go west

Shane and I flew out to Portland, Oregon.  Got a rental car and headed over to our motel, The Palms. After checking in and dropping our stuff off at the room, we jumped on the TriMax light rail toward downtown.  Grabbed a bite to eat in the Pearl District, then set about wandering and shopping.  As we were exploring, we noticed people and chairs were lined up along the streets.  The Starlight Parade, Portland's official kick-off to Summer was to begin at 9:00pm that night.  We grabbed a coffee and snack from a local vendor, sat at a table along the parade route, and people watched until the time of the parade.  Lots of marching bands, illuminated floats, glow lights.  The next morning we wandered the neighborhood around the motel and found a nice diner for breakfast, called Gravy.  The food was excellent.  We hopped on TriMax to the Oregon Zoo, spent the day looking at the animals.  Caught the train out to Gresham and had dinner before riding back to the motel for the night.  Breakfast from VooDoo Doughnuts, then a drive out to Mt Hood, Timberline Resort, The Columbia River Gorge, and various waterfalls in the area.  Two blocks from the motel was a Tiki Bar, The Alibi, which we had to visit.  Great decor, mediocre food and We returned to Gravy for breakfast the next morning, drove to the suburb of Milwaukie, then to Vista House overlooking the Columbia River, before heading to Multnomah Falls.  We hiked the trail up to the top of the fall, it was quite a trek.  Drove out to the coast, Seaside, OR for dinner and to see the Pacific Ocean.  Came back through Washington.  We went to another Tiki Bar in Portland, Hale Pele that night.  Modern decor and Great food and drinks!  Spent the next day using TriMax throughout the city exploring.