Mt. Hood’s Cold Spring Creek
Today is our fifth and final day of hiking around Mount Hood. Today’s photo comes from our Tamanawas Falls Hike which goes along Cold Spring Creek most of the way.
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Posts tagged mt. hood
Mt. Hood from Elk Meadows
Today’s photo comes from our hike yesterday. We started at the Elk Meadows Trailhead, and I made it to Elk Meadows where this photo was taken. Others kept going to Gnarl Ridge (visible in this photo). They are more tired than I am now. đ
Mount Hood
Our first night on the way to The Gorge last week was spent in an RV on a friend of a friend’s property near Hood River. We pulled in after dark, enjoyed some late night discussion and beverages on the deck, and then went to bed. Upon waking up in the morning, we welcomed in a new day with a new view. I don’t really like arriving at new places after dark, but the morning surprise was neat.
Portland panorama
Photomerged panorama of Portland, Oregon from the Pittock Mansion
Portland was clear and cold during the 2+ days we were there this past weekend. Even though I’ve been to Portland many times, this was the first time I can remember Mt. Hood being visible (although I have seen Mt. Hood from the air and from Salem before). I did a quick Google search on “Portland’s best views” or something similar and the Pittock Mansion came up. Getting there is easy from downtown Portland, but I’m guessing you can only see Mt. Hood from here this clearly a small percentage of the time. Apparently the Pittock Mansion was the ending point for one of the Amazing Race seasons, but I don’t think I watched that season as it didn’t look familiar. Unfortunately, a private party was happening inside so we could only see the outside of the mansion.
Leg 1 (Medford to Portland)
The first flight (of 3) to get to Copenhagen was from Medford to Portland. Most flights out of Medford afford a nice view of Table Rock, a formation created from some ancient lava flows 7 million years ago.
Here is downtown Portland, along the waterfront, as my plane was landing in Portland.
From Portland (one of my favorite airports) I got on a flight to Amsterdam (one of my least favorite airports). If you ever take a flight from Portland to Amsterdam (or London or someplace else in the vicinity), be sure to get a window seat on the left side of the plane.
Soon after takeoff we had this great view of Mt. Hood. Tomorrow, Iâll show you another reason (in summer at least) why a window view on this side of the plane is a good idea.
Oregon
Although this post has nothing to do with Japan or Denmark, it does have a bit of a travel element to it so I thought I’d share anyway. For the past couple of days I’ve been on a fieldtrip with my daughter’s 4th grade class. Even though I’ve lived in Oregon for almost 8 years now, I had never been to the Oregon State Capitol (Salem) or Silver Falls. In fact, I had never even heard of Silver Falls, which is a shame because this place is only a few notches below Yosemite in my book.
We arrived and parked on the Willamette University campus.
The place was beautiful with rhododendrons in bloom, and the stream running through campus was refreshing on this hot day. (You can click on any of these images for a much better view.)
We walked through the campus on our way to the capitol building which is immediately adjacent.
We toured the house and senate chambers and went on the roof for a close up view of the golden pioneer on top. The statue is something like 25 feet high and 20,000 pounds. He was actually painful to look at from that close with the sun glaring off of him–sort of like staring at the sun. He is made of bronze but covered in gold.
From up on top of the capitol building, one can enjoy great views of Willamette University,
Mt. Saint Helens, and Mt. Hood.
I’m pretty sure this was the first capitol building I’ve ever bothered to enter. I enjoyed the tour of the building more than I had anticipated.
Afterwards, we spent time on campus hearing some of the traditions and campus lore from my daughter’s teacher who is an alumnus. Looking up from the middle of the grove of the “star trees” we learned that this was a good make-out spot.
We then headed east towards Silver Falls State Park where we would spend the night. The drive was beautiful as we passed loads of grass seed and Christmas tree farms. I caught sight of this rather unusual Christmas tree; instead of a star at the top it had a moon.
Moon of Bethlehem
I’ll save our Silver Falls adventures for tomorrow.