Drove the length of the old historic Columbia River highway, and took in half a dozen (or more) of the waterfalls that line the river. Most of them were bigger than any that I had ever seen before, and all of them were VERY photogenic.

After driving through the Columbia River Gorge, we set off for Mt. Hood. After decades of east coast mountains, it’s hard to put a 11,000 ft volcano into perspective. Spent the latter part of the day wandering around the Timberline Lodge, a ski-resort on Mt. Hood that is operated by the U.S. Forest Service.

Just outside of the Japanese Garden is a HUGE Rose Garden, which serves as a kind of public square for Portland families. The garden has hundreds of different kinds of roses, each layed out in 8 foot by 2 foot plots, side-by-side and end-to-end across acres of land. It’s simply overwhelming.

Summer vacation, finally, and I am hanging with the hippies of Portland, Oregon.

Part of the Oregon Zoo complex on the outskirts of Portland is a Japanese Garden, which is maticulously maintained. It’s rare that I feel like something was worth the cost of admission, but here not only was it a steal, I felt that my $8 was actually being folded back into the park itself. I can’t imagine how much they spend to keep this place up, but it is certainly more the cost of admission.