The Red Cloth: March 2011

Since we have family coming to visit us in April and May, Bennett and I thought we would put together a travel brochure/blog post so you visitors can pick and choose what you would like to do while here (and maybe inspire more to come visit...). Pittock Mansion

Pittock Mansion Distance: 5 minutes Price: $8 per person What to do here: gaze at opulence that I will never be a part of. There are also fantastic views of the city and Mount Hood. Bennett's Rating: 3 stars out of 5 Katie's Rating: Can't really say, neither of us has been yet (Bennett still gives a rating though) Oregon Coast

Oregon Coast

Distance: 1.5 hours

Price: Gas and food

Things to do there: gaze at the tremendous beauty, hike, play on the beach (water is a tad bit too cold to go swimming in but getting your toes wet is fun), see the lighthouses, get some ice cream at Tillamook cheese factory. Even the drive out to the beach is spectacular.

Bennett's Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Katie's Raging: 5 stars out of 5

Portland Underground Tour

Portland Underground Tour

Distance: 10 minutes to downtown Portland

Price: $13 per person

Things to do there: see the underground tunnels where people were kidnapped into slave labor on marine ships from 1850-1941.

Bennett's rating: dunno, haven't done it yet. I'll say 6 stars out of 5.

Katie's rating: haven't been yet

Powell's Books

Powell's Books

Distance: 10 minutes to downtown Portland

Price: free (unless you buy a book)

Things to do there: see the nations largest bookstore. It's one full city block and five stories tall. Aye carumbah! Thatz a lota books!

Bennett's Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Katie's Rating: 7 stars out of 10

Waterfront Park

Waterfront Park

Distance: 10 minutes to downtown Portland

Price: Free

Things to do there: see the landscape of downtown Portland from accross the Willamette River. It's gorgeous at night time!

Bennett's Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Katie's Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Food Carts

Food Carts

Distance: 10 minutes to downtown Portland

Price: around $5 for a meal (most likely not gluten free but you're welcome to risk it)

Things to do there: EAT! Over two city blocks of some of the finest street food this side of Bangkok. Sample food from Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and Canada. Dave, a traveler from Wisconsin, said, "I thoroughly enjoy getting the runs from the food carts." Actually, I don't know a Dave from Wisconsin but Bennett wanted me to write that.

Bennett's Rating: 5 stars out of 5 baby.

Katie's Rating: haven't tasted it yet!

Portland Temple

Portland Temple

Distance: 15 minutes

Price: Free (unless you want to pay me for some reason)

What to do there: you know! It is really beautiful though. Even if we don't do a session, I should take you to see it.

Bennett's Rating: 1 star out of 5 (all temples are the same)

Katie's Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Mount Hood

Mount Hood

Distance: 1 hour east

Price: gas, food...

What to do there: snow will still be hanging around in the spring so mostly it will be site seeing this beautiful volcano.

Bennett's Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Katie's Rating: 1 star out of 5 (I've only seen it a few times from the city and it still has snow on it, blagh!)

Rhododendron Garden

Rhododendron Garden Distance: 20 minutes

Price: $3 per person

What to do there: see more than 2500 rhododendron flowers and beautiful landscapes that include other flowers and waterfalls. This garden is run by volunteers.

Bennett and Katie have yet to do this but we both give it 11 stars

Columbia River Gorge

Colombia River Gorge

Distance: 50 minutes

Price: Free

What to do there: waterfalls, waterfalls, beautiful fricken waterfalls. Gorgeous scenery of the Columbia River along with breathtaking forests.

Bennett's Rating: 7 stars out of 5

Katie's Rating: 2 stars out of 5 (I saw this through a car sick window on the last leg of a 12 hour move, not much enjoyment on my part)

Bennett's Note: "It's the prettiest part of Oregon and you're (Katie) going to make people not want to see it with a measley 2 star rating."

Scrap

Scrap Distance: 20 minutes

Price: pretty dang cheap

What to do there: this is a store where all the left over stuff goes. There's tons of left-over yarn, fabric, rubber bands, paper, stickers, tubes, glass, metal parts, carpet... anything you can think of. They sell it at extremely cheap prices ($4 for a bag full of fabric remnants). The idea is that they recycle stuff so you can make art. I love this place.

