Oregon Day 1

Spencer and I haven't taken a vacation for a while.  Unless you count little camping trips within driving distance, which I do not.  So we figured now was the perfect time to go.  If you've ever used Groupon, you might have seen their vacation deals.  Spencer and I sat down one evening and searched through all their vacation destinations.  They had a couple of different offerings in Oregon.  Spencer went there for chiropractic college and loved it.  He has always wanted to take me up there.

We settled on a mountain resort in Bend, Oregon.  Then we had to figure out flights.  We could have flown in to Portland and then taken a connecting flight to Redmond, which would put us just a short drive from Bend.  Or we could fly into Portland and drive three and a half hours to get to Bend.  But it wouldn't be like driving down the I-15 corridor, with nothing but sage brush and junipers.  This was Oregon, after all!  So we decided on a shorter flight and longer drive.  And I am glad we did.  

Friday.  Our flight left SLC at 8:30 am, and because of the time zone difference, we arrived in Oregon just after 9 am.  We had the whole day ahead of us!  First stop - checking out where Spencer lived during school.

Spencer had a pretty sweet set-up for housing during school.  He lived in an apartment above the Multnomah County Medical Examiner's Office (aka the morgue) free of rent.  All he had to do was answer phone calls after hours.  How cool to say you've lived in a morgue!

Here is Spencer outside the old morgue building.  It has actually been converted into a dermatology clinic now.  The windows at the top are part of the apartment where he used to live.

From there we drove out to see the college(no pictures, sorry!) and then headed towards Multnomah Falls.  We took the scenic byway to get there, and it was amazing!  Along the way we stopped at the Vista House.  It is a small dome-shaped building that was constructed in the early 1900's to be used as a resting place for travelers.

Here's a view of the inside.

It's hard to tell, but all the windows were stained glass.  It looked very much like a cathedral.

The views around the Vista House were pretty spectacular.

I think that's the Columbia River.  Pretty sure.

Now to Multnomah Falls.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

This picture reminds me of Star Wars when Luke Skywalker meets Yoda in the swamp.

view looking down from the top of the Falls

The hike up to the top of the falls was pretty steep, but not much more than a mile in distance.  There were signs along the way telling what number switchback we were on.  There were eleven total.

We left the Falls and headed toward Bend.  We stopped off at Smith Rock for a minute along the way.  It's an incredible area for rock climbing.  There are tall sheer cliff faces all along the perimeter of the 'Rock.'  If we could have checked luggage at the airport without paying such a ridiculous fee, we would have brought our climbing gear and gone climbing.  Oh well, maybe another time!

After arriving in Bend, we found our resort and checked in.  You may notice the complimentary bottle of wine on the counter.  How thoughtful of them.  We left it for the cleaning ladies the day we checked out.

Since our room came complete with a kitchen and everything, we decided to run to the grocery store to pick up some food.  Finding a grocery store in Bend was ... tricky.  I don't know why.  But it was.  We finally found one after driving in circles for an eternity.  Then it was back to the resort to relax and rest up for tomorrow.