Day 8: Hail, snow, and Portland!

Hey everyone,

I woke up to a somewhat now-unfamiliar sound: rain pouring down on the roof of the hotel! It was storming pretty hard when we packed up the car, and we quickly realized why we never considered moving to the northwest. We got on our way anyhow, and drove up the coast. After about an hour and a half of driving we hit even worse weather – it started hailing pea-sized hail! I thought it was pretty cool since I don’t often get to see any kind of frozen precipitation.

It didn’t last for too long, and we safely made it to our lunch destination. We picked the Rogue Brewery in Newport, OR to eat at since Taylor is a fan of their beers. It was a good lunch, and some good beer, but it was time to get moving and get on to Portland.

As we were driving we came over a hill and I saw a mountain covered in SNOW! Again I was amazed because at one time I could see both snow AND the beach. I was driving so I made an executive decision to go on a Snow Mission. We drove closer and closer until we finally got high enough that we were where the snow had fallen. I got out of the car and ran around in it for a few minutes before my hands got too cold from making snowballs to throw at Taylor. I made a silly little snowman and we got back on our way.

We said goodbye to the Coastal Scenic Highway that we had driven the whole way up and finally turned inland and towards the city, and the snowy scenery actually continued about half the way to Portland. There were whole forests of Douglas firs lightly dusted in white for me to stare at as we crossed over some low "mountains." I was pretty ecstatic and just tried not to run us of the road while staring at the snow for the rest of the drive ;)

Anyway, nobody else thinks snow is as exciting as I do, so on to Portland! We got there and checked in to our hostel. We were again in a fun shared room with 8 people and a shared bathroom, and oddly enough a troop of Girl Scouts were staying at the hostel too....it was a little weird to have them running around the place at all hours of the night, and I am beginning to notice some distinct differences between European and America hostels (namely just the age range!). We ditched our car and our stuff and headed out while it wasn't raining, sleeting or snowing.

We took a great tour of the Chinese Gardens. It was quiet and tranquil inside, and everything was still dripping from the rain an hour earlier. It was really pretty, but I bet its absolutely amazing in the spring or summer when everything is in bloom. After the gardens we wandered the waterfront and found a monument to the Japanese-Americans affected by WWII. They have planted cherry blossoms along the river, and unlike the Chinese Garden, these were in full bloom!

After the chilly stroll along the water we headed to the USA's biggest bookstore, Powell's Books. This place was HUGE!! You have to get a map at the front door just to be able to find your way out! I parked it in the Travel section and daydreamed about the next possible trip ;) and after a while of reading we decided to find dinner.

We went back to Portland's Chinatown and had some great Chinese food for dinner. It was absolutely freezing, so once we were done we decided to turn in. It seems like a cute little town, and we're excited to see a little more of it before we head out to Seattle tomorrow!

~Kristyn