Day 7: Columbia River Gorge & Mt. Hood

Wednesday morning, Todd & I got up and went for a run along the waterfront again. After getting ready and eating breakfast, we picked up our rental car we were going to use for the rest of our trip. Our plan for the day was to drive east of Portland along the historic Columbia River Gorge Highway to see some waterfalls, stop at Full Sail Brewery, and go to Mt. Hood.

A few miles outside of Portland, we hit the town of Troutdale, the start of the Columbia River Gorge

Looks like we're driving the right way

Our first stop was the Portland Women's Forum Scenic Viewpoint; however, it had been raining all morning and we weren't able to see anything through the rain and haze. A few more miles down the road, we stopped at the Vista House at Crown Point for another view. Again, we were suppose to see a panoramic view of the Columbia River but the weather had other plans. It was still neat to walk around the building and see some of the historical pictures that were displayed.

Vista House at Crown Point

After Vista Point, we were finally along the part of the Columbia River Gorge with lots of waterfalls. We stopped at two smaller waterfalls before going to Multnomah Falls, one of the biggest waterfalls in the country.

First stop: Latourell Falls

We walked about a 1/2 mile to see this gorgeous waterfall

Second stop: Bridal Veil

Not as impressive but still pretty

Last stop: Multnomah Falls

Todd & I in front of the tallest waterfall in Oregon (620 feet)

It was awesome & very impressive and we were able to walk up to the bridge too

We hopped back in the car after seeing Multnomah Falls and continued to drive east to Hood River. We were planning on going to a winery & Full Sail Brewery in Hood River as well as hopefully catch a glimpse of some people windsurfing or kitesurfing. Hood River is one of the top places in the U.S. for both of these sports.

Welcome to Hood River

First stop: Cathedral Ridge Winery

Cute winery

Enjoying our wine tasting

Todd & I checking out the vineyard

Second stop: Full Sail Brewery

One of the bigger microbreweries in Oregon

Perfect view of the river from the patio of Full Sail (you can just barely make out people windsurfing & kitesurfing)

Taster tray #3 on the trip

Of course, Todd isn't drinking all of these by himself Check out that amazing view behind me!

After leaving Hood River, we started to head southeast so we could see Mt. Hood. As you can see from our pictures in Hood River, as soon as we left the last waterfall, the weather cleared up and it turned out to be a gorgeous day. The drive to Mt. Hood was nice because the whole time we were on the highway, you could see Mt. Hood in the distance. We decided to stop at Timberline Lodge, a mountain lodge on the side of Mt. Hood that was also used in the filming of The Shining.

View of Mt. Hood from Timberline Lodge This was actually where we started Hood to Coast & had our team photo taken; however, the day of the relay it was really cloudy and we couldn't see the top of Mt. Hood

Part of Timberline Lodge....most of it was under construction

After our drive down from Mt. Hood, we drove back to Portland for the evening. It was funny driving back though because we were driving along the highway where I had just run HTC several days before. It was nice to be able to show Todd my first leg of the race I had run and it was amazing put it in perspective and to see how far we actually had run!