For Fall Break this year we decided to head back up to our Northern Neighbor state, Oregon. We love Oregon, as you can see in our previous post, and this one too!
For this trip, we decided to skip the sights on Northern California and just push straight through to Oregon. On Saturday, we got all the way up to Klamath Falls, OR in one shot. We found a hotel, had a great dinner and then hit the hay early so we could wake up early the next day and start our journey.
The next morning we headed out early and went to Crater Lake. This is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Crater Lake is the fifth-oldest national park in the United States and the only national park in Oregon. The lake is 1,949 feet deep at its deepest point, which makes it the deepest lake in the United States.
After completing the 30 miles drive around the lake we took an offshoot road to the Pinnacles Overlook. We hiked to see the Pinnacles, which were formed by holes in volcanic rock through which gases vent, these lofty needle-shaped formations protrude from the floor of Sand Creek Canyon.
After Crater Lake, we headed north toward the city of Bend, OR. We drove through volcanic deserts and lava fields as we journeyed into the high desert. Bend is adorable! We were lucky enough to arrive on the day that they were holding their Fall Festival. We got to walk around downtown and enjoy the Farmer's Market and local artists.
Another AMAZING feature of Bend is that it is home to the last functioning Blockbuster Video store in the United States! Of course, we had to stop and see it.
The next day we kept heading North toward Mt. Hood National Forest. It rained that day so our views were slightly limited, but for us, Californians, any bit of rain is always exciting. We drove through the Mt. Hood Forest and continued up to the Columbia River.
We headed to Multnomah Falls. This is the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon at about 620 ft. It is only about 30 minutes outside of Portland, OR and is a special waterfall that never dries up. It is fed by underground springs and so it flows year round.
After visiting the falls we went into Portland. We love this place. There is a very good chance that Portland will one day be our new home. We have some really great friends who live in Portland and of course, it is home to Voodoo Donuts. The best donuts ever!
After Portland, we headed North into the state of Washington for a little while but then dipped back down into Oregon on the coast as the cute little town of Astoria, OR. Astoria is known for being the place where several great movies were filmed, one of which is The Goonies. Unfortunately, the house from The Goonies is owned by people who do not want to be known for living in the Goonies' house and so they have put up tarps and several signs claiming to call the police if you were to take photos of the house. JERKS! We did enjoy some of the other features of Astoria though as we did a nice hike, met a banana slug and climbed to the top of the Astoria Column.
After climbing the spiral staircase in the 125-foot column, we hopped back in the car and headed down the beautiful coast. After this trip, we have now driven the entire Oregon coast in separate pieces but we have been to all of it. And every single bit of it is stunning!
We spent the night in Newport, OR and woke to the sounds of sea lions barking in the harbor.
We then headed East and cut back through the heart of Oregon and drove through some of the most beautiful forestlands. We drove through the Willamette Forest and the Deschutes Forest and then we stopped to hike at Salt Creek Water Fall. WOW!
Our plan was to drive back to Klamath Falls and sleep there for the night. However, there were no hotel rooms available in any of the hotels in Klamath Falls so we had to push on through back to California. We have stayed in the town of Mt. Shasta 3 times now and every time we have a great evening visiting the local bar in the Shasta Inn. In fact, we have been there often enough that the bartender knows us! We decided to head there for our final night of vacation and stay in the Strawberry Valley Inn. It was adorable.
You can start seeing the mountain while you are still in Oregon even though Klamath Falls and Shasta city are 80 miles apart. Driving to Mt. Shasta puts us at a view point that we have passed several times in our travels now.
In all, we drove 1,600 miles looping through one of the most beautiful states in the US. Where else can you go from volcanic deserts and steep mountain tops to valleys and rivers with evergreens and deciduous trees right next to each other on the same day you are driving along an amazing rocky coastline? Oregon is amazing and Fall Break is one of the best times to travel. We are so grateful for the opportunity to have that time off together.
