One Last Adventure

One Last Adventure

I still had a few hours before I had to leave for the airport and I decided to make the most of my time.  The Oregon Zoo was about a 20 minute ride from my hotel and I figured that if I timed it right, I might be able to get a few pics in before I had to head to the airport.

In an effort to maximize my time at the zoo, I planned on getting there right when it opened.  With some luck with traffic, I arrived at the gate at 8:57.  Three minutes before the official opening time.  I planned ahead last night and did some research on the internet about the zoo so that I wouldn't waste any time.  I packed one camera body, my 70-200 lens and an extender.  I knew the extender would be helpful because most of the time, the animals are far away from the fences.

Entry and parking combined was $8.00.  A bargain.  The zoo grounds were beautiful.  It was a cool and overcast morning so I was hoping that the animals would be active.  I figured they were probably also going to be fed soon which would make them lethargic, so I wanted to get photos of them as soon as possible.  Luckily for me, the zoo was not as big as Brookfield.  Everything was well laid out and the lands are close in proximity to each other.

I knew that I wasn't going to be able to see everything so I did the best that I could with the time that I  had. I went from exhibit to exhibit snapping away.  In two hours worth of time, I snapped about 250 photographs.  Not bad.  My time at the zoo was up.  It was just enough time for me to drive back to the hotel, pack my camera equipment away and head to the airport.  And, my timing for leaving the oo couldn't have been better either as all the school field trips and young families were making their way through the entrance.  Thank you Oregon Zoo for a great time.

Here are some of the photos that I took of the animals today.

  Well, my son said it best as I was speaking to him before I boarded my flight; "you sound tired Mom".  I am.  What an exciting week I had.   I know that I saw a lot of different things, but I feel that there is still so much out there to be discovered.  I will be heading back to the Pacific Northwest for more adventures.  Maybe another jump off the bridge and definitely a guided Hike to Mt. Hood.  I love this area of the United States.  It is so beautiful I wish I could stay here forever. 

I truly enjoyed the time I spent with my daughter Shannon.  What an amazing girls she is.  This week; our adventure together will always hold a special place in my heart.  I love you Peanut!

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Tripod

Japanese Garden-Portland, OR

Today is the day that I was regretting for a while.  It was time for me to say good-bye to Shannon and head back to Portland for my last day in Oregon.  I had such a great time with her, it was hard to leave.  Driving her to the rec center gave me a few more minutes to chat and see if there was anything else she needed before I left.  Let's see, we went hiking, took her and her roomies out to eat, bungee jumped, took her shopping for food and supplies and had some good talks.  I wish that I could have stayed longer, but I need to get back to John and Ian and she needed to get back to school and her books.  So, I hugged her as hard as I could and with tears in my eyes, I kissed her good-bye.  As I watched her walk off, I couldn't help but think about how proud of her I am.  She is so smart, kind, giving, loving, a great friend, a messy apartment dweller, etc.  And, she is my favorite daughter.  Always was and always will be.  (For the record, she is also my only daughter).  But as I say to her, she is still my favorite daughter.

As the tears on my face began to dry, I started to make my way to my next adventure.  No more waterfalls for awhile.  Today I was heading to the Japanese Garden in Portland for some photos.  The Japanese Garden sits on 55 acres and is said to be the most authentic Japanese garden outside of Japan.

They have strict rules for photography but I can see why.  When you enter the garden you know that you are in a special place.  There were hiking trails so having my brace on was a good thing and enable me to be more stable as I maneuvered up and down the rock pathways.

It is a very quiet and tranquil place.  Its like being in an outside library.  No cell phones are allowed to ring and voices are kept to a whisper.  It was very calming and quite a change from what Shannon and I experienced yesterday. 

If you have never been to a Japanese Garden, I highly recommend it.  The nice part about this location of the Garden is that it is located close to a Children's Museum and the Portland Zoo. 
Here are some of the pics I shot today.

I Shot The Clerk

"I Shot The Clerk"

You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers

who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.

You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.

Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.

Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

"Taken from "Oh The Places You Will Go" by Dr. Seus

Do you ever think that sometimes your life is like a movie or that something happens and it plays out like a scene from a film that you once saw?

Well, that is exactly what happened to Shannon and I this morning.  Shannon and I did a great job of getting ready so we could leave the hotel on time and begin our journey to Washington.  With a hot breakfast from the hotel filling us up, we headed to 205N and an experience we will never forget.

