Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Summer Road Trip - Columbia River Gorge

Last Wednesday, we drove out to the Columbia River Gorge from Portland. First stop was the View Point Inn. Pretty little bed and breakfast with a great view of the gorge, though for many people, it's famous for the Twilight scenes filmed there.

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We had lunch there:

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Ricotta and Pesto Stuffed Tortellini:
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Chicken Pot Pie:
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including this super yummy shortcake with local strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

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After that, we drove up Larch Mountain to a short trail that led to a lookout (Sherrard Point) where we could see five different mountains (Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Ranier, Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Adams)

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Finally, we drove to our bed and breakfast in Hood River, Sakura Ridge. The view of Mt. Hood from our room:

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was amazing.

For dinner, we drove around a little bit until we found a fruit stand, Alice's Orchard, where we bought fresh blueberries, peaches, apricots, and nectarines. All we had for dinner was fruit and cheese (Wensleydale with apricot, from Costco) and it was tasty. I've come to realize with all the fresh fruit we have eaten up and down the Pacific coast that it is so much better than what we get in Phoenix.

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On Thursday, we got up to see the sun rise:

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Breakfast of French toast, fresh berries with lemon curd, and homemade sausage:

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Then took a walk around the farm and looked at the cherry trees, which had lots of cherries ripe for picking.

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We drove to Mt. Hood and made a couple of stops along the way (the "fruit loop" is an attraction in Hood River) for a slice of huckleberry pie and fresh apple cider. Saw the Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood, which was built in 1937. Up on the mountain, there were still people skiing and snowboarding in the middle of summer! On the way back from Mt. Hood, we stopped at a lavender farm where we got to cut our own bunch of lavender.

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We ended up having dinner at this China Gorge restaurant off I-84 in Hood River . . . not the best.

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Woke up in the middle of the night on Friday and couldn't fall back asleep for 3-4 hours. Bummer. Wasn't as tired as I thought I'd be in the morning though. After breakfast, went to Multnomah Falls where we hiked up to the top (1.25 miles and 11 switchbacks), then had lunch at the restaurant:

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After that, went to Bridal Veil Falls, drove by some other falls, and Greg snapped some pictures on the scenic highway:

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