More than once, I’ve been told that Portland is my kind of city. Last week, we headed to Oregon where Thomas visited one of his company’s offices. We flew into Portland, but only spent an hour in the city. I don’t think I got a good feel for it – it felt a little too big for me (and reminded me of Indianapolis). Afterward, we headed to Hood River, two hours east of Portland where we spent a week, and I loved it!
Base of Latourell Falls
Hood River is surrounded by beautiful scenery. The little resort town is on the coast of the Columbia River – Washington is on the other side – and it’s at the base of Mount Hood. We drove along the Historic Columbia River Highway from Portland to Hood River, where the roads were lined with tall evergreens, ferns, and huge waterfalls. It was a gorgeous drive.
Multnomah Falls
Downtown Hood River feels like a little mountain town, filled with boutiques, coffee shops, live bluegrass bands, and microbreweries. Most of Thomas’ coworkers that we met with brewed their own beer in their free time. They also did a lot of skiing, and graciously lent us ski gear for the weekend. We drove 30 minutes up Mount Hood to Mount Hood Meadows and skied one day. It was beautiful and even snowed while we were up there.
While we were in town, Mount Hood had a little Christmas celebration – a parade, caroling, and free hot chocolate. I was shocked at all the families gathered together, catching up with old friends. There really was a sense of community. And I can tell why – whenever I went in a store, the people inside looked me in the eye, smiled, said hello, and asked me if I’m having a good day. Maybe I’ve been living in Belgium for too long, but I haven’t experienced this kind of friendliness for a while. I particularly liked this poster I saw in a restaurant stating instructions on How to Build Community.
The Main Drag
I don’t know about Portland, but I would say Hood River is my kind of town. I really enjoyed it. We joked that it’s a Yippie community – part hippy and part yuppie. From the Eddie Bauer-style, to the many surrounding camping and hiking places, to the folk music playing everywhere we went, to the many restaurants and stores selling organic, locally-grown, fair-trade, and green… There were also a ton of VW buses, though I’d be a little worried about mine with all those hills.
Full Moon in the Afternoon Sky
Who knows where we’ll end up when we eventually move back to the States, but this is a place I would want to explore more. If you’d like to see more of my photos, I’ve posted them on Flickr:
- Hood River and Skiing (25 photos)
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These pictures are beautiful. Looks like we missed an opportunity to visit an interesting place when we lived in Richland. Oh well, maybe we’ll still get a chance to visit.
Portland is really great as is Bend. Both totally different. We take the train from Seattle and stay sometimes. It’s pretty easy to get around.
If you make it to Amsterdam I would love to know the name of the almond cake like cookies that they make everywhere. Ten years later and I still can’t find a recipe.