Shannon and I have always had a sense of adventure and our quest for doing crazy things has continued on as time has passed.  This morning, our car was headed to Amboy, Washington, home of the highest Bungee Bridge in North America.  Yep, today, this morning, Shannon and I were going to jump off a bridge 20 stories off the ground, but first we had to get there.

The total drive time to Amboy was 55 minutes.  It was mostly highway until we had to go off the road a little bit.  Thats where "My Cousin Vinny" comes into play.  On our off-he highway drive, we started laughing as we were driving through these small little po-dunk towns. Towns that were so small, if you blinked, you would miss them.  As we traveled off-road, we were laughing because our GPS took us down this road that actually went through people's back yards.   That's when I told Shannon this reminded me of "My Cousin Vinny".  I joked and said that if we came upon an old country store we shouldn't stop and buy any tuna.  And, just as we came out of someone's back yard and traveled a few more feet, our car was in front of a country store.  It was too funny.  I couldn't resist going in to the store to see if they sold any cans of tuna.  And, in case you were wondering, no, I didn't put a can in my pocket.  I just took a photo if it.

Small General Store. And, yes they sell slush pups!

Tuna on the shelf.  Not sure about the freshness date.

So, now were were almost there.  A couple more miles up the road and we should be at the starting point.  Well...we thought we were going the right way.  You see, when you are in the mountains, your GPS doesn't work too good, or should I say, not at all.  So, we followed the map on the plaquerd we took from the hotel. We were so excited about getting to the gate that we passed the starting point and kept driving up the side of Tum Tum Mountain.  The longer the drive was, the more narrow the roads were getting.  We kept climbing higher and higher and we started to see loose rocks by the side of the road.  That made me nervous.  I did not want to be caught in an avalanche of rocks, get a flat tire on this road, or have a huge boulder block our way.  This was no place to be stranded.  Then, we saw some other life.  There was a pickup truck by he side of the road with two men by it.  Now, Shannon and I have seen enough Life Time movies to know, that when you are traveling up a mountain on a deserted road, stopping to ask some guys for help might not be in your best interest.  Besides, those guys looked like they were up to something.  I wasn't sure what, but they didn't look normal. So we continued on.  As the road continued to narrow and we were now driving through some low lying clouds, I decided it would be best to turn around.  So, we found a bigger patch and headed back down the hill.  As we were making our way down, we came across these two guys again.  This time though, one of them was holding a rifle and they both looked surprised to see us.  We slowed up, keeping our distance and shouted through an open window if they knew where the Bungee place was.  Neither man said a word.  They both just shook their head and from side to side.  We quickly rolled up our window and took off down the hill.  Reflecting on how lucky we were to escape what could have been an unfortunate situation, we somehow drove right towards the gate we originally were looking for.  And there it was.  SCORE! I'm not sure how we missed it the first time, but at least we were now in the right place and ready for some fun.

We met a couple in the parking lot and shared our sense of wonder, nerves and craziness that we were about to do.  Thanks Tina and Garrett for your humor and sense of adventure.  It was fun meeting you and sharing our jumping anxiety with you.  We took the trail from the lot up the road until we reached this big steel bridge.  Oh, and did I mention that it was high up?  

From the top of the bridge looking down.  This was the side we were jumping off of.

Want to know if jumping off this bridge is safe..ask the Magic 8 Ball.  I Dare You.

 

This was the view from the other side of the bridge.

 

Shannon and I before we put the jumping gear on.At the top of the bridge.

If you click on the links below you will see a couple of things.  First is Shannon's thoughts before she jumped.  The second one is her beautiful leap off the platform and the third one is my pitiful step off the platform.  I guess you can tell who has the most guts in the family.

Bungee.com offers jumps from the tallest bridge in North America.  The actual height of the jump was 192 feet.  On the way down you travel 65 miles per hour and when the bungee springs you back up you are actually going 70 miles per hour.  The scary part is not the first step.  Actually it is the climb over the railing to get to the platform and also the spring back from the bungee cord because you are traveling backwards at a high rate of speed.  Jumping off of a bridge was on my bucket list and now, I can cross it off.  It was a special bonding day with my daughter and one that I will never forget.  You do get an adrenaline rush and it was an amazing experience.  I can honestly say that looking down from high bridges will never be the same again.  Completing this jump has given me the feeling that I can conquer anything.
BUNGEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shannon's thoughts before the jump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH-3WuH8p34

Shannon's Beautiful Leap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGfyf1kCyek

