Day Two: Chasing Waterfalls, Animals, and Donuts

Our first full day started out with my first actual taste of a VooDoo Doughnut, although in this case it was an apple fritter. The thing was huge and oh so good. I couldn't even finish the whole thing. I had to put a corner back in the box to save for later! 

Dustin and I headed out around 8 am to Multnomah Falls which is located about 30 minutes east of Portland. We didn't hit any traffic and it was a pretty easy ride down the highway. I drive everywhere at home but when we're on vacation Dustin is the driver. This means I'm in charge of the map/GPS/directions which really cramps my video and photo taking. Dustin has to yell at me on occasion to put the camera down and help him find where we're going. Since we only had to go on one highway to get to the falls I had free range to snap away and just take in my surroundings. It was early in the morning and a blanket of fog still covered portions of the mountains. That's something you never get to see in Florida. Also, I'd see the occasional waterfall and of course the trees. I CANNOT GET OVER THE TREES. Florida has some cool ones but my tree heart lives in Oregon. 

I honestly thought I had somehow messed up the GPS because it told us to just pull off the side of the road for the waterfall. So we took the "exit" into a parking lot. We looked around and were both like "Is this it?" because there really wasn't much to see from where we were. We saw the waterfall in the distance and I was all "Um, how do we even get over there?". It turns out you have to take a little tunnel that goes under the highway that leads to a lodge. (1920s lodge / 1950s lodge) We didn't go in the lodge but it was gorgeous from the outside. Just around the corner is a path to the falls. One moment you're in the parking lot wondering if this was even worth the drive and the next minute you've found your way to the falls and your mouth is hanging open because it's so goddamn beautiful.  We got there early and we got to enjoy the falls practically alone. There was one other guy taking photos on his phone and then he left. Dustin and I had the place to ourselves for most of the time we were there. I took 600+ photos during our trip and Dustin took about 5. I'm certain most of those photos were of the falls. We walked around and took it in. What a beautiful place. There are two drops and a bridge is located at the one on the bottom. We decided to walk the .2 mile up the mountain to get to it. That sounds like nothing (and it is on flat land). It's definitely harder when going up the side of a mountain. I had to make sure to really pay attention to what I was doing so I didn't go tumbling down. We made it to the bridge and it was fucking high. It doesn't look that high from the ground but standing on that bridge I started to get a little anxiety. So I quickly took some pictures and stepped back on solid ground. A hiker was passing by us and offered to take a photo of both of us (on the scary bridge) so of course I said yes even though I didn't want to stand on that damn bridge again. We got the shot, said "thank you!" and hiked back down. He was on his way on a 5 mile hike. Right on man. I think it would have been awesome to do something like that if A) I was in better shape. B) I had the proper apparel. and C) I wasn't afraid of tumbling to my death. 

 

 

 

From the falls we headed back into town to Washington Park. It's a HUGE park that includes a zoo, arboretum, Japanese garden, rose garden, sports fields, and memorials. Like I said, this is no rinky dink park. Dustin and I just happened to park near the zoo. We weren't planning on going to the zoo but we figured why the hell not. It was still really early in the day so might as well squeeze in everything we can. 

This zoo was fantastic. It definitely is on par with the Pittsburgh Zoo. Sorry Florida but yours kind of suck in comparison. I loved how all the enclosures and exhibits were just nestled into the already beautiful landscape of the park. It felt so much more natural than most zoos. We walked all over that zoo (also huge) and were so pooped when we were done. We really enjoyed the bear, tiger and the furriest bunny of all time. I've never been to a zoo with bunnies but this one had them. 

Dustin sat on the bench to rest while I browsed in the gift shop. I was always on the lookout for little things to bring back for my friends. I also have a postcard obsession so I got about 5 postcards everywhere we went. I have quite the collection going.

We were exhausted from the zoo but we sucked it up and drove to the other side of the park to check out the Japanese Garden. There was a lot of construction where their parking was so it was kind of hard to tell where the entrance was. Thankfully there was a guy out front directing everyone. He told us "The garden is just a short hike up the mountain." Dustin and I looked at each other confused but we followed the trail. And sure enough that trail went up the damn mountain. AND IT WAS REALLY STEEP. People were literally taking breaks and we weren't even inside the garden yet. Dustin and I made it without any sign of a heart attack which was nice. 

We walked around and took in all of the Japanese landscape. It was so incredibly tranquil. Not that I've ever been to Japan (I haven't) but it certainly felt like we weren't in Portland anymore for a minute. The only disappointing part was it wasn't as big as I thought. Oh and they didn't have a good postcard selection. Actually they didn't have ANY. They only had full on cards. Boo. But overall it was a really cool place and I guess it was worth the backbreaking trek to get there. Ha!

 

By this point it was mid-afternoon and we were starving. We headed back to the hotel to park our rental and walked to Blueplate which was featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. It is a really small place. There are several seats at the bar and only a few other tables. We got there at a perfect time because we had no trouble getting a table. We sat down and seconds later our waitress brought us both mason jars full of water. I thought to myself how very Portland. Ha! But I loved it. They offer freshly made sodas of all flavors like our favorite Gainesville spot Satchels. I was too much of a wimp to try the more interesting flavors so I just got lemon and Dustin got root beer.  They have a very small menu but each day of the week offer a special. Dustin really wanted the country fried chicken but it was only available on Friday. Womp womp. We both ended up getting their "American in Paris" Sandwich (sliced roast chicken with bacon, swiss cheese, and honey mustard on Texas toast) with a side of mashed potatoes. OMG. This was definitely one of my favorite sandwiches meals of all time. It wasn't fancy but it was hearty as hell. The honey mustard was all the rave too. Dustin and I both cleaned our plates. If we're ever back in Portland, you better believe we'll be coming here to eat again. 

Dustin and I went back to the hotel before 5pm to watch the Penguins playoff game. I really love that sporting events come on so early on the west coast. The plan was to watch the first period at the hotel and then head on to the brewery next door to grab dinner and finish the game. First of all I called the brewery to see if they were even playing the game. The guy who answered didn't even know what I was talking about. 

"...Penguins playoff game?"

"Huh?"

"Against the Rangers..."

"Umm..."

"It's hockey."

"Let me ask"

It turns out they were playing it - or so they said. We never confirmed that because we ended up staying in our room for the night. We had done so much that day we were just not up to going out again. So Dustin was perfectly happy watching from the comfort of our room. I watched while eating my other VooDoo Doughnut. It had raspberry filling so when I took the pretzel out of the "body" it looked like "blood". HA! Funny but also tasty!

Another great day in the books. 

Total Steps: 14,922

Active Minutes: 117 min.