vacation/staycation: portland

michelle and i had a pre-planned vacation in portland prior to my accepting my new job. we arrived monday and our friends claire and jacob joined us from friday to sunday. here's a run down of where we went and what we did:

day 1: friday, historic columbia river highway, the grotto, and international rose test garden

we drove on the historic columbia river highway to see the beautiful columbia river gorge and the many waterfalls that line this stretch of road, most notably, the multnomah falls. the gorge is beautiful! napapa 'God is good' ako sa ganda ng view from the top of the mountain. we've been to multnomah several times before but it was our first time driving down the historic highway where there are several stops to see the gorge. the photo does not do the gorge justice. mas maganda sya sa personal!

after our drive, we went to the grotto and the international rose test garden. the grotto's gardens up the mountain was very pretty and well maintained. the grotto was really peaceful, too, except for a rowdy bunch of people who were chatting it up inside the meditation chapel. (oo kami yon! hehehe ang ingay namin sinita kami ng matandang babae na nagmemeditate ng binabasa nyang nursery rhymes...seryoso!)

after the grotto, we went to international rose test garden. buti nalang meron pang roses. two more weeks and there would be nothing but dead flowers. claire and jacob managed to see several gorgeous roses and a few more that smelled as wonderful as they looked.

day 2: saturday, oregon coast (seaside, cannon beach, tillamook)

it was a rainy saturday morning but we braved the rain and drove some 50 miles to seaside where the town was abuzz because of the hood to coast relay that was being held there. we had lunch at fultano's for amazing pizza and buffalo wings that were so good, they made jacob cry. =) because of the event, there were too many people and not enough to see or do so we drove to cannon beach to meet with our friends gracious and jay. we had a beautiful view of haystack rock and we all took a stroll along the beach. the sand was warm beneath our feet so we didn't mind the cold ocean water that softly swept the beach.

after cannon beach, off to tillamook we went for a tour of the tillamook cheese factory which is really just an excuse to eat some tillamook ice cream. sarap!!! oh, the cheese wasn't bad either (i really like their smoked black pepper cheese need to look for it when we go back home). the tour was pretty much non-existent...so really, it was all about the ice cream. small world, we bumped into paul's pregnant co-worker at the factory where she was having her ice cream fix.

next stop was a short shopping trip at nordstrom rack to take advantage of oregon's zero sales tax. then dinner at zab for some really good thai food.

day 3: sunday, woodburn premium outlet and japanese garden

zero sales tax is too good a deal to pass up for bay area folks who pay almost 10% for anything they buy. so we went to woodburn for amazing deals at north face. jackets at 40% and no sales tax! (i really should stop saying no sales tax!) sobrang mura kaya go, go, go!

after woodburn we went to the japanese garden. the garden is beautiful and i highly recommend going there during the different seasons so you can see how the plants change in color throughout the year. in the summer, the plants are a luscious green. when we first went in the winter, the mist and the fog added mystery to the already tranquil garden. i can't wait to see the burst of color in the spring and the fall.

we were supposed to go to the waterfront park before heading off to the airport to drop of the newly weds but the car's passenger window broke and wouldn't close so we can't drive off somewhere and leave the car vulnerable to thieves. we went home where the boys attempted to fix it without success. gracious and jay came to our rescue and dropped claire and jacob off to the airport. paul has scheduled an appointment first thing tomorrow morning to get the window fixed before we park it at the airport tomorrow.

that pretty much sums up our portland vacation. michelle and i will be back in the winter for some skiing and snowboarding. nyahaha!

will post pictures after i get them from claire. =D