Bennett's Rating: -2 stars out of 5 (who wants to shop for crap on vacation?)

Katie's Rating: 5 stars out of 5 (as you can see, Bennett and I see crap differently)

Japanese Gardens

Japanese Garden

Distance: 10 minutes

Price: $9.50 per person

What to do there: this is a spectacularly manicured authentic Japanese garden. Bennett went a few weeks ago (nothing was blooming yet) and still thought it was fantastic. In the springtime it's going to be whoo-rah!

Bennett's Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Katie's Rating: haven't been yet

Rerun

Rerun

Distance: 20 minutes

Price: pretty cheap 2nd hand store

What to do there: pretty cheap 2nd hand store. Actually, I though this was a cute, little store and wanted to share it with anyone interested.

Bennett's Rating: 0 stars out of 5

Katie's Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Maryhill Museum of Art and Vineyard

Maryhill Museum of Art and Vinyard

Distance: 2 hours and 3 minutes

Price: $9 per person What to do there: view art, scenery, and wine tasting for those of you who don't keep the word of wisdom (I heard it's okay to break some of the commandments on vacation (not including murder)).

Rose Test Garden

Rose Test Garden

Distance: 10 minutes

Price: Free (unless you pick a rose, that's a $500 fine)

What to do there: the quintessential Portland experience. They don't call this the Rose City for nothing. The roses in bloom are yada yada yada. Can you tell I'm getting tired? Look at the pictures to get the idea.

Bennett's Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Katie's Rating: yes

Chinese Garden

Chinese Garden

Distance: 10 minutes to downtown Portland

Price: $8.50 per person

What to do there: as you can tell, Portland is the land of gardens. It's beautiful here and you'll like it. That's all I can say.

Bennett's Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Katie's Rating: neither of us can have a rating; we haven't been yet

Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls

Distance: 50 minutes

Price: Free

What to do there: outside of the rose garden, this is the next most Portlandy thing to do. It's up the Columbia River Gorge so if you go up there, you'll see a lot of beautiful things.

Bennett's Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Katie's Rating: probably 5 but I haven't been yet

Tulip Festival

Tulip Festival

Distance: 40 minutes

Price: M-F $5 per car, weekends $10 per car

What to do here: April is the perfect time to see the tulip farms. They have a festival with Dutch wood shoe making, games, music, and all the tulips you can eat (or look at).

Back to Eden

Back to Eden

Distance: 20 minutes

Price: depends on what you want to eat

What to do there: This is a vegan, GF bakery. I'm not sure if it's solely GF but I saw that they sell GF so I put it on this post.

Bennett's Rating: 10 out of 5

Katie's Rating: I'm done doing this. I hope you enjoyed it!

Bennett and I took a day trip to the Oregon coast. It was so beautiful! We drove through Tillamook (land of the Tillamook cheese factory) to get to the coast.

This is the Cape Meare Lighthouse. Last year vandals shot out some of the panes of glass with a rifle. Due to the damage, they had to order a new lense (the red part) from somewhere in Europe.

When we arrived at Cape Meare (Bennett is standing just infront of the lighthouse in the picture below) there were whale watching signs and volunteers helping visitors spot whales. We didn't see any but next time we go, we'll bring our binoculars.

Yes, it was pretty cold there (hence my sweater, coat, hoodie and beanie) but we still took our shoes off and ran around in the waves.

How cold was it? Bennett's face will tell you.

Here's the "sexy" pose Bennett wanted me to do.

Here's another pose from me: (lame caption? I thought so but I don't know what else to write about)

I made Bennett do around 7 cartwheels on the beach so I could get his legs in the air. This is the best I could get:

We went on two hikes through the forest that meets up with the beach. This is probably one of the most beautiful places I've been. I can't wait to go in the summer time when everything is (more) green and less muddy.

We found this spot on our hike. Seriously, I found the place my spirit will be when I die. The sun came out (I haven't seen it for about three weeks now) and the ocean waves were crashing on the beach. It was so peaceful and beautiful. That's me in the corner of the picture.