Matt waits in the station. Aside from railbikes and train rides, you can also rent ebikes to explore Hood River for the day.
Matt on the bike. One person gets to control the level of assist. Matt was in charge of that on the way up. We had about a 45-minute ride up to the fruit company, and then I was in charge on the way back.
Me on the way back down. I got cold and put on my coat, accidentally zipping my safety vest under my coat.
On the way back, we got to stop so our guide could take our picture at the waterfall. She remarked that she hadn’t seen an actual camera in a very long time.
We drove to Kah-Nee-Ta for the day. It gave us a chance to read from the books, an activity that has fallen by the wayside as the number of our streaming services have increased.
It was a good day for Kah-Nee-Ta as it was gray and rainy in Portland, but sun-sun-sunny on the other side of the mountain.
At the turnoff, there was a sign that we were on open range, and indeed, three horses were hanging out in the road. Matt took this picture.
We checked in, grabbed lockers in our respective dressing rooms (lockers were spendy, and also my locker rental kiosk charged me twice) and explored the various water offerings. We made brief visits to the children’s spa and walked through the children’s play area (there were no children playing at the time.) We checked out all three wellness pools, from the nicely warm to the very hot.
We then rested a bit, before trying out the lazy river. This was my first lazy river. It was super fun. We both had pool noodles, and when we stepped into the “river” (actually a pool about 4.5 feet deep with an inner pool that was not part of the river), the current pushed us around in an undulating circular path. It was quite relaxing and fun.
The middle pool had both a volleyball and a basketball net, so we played some ball. We also ate lunch (it was fine, but also I didn’t choose the Indian Taco option, which was probably really good) and then soaked/rested/lazy rivered again before taking a walk.
We played miniature golf, and checked out the lodging and teepees., then went back for one more soak before showing and heading back. I took this self portrait outside the entrance.
And then Matt joined me so we could do a time photo. (Such a classic timer photo!)
On the way back there were more horses.
Overall, this was a good trip. Because lodging is rather spendy, I think this trip would be a great to stop when coming back from Bend. It would break up the drive nicely.
When we visited, there were not many people, but I’m not sure how things go in the summer. There is an option to rent a cabana, or various permutations of deck chairs. We did not opt for that. The free chairs are not padded, but they were nice, and there were a ton of them.
On the way home we stopped at DQ for dinner and a Blizzzard.
We’re having a small summer vacation, as opposed to our extravagant Disneyland trip in March. Our first stop: The Portland Spirit, the boat that runs regular cruises on the Willamette River
After having our picture taken while boarding (regulation, according to them, but also so they could try to sell us the photo for $15) we climbed to the third deck and grabbed chairs near the railings.
We opted for the Happy Hour Cruise which was the shortest in duration and had no food included. It was a good choice.
While you cruise, there is guided narration. Here we pull away from the dock.
Here is the Tilikum Crossing Bridge, the South Waterfront, and the OHSU Tram.
Looking back at the Sellwood Bridge.
We turned around and came back a little earlier than I thought we would, but I guess that’s what you get when opt for the least expensive cruise that is shortest in length. Back at the dock, Matt could touch the dock as we pulled up to it.
You will recall that my mother and I visited the Ole Bolle last September. Sara and I visited so she could see the marvel.
There was a private event at Nordic Northwest, but it didn’t specify that the private event was by the troll, so we headed over. The event appeared to be a wedding not far from the troll, but it hadn’t started yet, so we scurried by.
Sara compares foot size.
I take a picture of his face. He’s a bit more weathered than last year, as is expected.
Sara posing with Ole Bolle.
At the table in the cabin was some white wine and an envelope. I wondered if the envelope might hold the marriage license. We scurried away. Though another group was headed to the troll as we were leaving, so we weren’t the only ones taking a chance that day.
Sara and I took in the pre-Code film Jewel Robbery, which was part of the Hollywood Babylon series. Before the film, this helpful graphic was displayed.
You can see the picture includes all of the “shalt nots.”
We counted quite a few shalt-nots in our movie. Jewel Robbery was fun, though a very brief 68 minutes that has me wishing the tickets were slightly discounted.
Somewhere in our travels, I came across this much appreciated sign in a gender neutral bathroom.
I’m completely for gender neutral bathrooms, especially when the bathroom has just one toilet and one sink. However, my experience has been that it’s quite common to walk in and have to kick the seat down. Drives me crazy.
