Portland is a trip

It seems like all of Oregon and Washington are obsessed with Bigfoot, but Portland, they love him so much they have immortalized him on garbage cans.

A lot of garbage cans.

It was fantastic! We spent two weeks here and I don't know if it was just enough time or not enough. There is so much to see, and we saw a lot. I'm pretty sure we hit most of the must see / do places listed on a variety of blogs.

There was the Chinese Gardens, a sanctuary of calmness in the middle of the city.

The Freakybuttrue Peculiarium, which is totally worth the price of admission if you're going with someone fun. As a couple, we're always entertaining (at least we think we so) so this place was a blast.

In order to keep our trip classy, we dressed in our best afternoon tea attire and enjoyed our very first burlesque show held on the grounds of the beautiful Victorian Belle Mansion.

It was a great show and the ladies really know how to shimmy and shake!

Don't think you have to stay inside the city to have a good time though.

You can always turn a 7 mile hike (Ramona Falls trail near Mt Hood) into a 8.7 mile adventure where you repeatedly cross a stream on logs...

The only log with a "handrail"

...scramble up, down, and over obstacles...

....and finally decide to get back on the actual trail by walking up a massive fallen tree (about 40 feet long) that's a mere 20 plus feet off the ground at the top.

I failed to take into account having to get around the root system when I suggested this shortcut but it's not like turning back was really an option at that point.

I'd say we're too old for this type of behavior but....we'll undoubtedly do something like this again with the same thought the next day. What were we thinking!

The views, as always, were an amazing part of the journey.

If you're not into going off the beaten path, there's always the waterfall trail along the old scenic byway. Five beautiful, and different waterfalls can be easily seen and reached along an eight mile stretch of highway.

Laourell Falls is a 249 ft straight drop falls

Shepperd's Dell is a two tier more running through the mountains falls

Bridal Veil Falls is also two tiers with a lovely short walk to find it

Wahkeena Falls is a 242 ft cascading type waterfall

Lastly, the most famous of the waterfalls, Multnoham with its 620 ft straight drop is one of the tallest in the country.

Reusing last post's aerial view of Multnomah Falls.

The city of Portland has the slogan "Keep Portland Weird" and it is. It's also Pacific Northwest trendy which makes for an interesting place to visit.