We LOVE Oregon. This was our third trip there in 4 years. Joe had to work half a day in Portland but we decided to turn it into a family vacation. We have done the coast and Portland proper. This time we decided to head inland and explore the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood areas.
The kids did pretty darn good on the flight. We were delayed a bit. Turns out we were waiting on 3/4 of the plane to be filled with boy scouts from Maryland.
The boys latched on to this very friendly man who patiently listened to all of Kamden's stories. He loves a new, captive audience. At one point Brody's shoe came off and he insisted that this man had to put it back on. It was hilarious.
Once we got to Portland, we still had about an hour drive to Hood River. We rented an amazing house. It was a lot more space than we
needed but it had a fenced in yard with a swing set. In other words,
it was priceless! When we got to the house, we were surprised to find a
lot of age-appropriate toys, too. BONUS!
The first day there, it was HOT. We decided to hit up a man-made beach area on the Columbia River. The boys made friends and (reluctantly) shared toys with a bunch of kids.
Right across the street from the beach was
pFriem Family Brewery. The beer was excellent. The food was average. There was an added bonus of a kids play area. We soon learned this is the standard for brewpubs in Oregon. The rest of the country really needs to catch up.
After naps we headed to a small farmers market in the next town over. We got some fresh produce then got enticed by
Rack & Cloth. We were wanting to hang out for some live music but being a toddler is just too much for Brody to handle sometimes.
The next day we headed to the
Bonneville Fish Hatchery. The kids loved this. I understand this is a terrible photo but it marks the first time the kids have ever willingly posed for a photo together. And it is incredibly out of focus. But still... it was a big deal.
This folks, is why I hate swimming in anything but a pool. It's a 10 foot Sturgeon. Not cool.
After the fish, we headed to Horsetail Falls. It was gorgeous and we managed to get a couple photos.
This is a horribly overexposed photo but, I'll take what I can get when it comes to group pictures...
We headed to lunch at
Full Sail Brewery. The food was better but, we didn't love the beer. We did love the view, though!
After naps we headed went to
The Gorge White House for berry picking and dinner at the on-site food truck. The food truck meal was delicious! We ended up with lots of strawberries, blackberries, and u-cut flowers. I picked the flowers for our hosts in Portland but ended up leaving them in the rental house :(
The next day we went to a wonderful children's park in Hood River. It was complete with a huge sand pit with lots of trucks. So obviously, the kids loved it!
After the park, we strolled around downtown and hit up the toy store. We let the boys each get something. Kamden picked a new forklift. Which meant lunch at
The Sixth Street Bistro was pleasantly peaceful.
Brody says his lunch was a winner...
Brody feels the same way about Mike's Ice Cream....
After naps we drove up to Laurence Lake. It was such a beautiful drive and place to visit.
The next day we headed in to Portland. We stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way. It was gorgeous!
I, sadly, have very few pictures from our time in Portland. We got into Portland right at lunch time and met out friends at
Cartlandia (a food cart pod) that is near their house. Then headed to their house for naps. That night we went to
Hopworks Urban Brewery for dinner. Hopworks took kid friendly breweries to a whole new level. It is a large, muli-floor restaurant. Each room had its own play area for kids. It was awesome!
The next day we went to
OMSI. It is an amazing museum for both kids and adults. There was a huge room that was just for the under 6 y.o. crowd. They were in absolute heaven!
The boys were in love with Dragon! Probably because this cat wa
s pretty similar to a dog :)
On a random sidenote, this trip we really saw Kamden come out of his shell. He initiated play with a lot of kids that were strangers. He still doesn't seem to like large groups but loves to interact with 2 or 3 kids. It was so awesome to see.