My step into unchartered waters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppr7aifyDzo

A Leap of Faith

Oh!  The Places You'll Go- Hiking Multanomah Falls

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

I don't think that either Shannon or I was ready for the alarm to go off so early, but we slowly got up and packed our stuff to head to start our Portland adventure.  Armed with my Red Bull and Shannon with her large coffee, we set out to hike Multnomah Falls.  Even though I had already seen this fall twice, it was only from the base.  I saved climbing up to the bridge and hiking to the top of the falls until I was with her.  The forecast said rain but we lucked out as the skies cleared and aside from the wind, it was going to be a beautiful day for a hike.  So at the grocery store last night we bought all kinds of snacks to bring for the hike, filled a water bottle with water, packed some hats and gloves and we were ready.  Prepared for anything.  We stopped at the hotel we were spending the night in to drop off out luggage and put some warmer clothes on.  And...while it seemed like a good idea at the time, it didn't turn into our shining moment.  You see, while we were getting ready, we brought in the bag with all of our supplies and discovered after we drove for 40 minutes, that the bag was at the hotel.  So...what to do?  What to do?  We had one water bottle with us and our common sense, so we figured we would go as far as we could safely and then turn back.  This hike was also dependent on how well my leg was going to hold up.  Even though I have the brace, I was very unsure as to how it was going to react to all the pressure from walking uphill.  The climb to the top is on a switchback trail and is very steep.  From the base to the top of the Falls is a 700 foot climb.  It is an open trail with room for about two people side by side.  The main part is paved but when you get to the top there are all kinds of opportunities to venture off onto other trails for exploring. 

The base was pretty crowded today, but Shannon and I grabbed our solo bottle of water, a back pack with camera equipment and we started on our way.  All the rain from yesterday colored the land beautiful shades of green.  Even some local Oregonians that we met mentioned that they hadn't seen this area so green in awhile.  Score,  Good color for pictures.  We were hoping that the trails off the path were in good shape so we could do some exploring, but time would tell.  Standing at the top of a 700 foot waterfall is not a time to take risks. 

The trail grew steep pretty quick and with the pack on my back, I was starting to feel, the weakness in my knee.  We had originally wanted to do the full hike to Wahkeena Falls which was a total of 5.4 miles and an elevation climb of 1600 feet, but I knew that if I could make it to the top of these Falls, I should consider it a victory.  I could always come back when my leg is stronger.  I promised John that Shannon and I would be safe, so we decided we would stop when we got to the top,  take some pics and then head back down.  We took in all the beauty surrounding the climb and periodically chuckled as we watched people try and navigate strollers and dogs up this steep and narrow passageway.

As soon as we came to the last switchback, I could hear the sounds of water rushing and I knew we were at the start of the Falls.  Suddenly, I got a burst of energy.  My eyes darted around the area looking at all the spots to take pictures.  I couldn't wait to take my camera out of the bag and begin capturing this beautiful area.  Like I did at the other Falls, I lay on the ground, climbed over logs, and stood in the water so I could capture some unbelievable photos.  Shannon and I were there for over an hour taking tons of pictures.  The only drawback was we were soaking wet and dirty from laying in puddles and climbing over logs.  As our adrenaline slowed down, we started to shiver from the cold and dampness of our clothes and started our trek back down.  Wow!  What an awesome hike.  The rain stopped as we made our way back to the base but once we got to the car, it started to pour.  It was good to be inside and sitting with the heat in the car.

We had plans to drive to Mt. Hood (1.5 hours from where we were at) to meet Jason (the brother of a friend of ours' from Chicago), but the area was getting blanketed with snow and the roads were being closed due to poor conditions.  Our meeting will have to wait.  Better safe than sorry.

After blasting the heat in our car to about 82 degrees, we made it back to the hotel and warmed up with a hot shower, some soup and the snacks we bought yesterday and forgot for our trip.  Now, all clean, dry and warm, Shannon and I shared our photos from our hike with each other.  This was an awesome day with my daughter.  A day that I will never forget.  The conversations we shared, the laughter we had and the beautiful smile on her face is something that  I will carry with me forever.

Tomorrow is another day and another adventure for the Kwits.  Who know where or what we will be doing tomorrow.

Shannon jumping in the entry way to the Gorge

"Hi There"

The Following were taken at the top of Multanomah Falls

Walking down the side trail from the Falls. The Bridge you cross

 to begin the hike is in the center.