River deep, mountain high

First, some sustenance.  The Original Pancake House had been marked on our google map by Mary ever since we first decided to visit Portland.  She had been there many times previously and knew what lay in store.

I ordered the speciality of the house, Apple Cinnamon pancake.  H.U.G.E. (but delicious)

Mary herself ordered a Dutch Baby – a kind of Yorkshire Pudding with lemon and sugar.  Delicious too.

The Corned Beef Hash fan ordered Corned Beef Hash.  I know…

Over the bridge then, negotiating a busy freeway junction a hundred feet or so up above the Willamette River.  Hmmm.

We were heading for the Historic Route 30, the first scenic route to be built in America, The Columbia River Highway.

We were blessed with great weather, not too much traffic and discovered breathtaking views from high above the water level.

After our first stop high above the river gorge, we continued to the viewpoint there on the wooded ridge.

The ladies in the visitors centre there were chatty and very helpful.  They worried about us because the coach with 40 English people had just left and they were concerned that we’d been left behind.  We reassured them that we were independent spirits!

Next stop was a waterfall, accessed by a trail through the woods.  Lovely.

Several waterfalls later, we were beginning to gather a bit of knowledge about these things and at least one of us was talking about the “bridal veil effect” in authorative tones.

Just as we were beginning to be waterfalled out, we came to the end of the gorge and look what we spotted on the horizon: Mount St Helens. (I think it's actually Mount Adams?)

We were now turning right and joining another scenic byway – the circuit around Mount Hood

which was looking spectacular in the afternoon sunshine. Those clouds were drifting in and out, but whilst we stopped to absorb the view and take photos at the National Forest Ranger Station, the clouds parted and the mountain was looking super.

Visiting the office to see what information was available gave us a small insight into the working conditions of a forest ranger, too.

We continued back towards Portland, joining the road which takes the same route as the old Oregon Trail.

Yes, there is a town named Boring.

Roses and Voodoo

It’s so easy to get around Portland, because the streetcar and light rail systems are not only frequent and convenient, they’re all free within the city centre, too.  So, we’ve been hopping on and off all day.

We started down in the Pearl district, at Powells Books (of course), before stopping into Anthropologie in the next block.

Enjoying the individual personalities of the wide variety of shops and businesses in this area, we poked our heads inside a kitchen/cook shop on the corner.  In Good Taste turned out to be more of a cookery school, with an enviable cooking demonstration area and super-friendly staff who gave us a few details about up and coming classes.  We were sorry that we couldn’t make any of these as we’re not in the city for long – but lo and behold, on Saturday night, we’ve snagged three places at the Portland Summertime Dinner Party.  How lucky is that?!

Finding it hard to resist the colourful “shop” opposite, we simply had to investigate further.  Cargo was the kind of place where each of us could have spent a whole day. (Click through to their website and you’ll see what I mean – you might spend a day just looking at that!)

Indonesian Boy Scout Badge anyone?

Philippino Saint structure?

Gorgeous blue and white china?

Or a lovely oriental family photograph?

That’s all, because these gorgeous, beautifully coloured drawers are all MINE!  (I wish)

What an incredible shop.  Delightful people too!

So, still catching our breath, we sobered up in a knitting shop or two, enjoyed a coffee at Pearl Bakery and scoped out a few places for dinner before jumping on a tram headed for Washington Park and the Rose Gardens.

It being June, everything was in full bloom and the garden was looking lovely.  I was a little disappointed that, since it was situated on a breezy hillside, there wasn’t the concentrated perfume of a more enclosed rose garden, but the flowers were truly magnificent.

Another couple of hours downtown and a bite to eat left us in need to something sweet.  Lo and behold, a tram in the opposite direction from previous journeys took us to a place we’d only read about VooDoo Doughnuts.

Except, when we got there, the notice on the door said “closed”.  Our guide had listed the place as 24/7 and arriving at the door was the first we’d heard that this particular shop had been closed for rebuilding since April.

Oh dear.

But there was quite a bit of activity inside, the door was wedged open and when a young man put his head around the door, we asked what was going on.  “Five minutes” he said, “we’re reopening in about five minutes”.

Woohoo!

“Actually, it might be a bit longer”, he admitted, five minutes later.

In the meantime, we enjoyed the company of a family from Albany and a queue began to form.  Only speaking to them did we realise what a following Voodoo Doughnuts have in Portland, never mind how long the queue normally is.  Here we were, first in line for the “soft” reopening!

When the doors opened, we were there.  Great ceremony as we ordered the first doughnuts of the new, extended store.  Mary handed over the first dollar bill in the till (which was then taken away for safekeeping) and a huge cheer went up as the first doughnut was placed into the bag.

