Roadtrip to Portland, OR

Dates: Thursday. July 3 to Sunday, July 6

Summary

Thursday
1. 7:30am Picked up rental car in Fremont. Leave by 9am
2. 3pm: Arrive at Avenue of the Giants. Leave 3:45pm
3. 9pm: Arrive at hotel: Best Western Inn at the Rogue
Friday
1. 7am: Drive two hours to Crater Lake National Park. Leave by 11am.
2. 5pm: Arrive at hotel: Best Western Pony Soldier Inn
Saturday
1. Explore
2. Mt Hood Loop
Go Home

Day 1

Drive from Fremont, CA to Grants Pass, OR

Avenue of the Giants

First Hotel in Grants Pass, OR

After about 9 hours of driving, we arrived at Best Western Inn at the Rogue in Grants Pass, OR. Nothing much to see around here but we needed to rest.

Day 2

2 Hour Drive to Crater Lake National Park, OR

Driving around Oregon was a trip! It was just beautiful.

And then you get to Crater Lake and your jaw just drops. It is HUMONGOUS!!! It's the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet deep. It's incredibly blue and is entirely fed by rain and snow. Impressive!

Around this time was when the selfie sticks first came out and I got one for my birthday. People at Crater Lake all had the same reactions. First, "wow wtf is she doing." Then couple minutes later when they realize the amazing photos I could take of my entire group.... "wow where do you buy that?"

Drive 4 Hours to Portland

Dinner

We arrived and ate at Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen. This place was playing all my favorite indie songs and had the best small plates and drinks. It was that hipster viet food.

Explored Downtown

Day 3

Mt. Hood Loop

We didn't have anything planned but we read about the Mt. Hood Loop which is a couple hours of driving with tons of things to see along the way.

Multnomah Falls

This was a popular spot. We got lucky and got a parking spot right away but right after, a line of cars formed!

I don't know what we were thinking but we decided to hike up to the top. It wasn't a bad hike, despite it being entirely uphill. However! We had two dogs, just small water bottles (hiking wasn't planned) AND it was crowded as hell on the trail. Not my favorite conditions for hiking but it was worth it.

My photos don't do it justice. There was a lookout point right at the very top of the waterfall. Looking down is not suggested if you are afraid of heights. From here, you could even see the parking lot.