And here we are at the gate. The museum is Betsy Warren’s private collection of thousands of women’s clothing and accessories from the 1920s to the 1980s.
First off, the brides’ room. It included this fantastic over-the-top wedding dress that appeared at the Bins (Goodwill’s last-chance stop before items head to the trash.) It’s an incredible dress, and I’m guessing something didn’t go well with the marriage for it to be discarded as it was. The curator is hoping to eventually find out more about this dress.
Upstairs, I enjoyed this busty item of furniture.
A favorite dress. The info card reads: Suzy Perette (1950s) Wasn’t the name of anyone, but the name of a dress manufacturing company that made affordable versions of Parisian designs in the 1950s.
Two more great black dresses. The one on the right is Cheryle Kaye and is from the 1980s. The one on the left is Carlyle, based in Illinois from the 1950s.
I liked this display of gloves, hats, and purses.
All three of these dresses are quite fun! The strawberry one would be especially fun for a summer party.
Both Sara and I were surprised that the bubble skirt was popular before the 80s, but there were a few dresses on display that proved that to be true, like this one.
We posed in front of the swimming costumes.
And in a mirror.
This was a fun tour, and if you like fashion, it’s well worth your time to make reservations.
Disneyland, The Unofficial Guide. While this super-planned approach won’t work for everyone, I was a huge fan. It aims to get you what you want out of Disneyland/DCA by planning and prioritizing. It’s also quite amusing in places. The book provides many different touring plans (Two-day with small children, one day without children, etc.) and offers an app to help you plan. The app, alas, is only for IOS right now, so we used the website version in the parks.
Things this book did well: Encouraged walking back and forth across the park to hit rides at the best time rather than a close-by geographical approach. Provided reviews and rankings of all rides so that we could rank the rides into categories of must, maybe, and probably when planning. Provided reviews of every restaurant and recommendations of favorites at those restaurants. Explained how policies like rider switch or single rider could improve your trip. Talked through strategies for best viewing of the light shows and whether one should buy a dining package that guaranteed seats.
Things that didn’t quite hit: Despite the book’s attempt, I didn’t understand how Lightning Lanes worked until my Fairyweather Travel agent walked me through it (and gave me a handout). Having now been there with Lightning Lane access, I also would take a slightly different approach than they recommended (at least at the time we visited).
I would prioritize must-visit (and then maybe-visit) attractions without Lightning Lane access from rope drop to about 11:00 and then start the Lightning Lane process after that time. We waited a very long time for the Peter Pan ride (a maybe-visit) and used our Lightning Lane for the Matterhorn (a must-visit) at 8:30 in the morning when there was basically no line. We should have reversed those. While some attractions did “sell out” their Lightning Lane availability before the day was done, most did not. And we were planning to be there All. Day. Long. so we could have better used the Lightning Lanes beginning in the late morning rather than first thing.
Overall, though, this is a great book and well worth both the money and buying a year’s subscription to the app to view their extended content. At less than $50 total, this book and the paid website will add value to your trip.
The Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland. Somewhat out of date, this small book provides behind-the-scenes information and fun facts about how exhibits at Disneyland were created. I read it before we left and envisioned paging through it while waiting in line, but never actually did that.
The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney California Adventure. This is very out of date; things have changed a lot since this was published. Still, there was some good information including the relationship between Grizzly River Run and the water at Pixar Pier.
Mouse-Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland. This book was published in 1994 and contains the experiences of former cast members. There are some fun stories like the one where so many people at the local naval base moonlighted at Disneyland that one Friday when there was a navel emergency, and they were called back to the base, and Disneyland had to close due to lack of workers. Given the era, there were some tales of “funny” mild sexual harassment. The author also discussed the difficulties Black people and all women had getting promoted, which is important perspective. That said, it wasn’t especially gripping, and I didn’t finish it.
I put all four of these books in a Little Free Library. The guidebooks were gone the next day, and the Mouse Tales book lingered for about a week.
My plan to get many pictures taken by Disneyland photographers on this day was thwarted by the rain. Turns out, the photographers disappear when the rain appears. But when it was still sunny, we got a few photos in front of the Millennium Falcon.
With BB-8
And with this little fellow.
We rode Space Mountain twice, once each day. It’s still just as great as it was when I rode it when I was six. The first time we weren’t ready for the photo, but the second time we were.
Still coming down off that mountain high.
Ready for our closeup. As were the people behind us.
And thus ends the chronical of our Disney vacation. We had a great time.