It was a Portland Cream.  Wooohooo!

We went on to choose a doughnut each - Mark opted for one of the Voodoo speciality flavours, Maple and bacon (you’ll have to ask him what it was like!)  Only as we stepped back did we realise that none of us had chosen the voodoo doughnut – the one with raspberry filling and a (pretzel) stake through its heart.

Quick as a flash, the gentleman from Albany stepped forward and ordered an extra one for us – how sweet was that?!

So, doughnut party here tonight, whilst watching So You Think You Can Dance (US Edition – better dancers!) 

We haven’t had the heart to draw out the stake yet…

This is a trip of bridges

Before we left Eugene, though, we needed to send a card from “Tracktown USA” to a dear friend for whom this place is special.  Finding a postbox wasn’t easy though and involved a U turn on the thankfully empty highway!

First stop on our way was Albany, where the Visitor Information office turned up trumps.  What a charming place and how helpful the lady sitting behind the desk was – would that all information centres were like this one!  We left armed with plenty of ideas and directions for a few stops along the way to Portland, starting with a few bridges to search out.

These were no ordinary bridges though – there are more covered bridges in this part of Oregon than anywhere else in the west, and though we didn’t have time to look them all out, we managed five in quick succession.  The first one, the Hoffmann Bridge had gothic style windows in the side panels.

The Gilkey bridge, on the other hand, had open sides and seemed larger.  So very well maintained, these bridges were in quiet corners of the countryside.  We saw hardly another soul until we encountered a couple geocacheing – another great idea for getting out into this lovely landscape.

The bridges were all different from one another and we really enjoyed taking a close look, especially when there was no-one else within sight (or earshot).  But enough is enough, and after five bridges, we were beginning to feel ready to move along. 

Our next stop was going to be Salem, where we planned to add another Capitol building to our collection.

We arrived just in time for a tour with another of the excellent volunteer guides.  Unusually, the Oregon Capitol doesn’t have a dome, but a tower and one of the first things we learned was that this is the third such building on this site, because the first two burned down.  This one is fireproof!

We recognised our friends Lewis and Clark here on one of the murals depicting Oregon’s history.

The state seal was explained to us, too, with significant motifs there in the design.

The House was sitting this afternoon, and the representatives were just returning from lunch whilst we were there.

The Senate wasn’t returning from lunch till 3pm.

We found the whole place fascinating as always and were glad we’d stopped by.  Nevertheless, the time was going on and we still had a bit further to go to Portland.  I had read of a great bakery called “Aurora” en route – or so I thought.  After investigating further, however, not only was the bakery called Anjou not Aurora, it wasn’t in this part of Oregon.  In fact it wasn’t in Oregon at all!  And it was closed on Wednesdays. Apart from that, I thought it was a brilliant idea.

So, it was on to Portland, where we checked into the hotel and went downtown in search of dinner.  No problem finding somewhere here!  On the way back, we passed by Portlandia who is huge – get a better impression from my photo of the day today.

We walked back along the Riverwalk to our hotel, admiring another engineering marvel as we did.

Last stop was sitting watching the teams going out in dragonboats right outside the hotel, in front of the last and final bridge of the day.  This is a city full of activity and the next couple of days will be fun as we explore a little more.  Fingers crossed, the sun will keep shining and it’ll stay dry for us.

If not, we can always eat chocolate.

Water, mountains and forests

So now we see the charm of Eugene: the glorious countryside which is just minutes away.  With such magnificent landscapes on the doorstep, who needs a city centre?

We set off towards the Cascade Mountains this morning, heading up the Mackenzie River in the direction of the small town of Sisters.  We stopped off at the National Park Ranger Station to make use of the facilities and, stupidly, failed to check a few vital details.  Eleven miles up the road, what did we find?

The pass over the mountains is open only a few weeks in the year due to snow and ice and here we were in mid June and it was still closed to traffic.  We turned around and retraced our steps (can that be done in a car?) and took the only other route – that which we’d planned to take on our return.

The views were terrific.  Here’s Mount Washington with the Three Sisters in the background.  The forest here burned in 2003 and as we stopped to take these photos, we took a look at a great display board there which explained the background to the fires and how the forest is recovering.  We read how the fire was most probably started by lightning and smouldered for days before really setting in.  However, I also read this alternative theory…

We soon found ourselves in Sisters, where the frontages are built in the style of a 19th century Western town.  I’d bookmarked Sisters because of the shop in the picture – The Stitchin’Post.  The first quilt I ever completed was made to a pattern designed by Jean Wells and I learned then of the Sisters Annual Quilt Festival which is held on the second Saturday in July.  Well, it’s too early for that, but not too early to take a look around the shop!

