Operation Byway — Oregon Trip winter 2014 Part 1: Portland
Christmas is becoming the time for road trips with our second annual trip (Though it is not a trend until there are 3!). This winter we made arrangements to go on another road trip just like last year’s trip to San Francisco and the Oregon Coast. As with last year, our choice to road trip was mainly because road trips are a lot cheaper than having to fly somewhere and also gives us more time as the travel to and from is part of the adventure.
We decided early on to head to Oregon this year. Oregon is an optimal choice because it is further south (slightly warmer, more daylight), cheap (no sales tax), and close (5 hour drive). It is also very scenic and there is a lot of nature to explore. I think this is because Oregon puts a lot into tourism advertising. It may be me, but in comparison, I know almost nothing about Washington state in terms of natural beauty and places to visit beyond Seattle and Mount St. Helen. We didn’t go North into the Okanogan or East to Alberta because of the cold winter and California seemed too far for our 7 day trip.
This year, we had my Dad join us as a travelling companion. He was fundamental to the success of the trip because he would bring along the car (we still don’t have one).
Our first stop was Portland Oregon for two nights. We’d passed through Portland last year on our way to San Francisco and spent an evening checking out downtown. It was interesting to be back because I recognized a lot of the downtown and could still navigate without any difficulty. Last year we stayed at a pretty cheap hotel and it was rather cold at night so we opted for a better hotel, the University Conference centre. It was good because it was warmer, after hours of heating, but also we had adjoining rooms and a hot breakfast was served every morning. It wasn’t so good because we had to pay for parking and the front desk even claimed it was the cheapest in the city. The hotel last year had free parking and walking around town, it seemed like there were plenty of cheaper lots to park in than the conference centre -.-
Just like Vancouver in winter, it was pretty cold but without the clouds or rain. We took Dad to Pioneer Plaza, the main square of the city, and took photos with the giant christmas tree. Just like last year, we went to our favourite Thai food cart for excellent food and ate it while warming up in the Target building across the street.
Pioneer Square, Seeing the Christmas tree again was a warm sense of familiarity. Portland, OR
Next, we showed Dad the wonders of Powell’s Books. Downtown Portland isn’t very big so it’s easy to walk everywhere. It was cool to show Dad around Portland the way we might show someone around Vancouver; going from place to place and knowing where everything is.
The next day we wandered around some of the downtown districts’ we hadn’t seen before and sought out pictures of the many steel bridges that cross the Willamette River. This was a good time to test out Yuki’s Christmas Present — a Lomo instant camera! I don’t have the pictures to show because they’re all film so you’ll have to come over to see them. The pictures turned out pretty well (for the most part) as we figured out how to use the camera and how to gauge the aperture exposure.
We also walked along the river, checking out some of the bridges. Having a Dad that was an engineer definitely helped Yuki and I geek out on a type of bridge construction that we don’t really see at home. As well, we had hot chocolate, did some shopping, and did a night time cruise around the hills. We weren’t able to find many good city views but did end up driving by some signifiant city attractions. Too bad it was too dark to see them…
Yuki checking out the Fremont Bridge with her Lomo Instax, Portland OR
Two nights was just about enough time to check out Portland without overstaying. Besides, there was so much more to see. Up Next: Silver Falls State Park!
