Portland and surroundings

Cindy got a great place by McCormick Pier right on the river and in the heart of Portland. If you look at the pic with Cindy and Skye on the bridge, her place is the 1st corner unit. Had a great dinner our first night in town. Yummy, yummy restaurants are everywhere. Skye climbed a demo rock at REI as we began to replace what was lost by Delta. She was more than a little resistant at first but after a little encouragement, along with a threat and a bribe she was up and climbing and of course, now wants to go back.



























Sunday we headed out for a leisurely drive along the Columbia River Gorge. Like a painting, were some of the views. We passed what must have been dozens of waterfalls before hitting the big one, the Multnomah falls. There were a lot more people at the falls than I expected, but I've gotten used to the vary sparse tourism of Nicaragua. When I think back to Yellowstone and Venice the falls were pleasantly uncrowded. Then we headed down towards Mt. Hood. Cindy was a little hesitant, what with the lost hikers and the tragic Kim family. Skye and I however were up for an adventure and wanted to see some snow. When it started snowing and the tire chain signs started showing up and we were the only car going into the mountains, Cindy's hesitancy went into overdrive. Skye's reassurance that she knew how to build a snow fort apparently didn't help. Eventually after the road all but disappeared and the flakes got bigger and bigger and the sky got darker and darker we started heading downhill, saw signs pointing toward Portland and quickly found ourselves in traffic heading back home. Cindy could now take in the beauty of the winter wonderland we were in. We got back in time to see Kobe win the MVP for the NBA All-Stars and read about 3 climbers lost up in the Mt. Hood winter wonderland we had so recently escaped from.