Portland, Oregon Day 2

It was kind of weird waking up in a new house, someone else's house, not our house and such a nice house. After showering, dressing and then climbing the stairs to the top level for a quick breakfast before leaving we were greetd with an absolutely amazing view, something that was only hinted at last night due to it being pitch black.

Betsy and Rich's hosue had a massive deck with a great view of Mt Hood way off in the distance. It was Fall currently, and with Portland being a town that seems to have been built perfectly into the natural landscape there were trees everywhere. Great fall colours and an amazing view right outside the front door. A squirrel was going nuts on the balcony ledge, moving skittishly from side to side. Squirreltys seem to move like lightning. They are innactive and still, and then all of a sudden BAM! they move suddenly and quickly in the space of a second and then freeze again.

Leslie and her husband Brian had a big day of activits planned for us and they swung by around 8.30am. We needed to leave early as at this time of the year daylight was only a 9 hour or so thing. Up at around 7.30am and down by shortly after 4.30pm.

First port of a call was a coffee stop, luckily nearby there was a hardware store where i suited up with the biggest pair of gumboots available. I wa warned that we'd be in for some mud bashing so they definetely come in handy. I strolled out with them on, always a good look in a suburban car-park - a guy with gumboots up to his knees strolling around casually.

We drove for about 45 minutes east with the columbia river, our destination being the beautiful Multnomah Falls. These falls are the second largest year-round waterfalls in the United States. Just a great area for the first stop which really epitamised Portland. Cool, fresh air, trmendous colours, flowing water. Portland is a palce teeming with life. The Pacific Northwest sure is a special place.

Not only did we saw the falls here we saw salmon spawning in the river. An utterly grose process - the female slamon dig out a whole - drop their eggs, then the strongest waiting male fertilizes the eggs by dropping a cloud of sperm over them,. Good stuff. Brian knows so much about fish. He told us that these fish have a 6 year lifespan (or was it 4? Sorry Brian! I tried really hard to soak up all the info) and after born swim downstream into the ocean. Here they live and are healthy eating fish - with a nice silvery colour. But as they near the end of their lives they swim back up stream to their place of origin. With all of their energies going into the spawning process the salmon lose their colour and change from silver - to yellow then on to a deep deep red - nearly a burgeondy colour as they near the spawning stage and ultimately death. Poor little fishies!

We also stopped off for brunch here, before commencing leg two! next stop were the Salmon spawning farms. Here they manually harvest the eggs - and feed the fish a regulated amount as they grow, before releasing them down stream.

Also here there was what i called Sensai Sturgeon. This massive fish was just so huge. Notice their distinctive weird moustache that they have that kind of makes them look like a wise old karate master?

There was also a feeding pond where we could feed the fish! One young buckaroo was sure excited about the fish feeding - recounting his fish feeding experience like an old fisherman who'd fought the battle of his life against some mythical underwater beast of the high seas.Ya-Harrrr!

This place was a beatuiful area - despite what your morale principles were in relation to 'tampering' with nature. Considering we've already with tampered with nature hopefulyl tampering with nature in a good way goes someway to making up for all the terrible things we do. This place was cool. Great old weatherboard buildings, trains travelling along a high bridge above us - and on the opposite side great views of a snow capped mountain range.

We then stopped  quickly at a loch. The loch. is a place where the water level can be raised and lowered as necessary to allow boats to travel downstream near a dam. It's a large area that is sealed from both sides and is then either filled or emptied like a swimming pool. The water level rises really fast.

Already done a fair bit hey? Well. Not done there by any stretch. From here we headed south towards Mt. Hood and snow action. Leslie and Brian had bought their dogs alogn with them. Despite them being exceptionally well behaved (images spring to mind of Rimmer on the back seat of the old commodore), we were all keen for the dogs to get out and go for a run.

As we headed towards the mountains we passed apple and pear tree farms. A yarn store which I'm sure Leslie will find her way to real soon. At one point we considered turning back. We had to stop right on the road as there was a massive accident ahead. Turned out a car had flipped and was in a ditch on the opposite side of the road. The car on its roof - pretty mangled - and the jaws of life were being used to extract what I hope was a survivor.

But we made it passed there and continued travelling. We let the dogs out and had a look around. The dogs were stoked to be out. As was I. First chance to test out the gumboots! Hahaha. I was keen for a big snowball fight.

We stopped at another spot where we got some cool snaps of the creek.

Along the side of the road we also stoppped as I fluked a cool viewing spot of Mt Hood. Pity we hadn't planned to go skiing. Apparantly its a great resort for skiers and boarders alike. We even drove past a few operating chair lifts which i guess were for beginners.

We left the snow covered area and stopped for coffees at a small store. Here i got a chocolate shake. Obviously because ti wasn't cold enough outside. Hear Sherry tried an eggnog late. Apparantly a real winner.

We couldn't stop for too long as we had one more stop to make. So we drank and drove towards a really cool walking track alongside a small river. Gumboots came in handy again here. The dogs loved it. One dog was really good at staying - almost heeling - right alongside Leslie and Brian. Meanwhile the other dog was tearing up the track out of sight of u - returning every now and again to make sure we were on our way. It was getting dark along the track but this was good fun. Trees were just covered in moss on their trunks and branches due to all the moisture.

We were all pretty tired and in need of some food. We stopped off at a bbq house where you grabbed a trey and it was sort of like a cafeteria. You ask for ribs, steak - move on to the next station - grab a salad - chips etc. and then go and make your own sauce. I ordered a full rack of ribs. I coulnd't quite get the sauce right still enjoyed all but 2 of the ribs. The baked potatoes are always delicious - as are the beans. Ribs, spud and beans are the best combo ever - maybe aside from the mexican skillet.

Phew! Such a long day. We did so much. Massive thanks to Lesie and Brian. They didnt have to do what they did, but obviously they are really nice people who are proud to be called Oregonians!