Portland, known as the "City of Roses" (although not apparent in January), sits between the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. It's a pretty big city; much larger than either of us pictured. Home to Columbia Sportswear and Nike, the city definitely has a casual feel to it. 

It was a clear day for driving up from Talent and once off the mountains, it's relatively flat for the last 2 hours. To the east however, we had a spectacular view of Mt. Hood. It's ginormous (yes, that is a word),  over 11,000 feet and the highest mountain in Oregon. Since Lisa did such a great job on the Siskiyou Summit, I thought the Mt. Hood drive might be fun for her. Then I read it was actually a volcano and there's a slight chance it might erupt. She can drive through snow but I'm not sure how good she'd be at molten ash so we decided to stick to the highway. Maybe we'll hit it on the way back after she's got a few more miles under her belt. 

Lisa's friend Amy Long hosted us for a couple nights. She transferred from Chicago to Portland 2 years ago and recently lost her job so will likely move back. We met a friend of mine's brother and his family for dinner that night and of the six of us at the table, only 2 were gainfully employed. We are no longer a minority! How liberating! I need a speech writer! Maybe it could start something like this..."I HAD a job"...

Portland's outdoor life is prevalent. Everyone bikes, walks and hikes no matter what the weather. It's the rainy season now but if the locals hike in the rain, so do the HOs.  Plus, we knew after a good hike we were rewarding ourselves with a trip to the Willamette wine country for the night... so if that's not incentive to get your hike-on I don't know what is. 

Amy took us to the Columbia River Gorge to hike the Multnomah Falls. It's 2.5 mile hike up to the mother of all waterfalls in Oregon and it's loaded with 45 degree angle switchbacks almost the entire way.  Before heading up, there was a little sign telling us about the condition of the trail; it was icy and snowy and not recommended for hiking today. Ok, but if they REALLY didn't want us up there they should have put up police tape. A lot of police tape.  We're from Chicago...we understand police tape. So, despite the warning to the the wimps, we went up. What an awesome hike! As we started out we thought it was raining but realized it was the residue from the the waterfall that was crashing at the bottom. The trail was really narrow so in the icy spots we had to tuck ourselves into the side of the mountain...the alternative wouldn't have been pretty.  As we got higher and looked across the Columbia River we could see the State of Washington. You could almost swim there it's so close. It took us about 1.5 hours to finish the roundtrip and nobody got hurt.  So, I'm glad we went even though it was a bit icy and we had to hold on in some spots so we wouldn't fall off a cliff. And, yes I'm glad we went even though on the way down a big rock fell from above and only missed Lisa's head by 3 feet. Ok, that part was scary, but I said nobody got hurt didn't I?