APRIL 18, 2008
We arrived at Matt and Leyla’s last Friday evening in time for Peter and Matt to drive to the airport to get John Mooney. Our stay at their new home was spectacular; we saw some incredible sights in the Portland area, met a couple of their friends, ate some fabulous food and enjoyed their company immensely. After John’s arrival, we relaxed on their new deck and then we all sat down for Leyla’s homemade turkey soup which really “hit the spot!” We went to bed fairly early in anticipation of a busy Saturday.
In the morning we packed a lunch and climbed into the mini-van that Matt had rented to make our travels in Portland extra comfortable. We headed for the Columbia Gorge, got off the main road in Mosier and went by a back road through cherry, pear and hazelnut orchards to arrive at Memaloose Outlook in Tom McCall Nature Preserve. We climbed Rowena Crest for our first hike of the day. The wild flower season was just beginning and the hills were covered with arrowroot leaf balsam root (yellow), desert parsley (green and purple) and avalanche lily (also, yellow) to name just a few. At about 500 feet, we stopped on a plateau to gaze at the view; the Columbia River and the mountains across the river in Washington. It was an unusually great day for April, blue sky, sun, warm temperatures; our luck with weather is continuing.
After lunch and a bit of relaxing and enjoying the sun and the scenery, we hopped back into the van and drove to Wahclella Falls for another short hike into the falls which were magnificent. We hiked along the river, climbed up to about 200 feet, encountered some small falls that flowed right by the trail which was bordered by a dense forest of huge Douglas fir trees. Everything was covered with thick moss and water was dripping from everywhere on the canyon walls. This is a coniferous rain forest and it sure had the look and feel of one. When we got to the base of the falls, the wind generated by the force of the water was swirling around and it got very cold and very damp. As you drive along the Columbia River Gorge, you see waterfalls everywhere but it was very special to be up close to one! After stopping at Bonneville Dam to see Herman the sturgeon (10 feet long, 55 years old!), we capped the day off with a walk to a new restaurant in Matt and Leila’s neighborhood where we had a great dinner that even included a very good brick oven pizza.
Sunday morning we packed the car for an overnight trip to the Oregon coast and did a little shopping at the the Portland street market. Before leaving town, we stopped at Matt and Leyla’s friend’s, Mary Dallas, to pick up Cooper, Mary Dallas’ dog and Leyla’s “goddog,” We drove to a little town called Oceanside where Matt and Leyla had rented a house high above the beach. On the way we stopped at Cape Meares for a quick tour of the lighthouse. At our beach house we marveled at the gorgeous view of the ocean, had a great lasagna dinner and some walked on the beach while others did the dishes. The weather was what you would expect the Oregon coast would be in April---cool, gray and misty. Matt and Leyla’s friend Denise who was biking the Oregon coast, was a welcome addition to our overnight excursion. And, of course, it was great fun having Cooper with us; John and Peter were in their glory!
On our way back to Portland on Monday, we drove along the three Capes Scenic Loop and stopped in Tillamook at the Blue Heron Creamery for lunch. Tillamook is the dairy and cheese center of the region and the restaurant had a wonderful array of cheeses. We cooked steaks on Matt and Leyla’s new grill and called it a night!
Tuesday morning we met Billy Norris, an old Beverly friend of Connie’s, for coffee in the Pearl section of Portland. Billy lives in this area which is quite near the river. We had a great hour reminiscing and “catching up!” Then we drove to the Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo Ferrari shop where Matt works. After lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant, “our mechanic” changed the oil and checked over our car to make sure we were ready for the trip East.. That evening we went to “Justa Pasta” for dinner, a neat place with a wide array of pasta dishes!
On Wednesday we struck out on our own, following the Columbia River along its Oregon shoreline northwest to Astoria. In Astoria we spent a couple of hours at the fascinating Columbia River Maritime Museum. Outside, we saw a new pilot ship being christened, a two hundred ten foot Coast Guard cutter, an old pilot ship and a HUGE red nun buoy. Inside we saw a short movie depicting the Columbia and the danger of the bar here at the confluence with the Pacific. The exhibits were very interesting especially the one concerning the Tellamook Rock light station, now closed and used as a columbarium. We ended our day at Cannon Beach, a popular resort community with a cute downtown and a seven mile stretch of beach. Haystack Rock is its claim to fame.
Thursday morning we said goodbye to Matt and Leyla; what a great visit we had with them. They are wonderful hosts and we truly enjoyed out entire visit. Fortunately we’ll see them this summer and, hopefully, again, at Thanksgiving. We will miss them………..we’ll also miss the drive-thru espresso places which are EVERYWHERE!!!!
We started out on our return trip by retracing the original Oregon Trail from Portland. The weather was problematic and we were resigned to a trip back without any top down time. Boy were we wrong!!! About a hundred miles east of Portland the skies cleared and the temperature rose so when we got off the interstate we stopped and put the top down. The road we followed was route 20 through the Mt. Hood National Forest, the Cascade Mountains, the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, high desert, deep gorges and, finally, through the John Day Fossil Beds. We were mesmerized at the Painted Hills Unit where we viewed hummocks and hills in varying shades of red, pink, bronze, lavender, tan and black, many to a background of a turquoise lake. Truly fascinating to see these formations made 39 to 18 million years ago. The drive rivaled any we had been on to date! Further along we saw a true Oregon shoe tree----a leafless deciduous tree bedecked with hundreds of pairs of sneakers! Senior prank, maybe? The rest of our trip to the border was through lonely but beautiful farm land with loads of cattle. We ended the day in Ontario OR, just across the border from Idaho.
