Mountains and Valleys: Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, and Hood River

As I prepare for our trip home this summer, I found part of a post from a travel blog I tried to start back in 2008, filling out some details makes me hope we can do it again this year!

Mt.Hood

I love going back to those places I visited as a child. I have such memories of driving down the Columbia River Gorge and seeing Mt. Adams. Mt. Adams was such a different view from our favorite Oregon mountain, Mt. Hood. Adams, well she is pretty, round and young. Hood always seemed a bit craggier, a bit wizened perhaps, but less, well, matronly.

When I was a young adult, probably right after college, I loved to drive the Hood River loop, starting up and over Mt. Hood, down through the orchards of Hood River and home back again through the majestic Columbia River Gorge. Vagabond Dad grow up in the Gorge, my grandparents were from "Eastern Oregon" so the Hwy 84 drive was not foreign to either of us... but it was quite a trip for the kids

This is a great day trip for kids, a full day yes, but one filled with fast luge rides, snow ball fights, historic buildings and fresh picked fruit, ending the day at Multnomah Falls.

We started from Vancouver Washington, and took the full day and drove to "Multipor" Skibowl and took a fun filled luge ride down the hill. Little did I know it is not known as Multipor anymore, they are simply known as Ski Bowl, but I am showing my age here....In order to ride the Alpine Slide solo the children must meet minimum height restrictions. I think the level was about 45 inches, but I could not find an actual measurement. My son was tall enough, but we still chose to double up. To get to the top, you ride a chair lift to the mid level where you get off and zoom back to the bottom. (You can also ride to the top (a common mountain bike area) and bike the trails around the top of the mountain. The Alpine slide opens between 10 and 11 each morning.

After a fun morning on the luge, we stopped at Historic Timberline Lodge for lunch and snow. The kids, being proper Singaporeans now, really have only seen snow in a faux snow atmosphere. So getting up on the mountain seeing the real thing was a bit of a shock. We ate lunch at one of the pubs at the lodge-Corn Soup- Oregon Pinot Noir-Historic surroundings=Bliss for the Vagabond Mom and Dad.

Mt. Adams

We then packed up in the car and drove the full loop, down Highway 26, passing through Hood River Valley and Hood River proper. We stopped at a farmers market and picked up a bunch of fresh cherries and some dried fruit. The view of the mountains was so spectacular, it made me think I never want to leave. Of course Hood River Valley is amazing in summer, it is just the other 9 months of the year that stink.

A drive down the Columbia River Gorge, stopping at the Multnomah Falls. Again, another memory from the Vagabond Parent's childhoods, but one the kids had yet to experience. There is not much to say about the Falls that hasn't already been said, by those much more prose filled than I, but an jaw dropping sight to see. Finishing with the 45 minute drive back to Vancouver Washington for an overnight stay with Grandma rounded out the day. It was long the last few miles filled with cries of "are we there yet" but it was beautiful and everything that Summer in Oregon should be.