Day 54: Gifford Pinchot National Forest, WA to Nehalem Bay State Park, OR via Portland, OR

Good morning Washington State!

After packing up, we headed across the Columbia River via the Bridge of the Gods (a bit of a pretentious title for a pretty standard looking bridge, if you ask us) into Oregon to experience the wonder that is Multnomah Falls. Holy smokes, this is a picturesque waterfall. It was certainly worth dealing with a timed entry permit and braving the crowds. We took photos from the base and the bridge and then hiked way, way up to take a photo from the top of the falls. Not sure the hike up was worth the somewhat limited view, but the boys were pretty happy dunking their faces and hair in the cool river water at the top of the falls.

Just look at this photo. Incredible, right?!

From the bridge.

From the top.

Next stop as we drove along the Historic Columbia River Highway was the Vista House on Crown Point. This is an old tourist rest stop that used to boast a cafe and museum. It is closed now but you can still appreciate the beautiful octagonal stone building and the vista of the canyon.

After lunch, we checked out the nearby Latourell Falls. This waterfall was incredibly beautiful. It was flowing over a cliff with really cool rock formations that looked a bit like Devils Tower behind the falls. The kids could walk right up to the base of the falls and loved getting sprayed by the mist. This stop was a winner. Definitely a must see if you are ever down this way.

The boys were pretty happy to be wet following this stop. It got up to 38 degrees Celsius today. Hot! Hot! We escaped into the truck’s AC as we drove into Portland. 

We all really enjoyed our visit to the original Voodoo Doughnuts location. The doughnuts were a huge hit. Ian said his maple bacon was literally the best donut that he has ever eaten. Everyone gave the donut they tried two thumbs up. These guys sure know how to make a high quality doughnut!

Tough choice!

These are the hugest smiles.

We made a quick stop a Home Depot for supplies for tomorrow’s adventure at low tide. Can you guess what we will be doing?

After a tree-lined and weaving drive to the coast - with a stop at Sunset Springs Fountain to sample Oregon’s “best water” (which we had to wait in line for 15 minutes to try since the people ahead of us were filling up multiple huge water jugs) - we rolled into Nehalem Bay State Park. We scored the very last site in the campground - so lucky!

The dude ahead of us with his many jugs.

Waiting to fill our water bottle.

It was like driving in a tree tunnel.

After parking, we walked through the sand dunes to check out the ocean. It was gorgeous - gusty and the water was freezing - but gorgeous all the same. What an incredible day.

The boys are very excited to be at the coast.

Good night Oregon. Until tomorrow.