Josh came to visit us in Oregon before we left, flying in to Portland on Thursday night, April 21st, and then leaving on the same day we drove down to Napa, Tuesday the 26th. We had a wonderful time showing him all over Oregon as we were able to do a lot of the stuff we did during our three months in a whirlwind of only four very full days! Its been crazy since he left Oregon as we were in the middle of moving, so this blog is just getting written and will be the last one of Oregon, a state we loved and will definitely visit again someday...
Josh and I woke up early Friday morning (Katy was at her last day of work) and drove down to the coast. We spent the day hiking all over the coast...we hiked the Dunes, we hiked to the
Devil's Churn, we hiked to Haceta Head Lighthouse, and we hiked down to the Sea Lion Caves. We grabbed some delicious sea food for lunch and made several coffee stops to keep us going. On our way back to Cottage Grove we stopped in Eugene so I could give Josh a tour of the garden I had been working at. When we got home it was after 8pm, and so after eating dinner with Katy and playing our new favorite game, Farkle, we hit the sack.
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| Running up the Dunes |
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| Outside of Haceta Head Lighthouse |
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| Exploring the tide pools at the Devil's Churn |
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| Colby playing fetch in the ocean |
On Saturday we were up and out the door by 7:30am and headed up to the Columbia River Gorge to do some hiking. It was a gorgeous clear day in the low 70s and we had a beautiful view of Mount Hood for most of our drive after we turned east from Portland. We took Josh to the scenic vista house, and then we drove to several waterfalls before hiking up to the top of Multnomah Falls (pictured to the left), a steep 2.5 mile hike to the top of the second tallest waterfall in America.
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| The view from the Vista House |
After the Gorge we drove into the city. We went down to the Saturday Market for a little bit and then took off to do some walking. We walked by Voodoo Doughnuts (it was closed for renovations) and took Josh to get some coffee at stumptown. We then walked through Pioneer Square before going to our favorite Portland spot, the Portland City Grill on the 30th floor of the Unico Building. Today was a great day to be up there as you could easily see the snowy peaks of both Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens.
After grabbing some drinks at the grill we headed to other side of the Columbia River to try out an authentic Thai restaurant called Pok Pok that our good friend Rachel had told us was a must while in Portland. We decided to order several things off the menu and share them. We were glad we had decided to be adventurous with our dinner choices as the meal was excellent! After dinner we walked across the street to a very cute area where a bunch of trailers/campers turned mobile restaurants were parked. We went to the Pie Spot for desert to help cap off a delicious dinner.
The theme was the same upon arriving home from Portland. We got home late, and then woke early the next morning for another full day. Sunday we met up with a friend of ours from Oregon, Heidi, and headed off to Silver Falls State Park to hike the Trail of 10 Falls, a 9.5 mile hike through the cascades that walks you by (and under in some cases) 10 different waterfalls. Before going to the Silver Falls we stopped in Eugene for some voodoo doughnuts...we needed a healthy breakfast for the day of hiking we had planned!
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| South Falls |
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| Lower South Falls |
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| Behind the North Falls |
Our hike was wonderful and will definitely be a highlight of Josh's time in Oregon. Pictures or words can't do it justice. After a long day of hiking we headed home, stopping in Eugene to go to its most famous microbrewery, McMenamins, to grab a drink and a burger.
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| King Estate |
Monday was more of a relaxed day as we were packing up our house to head to Napa on Tuesday. We were able to show Josh around Eugene a little more, however, and he in return was able to deliver some VIP treatment for us at our favorite Winery, King Estate. We went to King Estate to grab lunch, which was incredible, and then do some tasting of their wines. Josh asked our host if they had an industry discount (since Josh now works part time at a winery) and as it turned out our host used to live in Richmond, Virginia and was familiar with the winery Josh is currently employed at. So, we had the tasting fees waived, were allowed to taste whatever we wanted on their wine list, and then were given an informal tour of the winery. Pretty impressive...Josh will definitely come in handy when he visits us in Napa! After spending several hours at the winery we went to our favorite brewery in town, Ninkasi, to do some beer sampling, and then headed to the Wandering Goat, the locals favorite when it comes to coffee.
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| Ninkasi |
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| Wandering Goat |
I drove Josh to the airport in Portland on Tuesday morning after a wonderful visit, and then headed south to spend the day driving to California. Katy had left earlier that morning to head straight down to Napa, and so got to our new house about five hours before I arrived. While I was still in Oregon and it was in the 50s and rainy I called Katy to see what the weather was like in Napa, "its sunny and in the 70s," she said. Yep, I think we will enjoy our next three months.
On Saturday we were up and out the door by 7:30am and headed up to the Columbia River Gorge to do some hiking. It was a gorgeous clear day in the low 70s and we had a beautiful view of Mount Hood for most of our drive after we turned east from Portland. We took Josh to the scenic vista house, and then we drove to several waterfalls before hiking up to the top of Multnomah Falls (pictured to the left), a steep 2.5 mile hike to the top of the second tallest waterfall in America. 
After the Gorge we drove into the city. We went down to the Saturday Market for a little bit and then took off to do some walking. We walked by Voodoo Doughnuts (it was closed for renovations) and took Josh to get some coffee at stumptown. We then walked through Pioneer Square before going to our favorite Portland spot, the Portland City Grill on the 30th floor of the Unico Building. Today was a great day to be up there as you could easily see the snowy peaks of both Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens. 
After grabbing some drinks at the grill we headed to other side of the Columbia River to try out an authentic Thai restaurant called Pok Pok that our good friend Rachel had told us was a must while in Portland. We decided to order several things off the menu and share them. We were glad we had decided to be adventurous with our dinner choices as the meal was excellent! After dinner we walked across the street to a very cute area where a bunch of trailers/campers turned mobile restaurants were parked. We went to the Pie Spot for desert to help cap off a delicious dinner. 
The theme was the same upon arriving home from Portland. We got home late, and then woke early the next morning for another full day. Sunday we met up with a friend of ours from Oregon, Heidi, and headed off to Silver Falls State Park to hike the Trail of 10 Falls, a 9.5 mile hike through the cascades that walks you by (and under in some cases) 10 different waterfalls. Before going to the Silver Falls we stopped in Eugene for some voodoo doughnuts...we needed a healthy breakfast for the day of hiking we had planned!
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