We got up the next morning, had breakfast, and finished packing up our bags. After reluctantly saying goodbye to Sue and Wayne, it was time to hit the road. We had just a little more exploring to do before flying home the next morning.
Since the Columbia River Gorge was only about an hour east of Portland, that was our first stop. It was kind of misty and rainy, but it was still really pretty.
Granny and Sue had really talked up Multnomah Falls, and for good reason! It's huge; the total drop between the two falls is about 620 feet.
There's a short path off to the side that leads up to the bridge, so Mark and I headed up there to check it out.
We could see Granny from the bridge. Hi Granny! :)
We made our way back down, watched the waterfall for a couple more minutes, then tracked down Granny in the gift shop. There was a restaurant upstairs in the lodge, so we grabbed some lunch before hitting the road to head back to Portland.
We made a quick stop at Wahkeena Falls on the way back out. They're a lot smaller than Multnomah, but still pretty!
We made our way back to Portland and checked into the hotel. We were staying right near the airport since our flight left so early the next day. We still had the afternoon and evening free, though, so we hopped back in the car and made our way into downtown Portland.
The rain held off for a little while, so we walked around a bit and stopped in a few stores. Including a candy store. Mmm...candy walk...
Our luck with the weather didn't last too long, though. After a few minutes it started POURING. And none of us had thought ahead to bring our umbrellas. Oops! We hid out in a parking garage for a few minutes before finally giving up and taking a very soggy walk to our next stop.
Did you know that Portland has a bookstore that spans an entire city block? Because they do, and it's amazing! It's called Powell's and has just about any book you could think of - new, used, whatever. I could have easily spent a full day in here. Since we were a bit limited for time, we only checked out a couple sections. I'm just starting to relearn German again, and I found a neat book of short stories that's written in English on one side of the page and German on the other. Mark and I wandered out to check out some of the surrounding shops while Granny read one of her new books with a cup of tea, then we all met up again to grab some dinner.
I had been talking to one of my buddies from back home a couple days before, and when I mentioned that we would be in Portland he told me about a great place for dinner: Departure Restaurant and Lounge. He was spot on...it was AMAZING! The food was fantastic, the drinks were fantastic, and the restaurant is on the top floor of a building and has a really cool view of the city. Mark S., if you're reading this, thank you, thank you, thank you - that was a great recommendation! We hung out for a few hours and stuffed ourselves silly before eventually making our way back to the hotel. The hotel had a hot tub, so of course we all checked that out for a few minutes, then it was back upstairs to grab some sleep before heading home. I'm going to miss you, Oregon!
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