Saturday: the Gorge Region; and a Big Dinner

1. Late Start

We started late leaving Portland, but since everything is so close together not much took very long. Tony picked up Audrey and helped her check out of her first hotel (out near the airport) and into her second hotel (more expensive and around the corner from us), and then they came to get us.

We fielded phone calls and then got dressed. It was a little less active. After attempting to get over to Voo-Doo Doughnuts for a breakfast bite, we snatched up some quick edibles and hit the road.

The Cascades, the mountain range that stretches from southern Alaska to northern California, are full of volcanoes, and Mt. Hood may be the closest one to Portland. I'll post a picture of it soon in one of these posts, because on this car ride, in the beginning, you could see it, but not get pictures of it.

Anyway, it is staggeringly huge and looming. Holy cow.

2. The Bridge of the Gods

After maybe forty minutes of beauty, we crossed over the Bridge of the Gods into Washington State. One reason was because that's where Tony's phone-guide said to go, another was because Audrey had never been. The bridge was designed to make sure rain flooding never occurs:

Once on the other side we drove for a bit and took some pictures. It is seriously beautiful. Here's a shot from Washington looking south and west across the river towards Oregon:

It turns out that taking that picture was illegal. I had crossed some railroad tracks to get to the edge of the rocky slope. Later on, when all four of us hopped across the tracks and slid down to take some pictures, a Washington trooper called us all back, telling us that we were guilty if criminal trespass, and it would just be better if we all turned around and returned to the trail opposite to the river, heading up the mountain.

Um, whatever you say?

Later we found a silly name for a road:

...and headed back across the bridge to Oregon, where we ate a huge lunch of pizza and ale, at the Cascade Locks Alehouse. If you find yourself in the vicinity of the Bridge of the Gods, the Alehouse is a decent restaurant.

3. Multnomah Falls

After eating lunch we headed back to Portland to shower and relax before dinner. We decided to stop at one of the major waterfalls we saw on the way out, called Multnomah Falls. It was chilly in the tiny glacial canyon created by the falls, which were spectacular:

There was a century old footpath that had only recently been put out of service by gravity:

And, looking back towards the Columbia River, we can see the canyon surrounding the falls:

By the time we left Multnomah Falls, all four of us were pretty well wiped. And we still had a huge dinner party to host/attend.

4. Dinner

Dinner was held at the Park Kitchen restaurant in Portland. Reservations were at 8 pm and were for 11. We had the tasting menu, which meant that they kept bringing out plate after plate of food. After a while, and all the plates were cleared, I was dazed and needing a nap, and became shocked when they placed a large plate down in front of me. They hadn't even delivered the entrees yet. 

Corrie sat at one end of the table and I at the other, us trying to keep the various groups of people engaged in conversation. Being able to talk with my cousin Mike and Tony and our friend Joe all at the same time reminded me of our wedding a little bit, with disparate groups of friends confabbing. The one pair of folks I didn't get too much a chance to visit with was Lauren and Ruben, but they were hanging out with their old friends who live in Seattle, and the four of us have seen each other each of the last three weekends. We live within a bike ride of each other, and harbor no hurt feelings over Portland slights.

The bill was nearly a grand.

There were four of us whose birthdays were in close vicinity: Tony's was on the 1st, Joe's was on the 6th, mine was the 9th, and Ruben's was the 13th. We were the April crowd. Tony, Ruben and I were all the same year, with Joe preceding us by a few.

5. Post-Dinner Revelry 

After dinner we went out for a taste, and we went to a place I never knew existed, but apparently do in various forms all across the country. In Portland it's called Ground Kontrol. It is for people my age and the younger hipster crowd: it is a fully functioning arcade, with many of the popular video game cabinets from my childhood, AND it is a fully functioning bar. 

They charged two bucks at the door as well, so they were cashing in at all corners. 

The bar-arcade (maybe is should be known as a "barcade"?) seems like a genius idea. I played a few games as badly as I ever played them two decades prior.

We got to talk to Joe and Nick a little bit more, since they were leaving the next day, and eventually went off to bed.