Trip Through Columbia River Gorge

For Day 2 of our road trip to Glacier National Park we traveled North to Portland, Oregon to visit some friends for a short stop. We had an amazing brunch at Rae's Lakeside where we enjoyed French Toast with fresh blackberry sauce and creme and Ben enjoyed Dungeness Crab Florentine. Everything was mouthwatering good! We then drove about 30 minutes East to Gresham to catch up with some family friends. The Portland area was beautiful with forested green hills everywhere. We were told that Portland has the largest rainforest within a city limit in the U.S. 

We then continued East along the Columbia River through a luscious green gorge with high mountain sides along either side of the wide river. We caught glimpses of cascading waterfalls along the sides of the gorge. Some day we'd like to return to the area to explore the many hiking trails. As we continued East along the river, the land became more flat and brown, but we passed a few days, such as The Dalles, which was massive. We didn't see many boats out on the water, but there were a bunch a windsurfers along the river.

Eventually, we continued North through Spokane, Washington with the sun setting on the mountains turning them into true Purple Mountain Majesties! Our stop for the night is just over the border in Post Falls, Idaho. We'll be arriving in Glacier National Park tomorrow!

Day One of our One-year Anniversary Trip to Glacier National Park

How do we celebrate our first 365 days of marriage?? Take a much needed road trip to one of America's beautiful National Parks: Glacier National Park in northern Montana! For our first day of driving we did a straight shot up Interstate 5 from the San Francisco Bay Area to Eugene, Oregon. We stopped at the rest area at Lake Shasta- a beautiful stop- but were disappointed to see how truly low the water level was (see picture above).

Traveling into Oregon proved to be a windy adventure with rolling green hills - a stark contrast from central California's flat, dried grassy plains. Our stop for the evening is in Eugene, Oregon at the Valley River Inn. Since we are celebrating our One-year Anniversary, we upgraded to a river room where we have a beautiful view of the Willamette River that runs through Eugene. We had an awesome dinner riverside at the restaurant here where Ben enjoyed fresh Halibut and I tried Rack of Elk, which were both delicious! We topped off our day with a nice walk along the river.

Lower Yosemite Falls and the Ahwahnee

After walking around the village, we rode our bikes down to Lower Yosemite Falls (the first picture). Someday I'll do the hike to Upper Yosemite Falls, but its takes about 8 hours. As we biked back to camp, we stopped by the Ahwahnee Resort and walked around the inside. This place is known for being about $600 a night and great food. It sure was beautiful. There are also cottages that you can rent out, but I heard they can be as expensive as $1200 a night. If you are going to get married in Yosemite, this is the place to do it. You can see in the last picture where they set up the chairs outside. You have Upper Yosemite Falls as your backdrop as you say your vows and then you hold the wedding reception in the Ahwahnee off to your right.
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Yosemite Village

So, after our almost 3 hour round trip hike to the top of Vernal Falls and back down, we continued our adventures. We rode our bikes along the bike path from our campsite at Upper Pines to Yosemite Village, one of the main hubs of Yosemite. I was able to get my National Parks Passport stamped and check out the museum at the Valley Visitor Center. The picture shows you how huge the trees are there and they have the rings dated using historically significant events. We walked through the Ansel Adams Gallery, a photographer who became famous by showing off Yosemite. We also walked through the replication of an Ahwahnee Indian village and through a small cemetery where many pioneers (from the 1800s and early 1900s) are buried. There is also a deli there, the wilderness center where you get permits to hike off the trails, and a U.S. District Court.
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Top of Vernal Falls

Saturday morning, about 8:30AM, we started the 1.5 miles hike to the top of Vernal Falls. It wasn't an easy hike, its uphill ALL THE WAY with the last section consisting of steep stairs that can get slippery from the Mist from the waterfall. It took us about an hour and 15 minutes. (You can see the hike in the last picture.) Stopped to eat an early lunch there since we worked up the appetite! Its such a beautiful place up there-- forested with lots of rocks to sit on and the wonderful sound of the water rushing by. One warning though: Watch out for the squirrels! People feed them so they're not afraid and they'll even go in your backpack to steal food. Do your part and scare them away!

You can continue on up to Nevada Falls, but we headed back down because we had so much to do! The hike back down all those stairs was pretty scary considering the lack of hand rails and steepness, oh, and all the people making their way up. You just have to take it slow and be patient. If you look into the mist caused by the waterfall, you can see a rainbow much of the time. By the time we made it to the bottom of the stair section, we all had wobbly legs. But, the rest of the hike down is pretty easy from there! Much more to come!
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Waking up in Yosemite!

When asked to go to Yosemite at the last minute, one naturally says, "yes!" Especially when campsites book up like 6 months in advance (to the hour) and hotels and cabins are not cheap. So last night, my two girlfriends and I packed up my reliable hatchback with two bikes attached to the back and were off. Sadly most of our drive was in the dark so I did not get to witness that immediate gratification of seeing the Yosemite Valley open up in front of you. But I could definitely tell there were some big mountains towering over us on either side. On our way here a mountain lion passed the road in front... Crazy! First time for all of us!

We are staying in the valley near Curry Village... With everyone else. But it doesn't feel that packed... Yet. The air smells like pine and campfire. We are only here for today and tomorrow so we are going to pack in as much as possible! Much more to come!
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So Long Paradise- We Will Meet Again!

My time here in Maui was amazing! Yesterday was Ben's sister's wedding right on the beach in Makena, HI! It was a beautiful ceremony that began with the big Hawaiian minister blowing the Conch shell and it included a Hawaiian poem.

There is so much more that we want to do on this island, but it was also important to balance relaxation. Next time we come, we definitely want to stay in Hana for a few nights so we can really take the time to enjoy that side of the island! I also want to get an underwater digital camera so I can share my snorkeling trips with everyone too (yesterday I saw a long green eel and a black and purple fish with a hook like fun popping out the top, that I wish I could have shown everyone). I tried a lot of new stuff and had fun adventures! We will definitely return!

P.S. Quick warning for anyone visiting the island here: it does take a little bit longer to get through security and everything because you have to go through an additional scan of your bags for any plants or animals. You don't want to bring back any harmful parasites to the U.S. So when people on the island tell you that you can bring back Pineapples to the states, they lie!

Aloha until my next adventure!