it. The service is top notch as well. 

View from our window - you can see the Columbia River, the Bridge of the Gods, and across the river is Washington State.

Our next day blog!