#1 Very Best Day Trip

Mt. Hood from the air: a "real" mountain.

When we have out-of-town guests, our #1 very top pick for a day trip from Portland is not wine country, but the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood. Natural beauty, sunnier weather, a plethora of outdoor activities, a "real" mountain – all an easy drive from Portland. It's a winner every time.

So hard do we push the Gorge/Hood loop, we compiled detailed instructions on the route for our wedding guests last year. The guests' consensus: two satisfied thumbs up. For posterity, then, the Maggie & Jeff Guide for the Best Day Trip Ever from PDX:

Part I: The Historic Highway and Vista House
Drive east on I-84 out of Portland for about 30 minutes until you reach Troutdale. Take the main Troutdale exit (Exit 17) and follow the signs for the historic highway: go straight through the first light and turn right at the second light past a big shopping center. After you clear the shopping area, take a left at the light and head down Troutdale’s main street. You are heading the right direction if you go under the arch that says “Troutdale” and past a bunch of new Old West-looking storefronts.

The highway first takes you across the Sandy River and then starts to climb up through fields. When it crests, you will get your first view of the Gorge. Shortly afterwards, the road passes around the Vista House. Get out here for some key photo ops.

Vista House (on the right): Gateway to the Gorge.

The highway – and the Vista House – were built during the Depression by the WPA. Before I-84 raced along the bottom of the Gorge, the old highway wound its way precariously along (and through) the cliffs. Only this stretch, from Troutdale to Multnomah Falls, is still open to car traffic.

Vista House itself is a charming little rest area situated at the mouth of the Gorge. It is aptly named: the start of the Gorge unfurls to the east in lush folds of cliffs and river. Once you have pictures of the vista, if you'd also like pictures of the vista that includes the Vista House, backtrack slightly up the highway to the prior lookout.

Part II: Waterfalls and Hiking
After the Vista House, you will pass a series of waterfalls: Latourell Falls, Sheperd's Dell, Bridal Veil Falls, Wahkeena Falls, and the biggie, Multnomah Falls, one of the tallest waterfalls in the western hemisphere (and a key Oregon photo op).

A Polish Week: We climbed a mountain

A Polish friend recommended we spend some time in Zakopane, a resort town deep in the Tatra Mountains along Poland's southern border. From Krakow, Zakopane is two hours south via one of Poland's ubiquitous "mini-buses" (also known as over-sized vans) -- of which I unfortunately lack a picture.

The main drag of Zakopane is like the Jersey Shore of Poland, a snapshot of domestic Polish tourism. A Polish expat we met over dinner explained that Zakopane is part of the country's cultural heart, a once-idyllic mountain town that inspired poets and musicians and is the gateway to the country's best skiing in the winter and the entire region's best hiking in the summer. Now the town is a mess of cheesy tourist restaurants and toy shops selling local souvenirs made in China.

With one full day in Zakopane, we wanted the prototypical Tatra hiking experience: to climb Kasprowy Wierch.  Most people take the cable car up and hike back down.  This is what the morning line for the cable car looked like:

Of course, being young and fit, we would hike up.

The path at the bottom of the mountain was wide and well-groomed, and meandered through a pine forest of babbling brooks that reminded me of Oregon. "This," I said to Jeff, "this is nothing."

Fresh Air

We currently enjoy envisioning ourselves gallivanting up and down Andean mountains during our Inca Trail hike with no shortness of breath (or blisters, muscle spasms, or heart attacks).

But we have in truth no realisitic basis for that vision. So Rehana (preparing for her own African trekking adventure) suggested we spend a day in Kentucky undertaking a "real" hike, meaning one of at least several miles over mildly rocky terrain.

The drive to Red River Gorge was more than adequately picturesque - rolling hills of farms and stands of trees, old wood-slat barns with peeling paint and grazing horses, country cemeteries at the end of country roads (meaning two parallel wheel ruts). And the park itself, strewn over mountain foothills, was all bird songs, promising trail heads, and thick leafy foliage filtering the sunlight.

But when we got to the ranger station deep within the forest, the kindly (male) rangers looked us up and down as we queried what the best trails were, and suggested we take the driving tour instead. I'd like to think this is the suggestion they give all visitors with just a few hours in the park, but I fear it might have more to do with my giant purse and sunglasses and Jeff's query about where to get a good lunch.

We tried a couple of the driving-tour vistas and had lunch at the only realistic option "around those parts": a full-service gas station that served subs, sandwiches, fried chicken, pizza, and - most importantly - corn dogs. Finally ready to start a "real" hike, we promptly picked the wrong trail head and ran out of path after about 10 minutes.

Pretending to scramble over limestone outcroppings.

So after 30 minutes of scrambling down the limestone outcroppings and knobbly roots of the right trail (total distance: approx. 0.3 miles), we took some pictures and headed back to Berea.

It was a windy day, however, so at least we got some fresh air.