Adventures in: Portland, Oregon

Dan and I had been wanting/needing to get away for a while - he set aside a few days in December, asked Mom Mom and Pappy to come stay with our kiddos and we started researching where we wanted to go! We had frequent flyer miles for flights, so we knew we wanted to fly somewhere. We originally were thinking either Key West or San Fransisco, but after some research, we decided against both of them. We wanted to go some place that neither of us had been. Megan helped me research and she found Cannon Beach, Oregon! I figured out that if we flew into Portland, we could have the best of everything - an easy city to fly into, yummy food, easy drive to a picturesque beach and breweries! We knew the average temp was around 40F and rainy in Portland this time of the year, but as the days drew closer, it was forecasting 25F and snow! We booked our flights, paid for 4 days of rental cars and 4 nights in a hotel all with points!

It was so fun to be able to fly together and seated next to each other! We got in at 9pm PST to 3 inches of snow that had ground the city to a halt! Thankfully we could land, no problem. Our shuttle driver to the rental car place said that people had been stranded on highways for 3+ hours. Thankfully, he knew the back roads to the rental car place and he FLEW through snowy, unplowed streets! We got our rental car (it was an economy sized one - the lady behind the desk basically said we were crazy for driving the small car in this snow and it would be a miracle if we didn't die...then offered for us to "borrow" a cheap ice scraper to scrape off the snow off the car). The car was awesome, we were starving and the city was at a standstill. Thankfully Dan (and I) has no fear of driving in the snow.

Google Maps routed us along the Columbia River behind the airport to our hotel - it was blessedly empty of cars (although we felt like we could haven't plunged into the Columbia at any point)! We made it to our hotel in 15 minutes, checked in and then left again to grab some McDonald's nearby!

The next morning it was still snowy - all the schools and restaurants were closed for the day. It was gloomy looking and really cold. We were happy to eat some breakfast and enjoy being lazy in the hotel - until about 11am when I couldn't take it anymore and suggested we venture out to Multnomah Falls! Dan was happy to oblige and we are so, so thankful we did!

The drive along the Columbia was amazing - gorgeous views, amazing water, falls coming out of the sides of the mountains. It was breathtaking! We finally found Multnomah Falls- in the snow and freezing cold. We took pictures from the parking lot and enjoyed shopping in the gift store. Then Dan suggested we walk a little bit up the path to see if we could see the Falls. It was snowy - packed snow on the path, snowy powder where it hadn't been stomped down. I was in Uggs and Dan was in his boots...but I am so thankful Dan suggested we walk there, because otherwise we would have missed it! It was beautiful from the parking lot, but amazing in person and up close!

We enjoyed seeing it and then Dan suggested we hike up to the famous bridge! It was snowy, slick and icy - and we had to cross over a narrow - 12 inch walkway that would normally have a chain railing to stop you from plummeting 40 feet to your death, but the snow had become packed down and the path was ABOVE the chain...so it was crazy! We survived and loved being there to see it!

After Multnomah Falls, we drove for a bit and then stopped to take pictures at a look out point on the Columbia! Restaurants had opened back up and we headed downtown for a Thai street food lunch that was amazing!!! We shopped a little bit and grabbed some handmade ice cream for dessert for later at the hotel! It was an awesome first day and we decided we loved Portland!