We arrived at Matt and Leyla’s last Friday evening in time for Peter and Matt to drive to the airport to get John Mooney. Our stay at their new home was spectacular; we saw some incredible sights in the Portland area, met a couple of their friends, ate some fabulous food and enjoyed their company immensely. After John’s arrival, we relaxed on their new deck and then we all sat down for Leyla’s homemade turkey soup which really “hit the spot!” We went to bed fairly early in anticipation of a busy Saturday.
In the morning we packed a lunch and climbed into the mini-van that Matt had rented to make our travels in Portland extra comfortable. We headed for the Columbia Gorge, got off the main road in Mosier and went by a back road through cherry, pear and hazelnut orchards to arrive at Memaloose Outlook in Tom McCall Nature Preserve. We climbed Rowena Crest for our first hike of the day. The wild flower season was just beginning and the hills were covered with arrowroot leaf balsam root (yellow), desert parsley (green and purple) and avalanche lily (also, yellow) to name just a few. At about 500 feet, we stopped on a plateau to gaze at the view; the Columbia River and the mountains across the river in Washington. It was an unusually great day for April, blue sky, sun, warm temperatures; our luck with weather is continuing.
After lunch and a bit of relaxing and enjoying the sun and the scenery, we hopped back into the van and drove to Wahclella Falls for another short hike into the falls which were magnificent. We hiked along the river, climbed up to about 200 feet, encountered some small falls that flowed right by the trail which was bordered by a dense forest of huge Douglas fir trees. Everything was covered with thick moss and water was dripping from everywhere on the canyon walls. This is a coniferous rain forest and it sure had the look and feel of one. When we got to the base of the falls, the wind generated by the force of the water was swirling around and it got very cold and very damp. As you drive along the Columbia River Gorge, you see waterfalls everywhere but it was very special to be up close to one! After stopping at Bonneville Dam to see Herman the sturgeon (10 feet long, 55 years old!), we capped the day off with a walk to a new restaurant in Matt and Leila’s neighborhood where we had a great dinner that even included a very good brick oven pizza.
Sunday morning we packed the car for an overnight trip to the Oregon coast and did a little shopping at the the Portland street market. Before leaving town, we stopped at Matt and Leyla’s friend’s, Mary Dallas, to pick up Cooper, Mary Dallas’ dog and Leyla’s “goddog,” We drove to a little town called Oceanside where Matt and Leyla had rented a house high above the beach. On the way we stopped at Cape Meares for a quick tour of the lighthouse. At our beach house we marveled at the gorgeous view of the ocean, had a great lasagna dinner and some walked on the beach while others did the dishes. The weather was what you would expect the Oregon coast would be in April---cool, gray and misty. Matt and Leyla’s friend Denise who was biking the Oregon coast, was a welcome addition to our overnight excursion. And, of course, it was great fun having Cooper with us; John and Peter were in their glory!
On our way back to Portland on Monday, we drove along the three Capes Scenic Loop and stopped in Tillamook at the Blue Heron Creamery for lunch. Tillamook is the dairy and cheese center of the region and the restaurant had a wonderful array of cheeses. We cooked steaks on Matt and Leyla’s new grill and called it a night!
Tuesday morning we met Billy Norris, an old Beverly friend of Connie’s, for coffee in the Pearl section of Portland. Billy lives in this area which is quite near the river. We had a great hour reminiscing and “catching up!” Then we drove to the Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo Ferrari shop where Matt works. After lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant, “our mechanic” changed the oil and checked over our car to make sure we were ready for the trip East.. That evening we went to “Justa Pasta” for dinner, a neat place with a wide array of pasta dishes!
On Wednesday we struck out on our own, following the Columbia River along its Oregon shoreline northwest to Astoria. In Astoria we spent a couple of hours at the fascinating Columbia River Maritime Museum. Outside, we saw a new pilot ship being christened, a two hundred ten foot Coast Guard cutter, an old pilot ship and a HUGE red nun buoy. Inside we saw a short movie depicting the Columbia and the danger of the bar here at the confluence with the Pacific. The exhibits were very interesting especially the one concerning the Tellamook Rock light station, now closed and used as a columbarium. We ended our day at Cannon Beach, a popular resort community with a cute downtown and a seven mile stretch of beach. Haystack Rock is its claim to fame.
Thursday morning we said goodbye to Matt and Leyla; what a great visit we had with them. They are wonderful hosts and we truly enjoyed out entire visit. Fortunately we’ll see them this summer and, hopefully, again, at Thanksgiving. We will miss them………..we’ll also miss the drive-thru espresso places which are EVERYWHERE!!!!
We started out on our return trip by retracing the original Oregon Trail from Portland. The weather was problematic and we were resigned to a trip back without any top down time. Boy were we wrong!!! About a hundred miles east of Portland the skies cleared and the temperature rose so when we got off the interstate we stopped and put the top down. The road we followed was route 20 through the Mt. Hood National Forest, the Cascade Mountains, the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, high desert, deep gorges and, finally, through the John Day Fossil Beds. We were mesmerized at the Painted Hills Unit where we viewed hummocks and hills in varying shades of red, pink, bronze, lavender, tan and black, many to a background of a turquoise lake. Truly fascinating to see these formations made 39 to 18 million years ago. The drive rivaled any we had been on to date! Further along we saw a true Oregon shoe tree----a leafless deciduous tree bedecked with hundreds of pairs of sneakers! Senior prank, maybe? The rest of our trip to the border was through lonely but beautiful farm land with loads of cattle. We ended the day in Ontario OR, just across the border from Idaho.