I’ve been in one or two quilt shops here and there.  I might have said that some were the best I’ve ever seen. Well, time to forget all that – The Stitchin Post now claims that title.

Of course, it’s particularly well stocked right now, because the “big event” is on the horizon, but even so everything was beautifully organised and not a thing was out of place.

Just when I thought I’d seen it all, I went through a door into another room full of goodies.

Oh, and did I mention the yarn department?

Yes, we were some time in there, pottering about deciding what I should bring back and what I could leave because I could buy the same at home.  The staff were patient and knowledgeable and happy for us to browse for as long as we liked.  What a great store!

My hero was waiting patiently outside, having decided that looking at maps and fiddling with the satnav was more interesting, but as soon as we reappeared, he was ready to explore further down the street.  This building, with the mural, had two doors – cowboys and cowgirls.  Need any further explanation? 

After an ice cream in the parlour across the road we enjoyed a walk the length of the main street, wondering how on earth they get 1300 quilts up and on show for one weekend in July?

Of course, we had to take the same route home, which gave us the chance to stop at the Sahalie Falls and take a walk through the woods.  The sun was warm today and the shady forest beautifully lit.

The falls themselves were in full flow, creating a fine drizzle over the viewing points.

Back into Eugene then, to enjoy a Chinese for dinner tonight before watching the next episode of Masterchef and the semi final of The Voice.  Time to pack up too, for the last stop on our road trip – we set off for Portland tomorrow morning.

“It’s really quite a boring town”

Not my words, I hasten to add, but spoken by a resident of Eugene this evening.

 

The day began in Newport as we took the road south along the last stretch of coastline for us.  The character changed from sandy bays to rocky beaches, full of tidepools begging to be explored.  We set off in more drizzly rain, even though it was supposed to be sunny today.  When we commented on this to the woman at the petrol station, we were reminded that it was “still a bit early, give it time!”  That was around 10am.

Stopping from time to time to take photos and look out over the beach into the haze, we made our way south.  At one pull in, we saw a family peering over the cliff edge at some sea lions basking on the rocks below, many with pups.

Looking north, we felt sorry that the gloom meant that there wasn’t much of a view of the coastline.

Here’s the same view five minutes later – oh, there’s a lighthouse down there!

Another five minutes and there’s not only a lighthouse but a small cottage set on a ledge there.  Dare I also point out the blue sky too?

This is how we found this coast to be – changing all the time.  We could have stood watching the weather for hours.

Ten minutes later, I’m standing inside a quilt shop, chatting!  We’d arrived in Florence, our last coastal stop and where we’d read of spectacular sand dunes (thanks Jane!!)

Mary’s Golden Pass came to the fore again, allowing us free entry to this wild part of the coastline, managed by the National Parks.  The dunes stretch for 41 miles down the coast but we would see only one small corner, just outside Florence.

The boys were out with their toys this morning, zooming up and down this huge dune in their buggies.

There appeared to be pretty, scenic drives to be enjoyed on these 4WD buggies, but unsurprisingly, it was the huge dune which was the main scene of the action.

Far too sensible to want to have a go ourselves, it was time to go.  Turning right in Florence, towards Eugene, where we were to spend a couple of nights.

We didn’t know much about Eugene, it just happened to be a good turning point and we thought that, as a university town, there would be plenty of things going on.  Having registered our arrival at the hotel, we set out to explore downtown.  Except we couldn’t identify where that might be.

We found a great kitchen shop and a well-stocked embroidery shop which had more needlepoint canvases, cross stitch kits and different embroidery threads than I’ve seen in a long, long time.  But this was all very small…where was the main street?

We were amused by the window display giving a poke to Portlandia’s “Put a bird on it” skit.  Butterflies the next thing, eh?

After an hour’s mooching, we headed for the Electric Station for something to eat.  As we left, we heard an unmistakeable sound and headed towards the railroad which was adjacent to the car park.

The Coast Starlight Express was there, boarding the final passengers for the l-o-n-g journey south to Los Angeles.  It had left Vancouver, Canada at 5.30am this morning and left Eugene one hour late at 6.10pm.  It’ll arrive in Los Angeles tomorrow evening at 9.00pm.  Yes, there are sleeper cars on there but I’m not sure that I seriously wanted to travel that way, however romantic it seemed at the time!

So, sorry, Eugene, we don’t seem to have got your measure.  We’ve tried really hard, have picked up and perused every leaflet we could find, asked locals for advice and finally, returned to the hotel to watch the first two programmes of American Masterchef.

Travelling doesn’t get tougher than this!!