Oregon

We spent two days in Oregon, which means we are now down to four states. Our first stop on Sunday morning was Multnomah Falls. I had a reservation for the parking lot, but we showed up at the free parking lot accidentally, and that lot was full. The kids and I walked halfway up the falls. We didn't go to the top since Paul was waiting in the SUV. The kids were given Columbia Gorge Junior Ranger booklets, but since the park ranger wasn't coming until 10:00 am, we will need to mail them in. Our next stop were the Japanese Garden and International Rose Test Gardens in Portland. We then took a free shuttle up to the Oregon Zoo. Our final stop for the day was the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. We paid full price for the Japanese Garden, 50% off for the zoo with our AZA membership, and got into the OMSI for free with our ASTC membership. We received our AZA and ASTC memberships through the WNC Nature Center. I had chosen a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant for dinner because it was close, but I hadn't thought to see if there was parking available. We had to pay to park in a parking garage in Portland to eat at the restaurant. Thankfully, it was only $4 because it was after 5pm on a weekend. After dinner we drove a couple of hours farther south into Oregon. Nadia slept on the floor as there wasn't room for the air mattress. We drove 245 miles on September 3.

While we had breakfast on Monday morning, I asked the woman at the front desk to print out 3 Junior Ranger booklets for Crater Lake because I realized we weren't going to be driving past a Visitor Center. I also found a coupon for the Wildlife Safari as I waited for the booklets to be printed, and that saved us $50 as we received a 50% discount for the red panda encounter that I had signed the kids up for. Our first stop was the Wildlife Safari, which was less than 15 minutes from the hotel. The red panda encounter lasted about 30 minutes. The kids fed the two red pandas some bamboo leaves. There were some animal exhibits that we visited by walking, but the majority of the park was accessible through driving. Highlights, aside from the red pandas, were two four-month-old male cheetah cubs who were adorable, watching some hippos eating very close to us as we drove through the safari, and Paul really liked one pig. Next, we drove to Crater Lake National Park. We hiked 1.1 miles (going down 700 feet) to get to the boat dock for our 2-hour tour of the lake. Naturally, it was a lot more work hiking back up that 700 feet of elevation change after our tour! The views were incredible. It was a bit chilly out on the boat, but otherwise the weather was gorgeous. We stopped for pizza near Diamond Lake and then drove 3.5 hours to Crescent City, California. Our room had three queen size beds. Breakfast wasn't included. We drove 330 miles on September 4. We checked into our hotel later than usual, but it was worth it to have fed red pandas and taken a tour of Crater Lake.

So far, my top three experiences of the trip have been Olympia National Park, Crater Lake, and Mount Rainier. The kids top four experiences include the same three as me plus the Wildlife Safari (the red pandas and cheetah cubs in particular). Although not stopping at a Visitors Center didn't prevent the kids from receiving their Junior Ranger badges, we weren't able to buy a magnet from Crater Lake. I had skipped getting one at Multnomah Falls because I thought Crater Lake was more significant. The bottom line is that we didn't get any magnets from the state of Oregon. Bummer. I can always make a magnet using one of our pictures.