I’ve always wanted to visit Portland, Oregon. Perhaps it was the quest to return to the era of the hippies during the 60s and early 70s that I associate with Portland. Growing up in the country, graduating class of 40 students, in the center of the Midwest, I was really only exposed to that culture through the news channel on TV.

If I’d lived on the West coast, I probably would have been one of the ones up in the trees to keep them from being cut down or to save the nesting area of the spotted owl. I wore the hip-hugging bell bottom jeans, muslin smock tops, long beads. We heated our house solely with wood and made a stab at “living off the land.” (I was really glad a grocery store was only 10 miles away or I probably would have starved to death.) I did, and continue to, make most of our meals from scratch. I was against the war and listened in horror each night as the number of soldiers killed was reported on the news. That’s about my extend of the “hippie movement.”

While visiting my daughter in Washington this weekend, she asked if I wanted to explore Portland and the Columbia Gorge. Heck yes! By the time we drove down Saturday and had to return Sunday, we had about 24 hours. Boy did we pack each minute! Here’s our amazing journey. We have also decided to make an annual “Girls Weekend in Portland.”

With the forecast for Saturday as “off and on rain,” we decided to save our waterfall viewing and hiking for Sunday. Our first stop was to the famous NW 23rd  Avenue.
Continue reading “24 Hours in Portland – Day 1” →