Tiff & Jared's adventures

Oregon is so much more than rain and evergreen trees.  Oregon is a magical land of gorges, waterfalls, delicious eateries and BEER, so much beer. It’s so awesome that the state even has its own 7 wonders (we made it to two – Columbia River Gorge and Crater Lake).

Our first day was spent in the Columbia River Gorge. We took the Historic Columbia River Scenic Highway, the nation’s oldest scenic highway, and drove to our first stop – Oneonta Gorge. Pictures do not do it justice. We walked down a set of old steps to the base of a stream and followed other people towards what we figured was the trail. About two minutes in, we stopped at a huge log jam that we had to cross. We probably spent 10 minutes walking across it, standing ten feet above the creek/stream bed. The whole time I was thinking that this is what I imagined New Zealand to look like. We were surrounded by moss-covered walls and walking in super clear (and COLD) water. By the way, this trail was 2.2 miles round trip and led to a waterfall. As we got closer to the waterfall, the water got more and more deep. At one point, we had to wade through water that was about four feet deep (and probably 50 degrees). SO WORTH IT. I even swam across it. We finally got to the waterfall and it was beautiful.

After getting back to the car, we drove further up the highway and stopped at Multnomah Falls. Fun trivia facts: It’s the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon and the second tallest waterfall in the country. It was awesome because it was two-tiered and there was a Lord of the Rings-esque bridge separating the two falls. We did a hike to the top and stood on a lookout at the very point where the waterfall tipped over the edge. It was a super steep hike but definitely worth it – we waded around in the creek up top.

By this point, it was 3PM and we headed to PORTLAND WOO. Our friend Tyler let us stay at his apartment which was super nice because WE DIDN’T NEED TO PITCH THE TENT FOR ONCE WOO. We got into Portland around 4 and our first stop was Base Camp Brewing because I Yelped around and saw that they had a freakin’ SMORE’S STOUT. I’m already a dark beer aficionado but c’mon, this even came with a toasted marshmellow.  Besides me craving a more chocolate taste, it was delicious (and our favorite brewery in Portland). After this brewery, we got some good ole Portland food truck food for dinner and sat on the curb as we ate lulz. After dinner, we went to Powell’s book store, supposedly the coolest book store in the world according to Huffington Post. The building basically took up the whole block and there were three floors and countless rooms of new and used books; super cool and hipster, as is Portland. After, we headed over to Deschutes as it was recommended to us by a couple we had met in Yellowstone. We split a flight and honestly, we liked the vibes and beer a lot more at Base Camp. Still cool though; big distributor of beer in Oregon. We then ended our night and went back to Tyler’s.

Day two in Portland: We only had a half day so we went to the International Rose Test Garden which was cool if you’re into flowers. We were on a hill overlooking the city, and there were thousands of different-colored roses. Didn’t stay too long because we were getting pretty hungry. As any Portland tourist has probably done, we hit up  Voodoo Doughnuts for breakfast. It was a hard choice because I heard Blue Star Donuts were even better, but you just had to go to VooDoo to see the funk and uniqueness of the place. It was grand. They painted the bricks outside their store with sparkly glitter and had the coolest decor inside the store. Jared got a donut with Captain Crunch cereal, and I proceeded to get three. Would definitely recommend the Viscous Hibiscus, but the others were just alright.

As if we hadn’t had enough beer, we stopped at Velo Cult on the way out. It was a hipster bike shop with a bar and we had a Groupon for 2 flights of beer. Even though it wasn’t technically a brewery, it had our second favorite beer (after Base Camp). Then, sadly, we sad bye bye to Portland as we headed towards Crater Lake. We got to the campground late last night but had a BLAST today.While most of the trails in Crater were still closed due to snow, we were able to take Cleetwood Cove down to the water. It was a short 1 mile hike each way, but man oh man the uphill back was hard. There were cliffs down there where people were jumping off of, and we decided to follow suit. It was probably a 20 foot drop into the water and it didn’t help that the water was around 50 degrees. It took me probably 20 minutes to get the guts to jump into the lake? We got everything on GoPro though. Jared had to jump in before me so I could muster up the courage to finally jump in after him; I even got a countdown going from the people around me. After I did my first jump, I had so much adrenaline that I wanted to go again. Jared and I went up to the rock to jump hand in hand, but at the end of the countdown, I chickened out and let go of his hand and he went in alone. It took me about another minute to jump in after him brrrr. Was by far one of the most exhilarating and rewarding, yet scary, experiences ever. We then came back to the campground (would definitely recommend because they have free canoes to use and grills [Crater Lake Resort]) and made a good dinner. Currently going to go play pickle ball. Next stop is Lake Tahoe and then Yosemite for a few days. Will most likely update after Yosemite!!! Pce out