Au Revoir to Oregon

Oregon is a wonderful state!  We’ve known this since our first trip here six years ago when we flew out to Portland and then drove through the Willamette Valley (Oregon wine country) over to the coast to Yachats to attend girlfriend Chris’s wedding.  Incidentally, that was our first vacation together [August 2009; we had been dating for four months] — clearly we did pretty well traveling as a couple… just look at us now!

Columbia River Gorge
View of the Columbia River Gorge from the Vista House

And now on this, our Out There trip, we wanted to spend more time here, and so we did — nearly two more weeks.  First we visited the gorgeous Crater Lake National Park (see Crater Lake NP post) and enjoyed some really great camping time in Prospect.  Then we went over to the coast to enjoy more of what nature has to offer over there.  Then it was up to the Columbia River east of Portland (Mt. Hood area) to visit the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area for some hiking.  Finally, we trekked back to the coast for one more night before crossing over into Washington this past Wednesday.

Below are a few photos from our fabulous two weeks in Oregon:

Vista House

Vista House – an observatory at Crown Point. Opened in 1918, it is now a comfort station for travelers on the Historic Columbia River Highway.

Horsetail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge
Horsetail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge
Triple Falls
Fred and Laura at Triple Falls.  Sadly it’s more like trickle falls due to the horrendous drought that has encompassed much of the West.
Ponytail Falls
Ponytail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge
David and Fred - it's' nice to be dining outside once again!
David and Fred — there’s nothing like a nice spaghetti dinner outside on your picnic table when you’re camping!
Line dancing to some old fashioned fiddle music
Fred line dancing to some old fashioned fiddle music
Roasting wieners at our campground
Friday Night Wiener Roast at our campground near Crater Lake NP
There's a Selfie for the Files
Okay, here’s one that’s a keeper. We’ll have to practice not making the stick so obvious, however….
David and Fred in the Trophy Room
Enjoying ‘after-hours’ benefits with David, the new owner of The Trophy Room — soon to be Prospect’s hippest joint!
Practicing with the Selfie Stick
Practicing with the new Selfie Stick that David gave us — we clearly need more practice!

Regrettably, a few days ago it was time to leave this great state, but we will definitely return.  We plan to come up to the Bend area to visit some friends we weren’t able to connect with this time around, and we also want to experience Crater Lake in the wintertime.  So for now we’ll say au revoir to Oregon, which translates literally to ‘until we meet again’….