Three Days in Portland, Oregon
It’s been eight months since I left home, and a couple of weeks ago my family were finally in the same time zone. They flew into Boise, and drove 2 hours north to McCall, Idaho. I spent my winter there, and they were lucky enough to stay with some of my closest friends while passing through. Even my last boss at Brundage was able to meet them! Soon after they were on their way to Coeur D’Alene so we could embark on our four day trip to Portland, Oregon.
Heading Out
After showing my parents and my brother around the ranch in the morning, we headed west through Coeur D’Alene and Spokane towards the coast. The road was straight, long and brown, The temperatures have been scorching lately for our NZ acclimated bodies at least. What makes it worse is that it’s been a whole year since I’ve had a summer! I left NZ at the end of their winter, straight into the beginning of the USA winter! At least the USA had snow.
At some point along the road we made a wrong turn, or continued straight where we should have turned. Luckily it only added an hour or so onto our journey, but we’d been headed straight for Seattle.
Wild Horse monument stopover caught our eye, which was a good little stop for some photos and a new hair do, courtesy of the wind.
Northwest Portland International Hostel
Northwest Portland International Hostel was the accommodation of choice for our three days. If there’s anything consistent about our family travels, it’s that my Dad’s number one booking criteria is that the accommodation has free breakfast. Alas, Northwest Portland Hostel ticked the box.
This little spot was super cute, with multiple villas set amongst a street covered in trees and we’d arrived in the midst of a folk band playing in the common area which was cool to hear. The main downtown area was only a ten minute walk away, along with a street of restaurants and boutique shops in the other direction.
Downtown Area
We spent the morning of our day in Portland wandering around the downtown area not far from the hostel. Stepping into Powell’s four-storey bookstore was like something out of a movie, and I had to remind myself that my puny little 40L bag for Europe couldn’t possibly hold the ten books I wanted to buy. It was a good excuse to add some new things to the Goodreads list however.
Mum and Dad spotted a two dollar fare to take the street car around the skirts of the city, so after a debate or two about how to spend time, we jumped on for a sightsee.
I’d heard lots of rumours about Portland, and I could definitely see where they sprouted from. There were lots of people around in a worse state than I was used to in other cities, but I felt like I’d seen worse. At no point did it feel super unsafe or in your face, in fact, I’d take Portland over downtown Spokane any day. Staying there with Keely on our way back from Glacier National Park had been an experience in itself.
Cannon Beach
Cannon beach is one of two scenes I had in my head when I thought of the Oregon coast. I imagined wild coast, similar to that of New Zealand, with sprawling dunes, untamed bush and people spread around enough to make you forget it was a tourist destination.
I guess at this point I realised how lucky I really was to call that home. Cannon Beach was lined with holiday homes, with some many people walking along the beach that it looked as if a huge mob had flocked down to the water’s edge. I suppose it is the closest ocean for a lot of people, so I should have expected less.
The rock was pretty cool, with some pretty beautiful pelicans flying past, however we didn’t spend too long at the beach.
Multnomah Falls
Being able to see this waterfall was both a blessing and a surprise. I thought that Multnomah falls was way further south, and not just a stop on the side of the road. When we saw the sign, I almost jumped out of my seat.
This place has a special place with me, as it’s mentioned in the book ‘The Shack’, one of my all time favourite novels. Reading this book changed my perspective on life, and being able to see the waterfall in real life was super special.
Zoller’s Rafting
Now this was where the real fun began. I’ve only white water rafted once in my life, Jonathan had never done it and my parents had gone once or twice about two decades ago. One of my good friends from Brundage had started a job at Zoller’s Rafting Company at the same time I’d begun at Red Horse Mountain Ranch.
Being able to see her again and doing what she loves was so incredible. The river was so beautiful, the river cold and refreshing and finally being able to experience something with my family by my side was awesome. Not to mention Jonathan getting shunted off the front of the raft by Mum.
On the way home…
After rafting, it was pretty much all the way home to Coeur D’Alene. I only had four days off, and it was a lot of driving in between. We stayed the night halfway back, before returning to the ranch at midday.
Jessie took us on an archery hike, which was fun to do with the rest of my family. It was so nice being able to show them where I was, introduce them to some of my favourite people ever and to experience something new with them. I wrote a poem not too long ago describing all of these feelings, and it finally felt like I’d taken a little bit of family time back.
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