Portland, Days 2 and 3

Day 2 started with a trip towards Multnomah falls, about 30 miles east of Portland. We stopped at the "Vista House" along the way for a beautiful 360 degree view of the Columbia River.

Multnomah falls is stunning. As you can see from the photo below, it is composed of two different falls (660 feet total) with a turbulent pool in between them. We took a guided tour up to the Benson bridge you see in the picture and learned a couple of interesting facts. The Bridge and some of the buildings were commissioned by Simon Benson, an early 20th century logger and philanthropist in Portland. Benson (justly so) wanted his name on the bridge since he had donated the land and funds to have it built. But the architect who built it was so proud of his achievement that he carved his OWN name into the bridge instead. Then he slapped a thin layer of cement on top of it and put Benson's name in THAT. Of course, the thin layer chipped away and the architect was left with his own little tribute to himself which survives today. They say that this bridge is the most-photographed piece of architecture in Portland.
Incidentally (and this is mostly for Tom and Cara and Dustin who know what I am talking about), Simon Benson was also the one who donated those annoying perpetually-running drinking fountains we saw all over Portland - the Benson Bubblers. So now you know.

Below is a shot of Dustin and me partially up the trail - covered in mist from the falls.
After the hike, Dustin and Cara dropped us off downtown and headed to Newport to hang out with Dustin's parents for the rest of the day. Tom and I set out in search of some sushi or other lunch-goodness, but ran into a number of restaurants that were closed on Sunday. We eventually wandered into Chinatown, which is a greatly scaled-down and westernized version of the one in San Francisco. As we wandered we heard a bunch of fireworks and drumming start up, so we followed our ears to a little square where the local Chinese population was hosting a fundraiser for the recent earthquake. We stayed a little while, had a $5 fundraiser buffet lunch and watched some dragon dancers while listening to traditional music.
After lunch, we worked our way back to the waterfront and decided to rent a couple of bikes for the afternoon. We biked across the Hawthorne bridge (which had a wonderful wide bike sidewalk) and along the trail on the east side of the Willamette. We popped out in the suburb of Sellwood and rode through a couple little downtown areas and absorbed some local culture.
After returning our bikes, we took the MAX back to Pioneer square for some Buffalo Wild Wings and trivia. Apparently this is a chain that Tom used to frequent during high school, where you can do trivia and compete against other restaurant patrons whilst burning your mouth on some delicious hot wings. I (over)enthusiastically ordered the "hot" variety (10th or so on a scale of 13) and Tom and I wept and suffered and sweated our way through them whilst being whupped by some trivia ringers. Fortunately we were able to drown our sorrows in some more Portland Microbrews.

Our last stop on Sunday was McMenamins Kennedy School Lodge. It is hard to put McMenamins into words, but basically is is an old elementary school which has been converted into a lodge, theater, restaurant, concert venue, and speakeasy (detention). It was extremely cool.
The hallways are filled with little unexpected twists, and it seems to draw a very young, fun, and eclectic crowd. Tom and I decided to take in the evening showing of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" in their theater. The theater was the old converted gymnasium, which had been filled with fun vintage couches and easy chairs and end tables. You could order pizza and beer from the concession stand (below) and they delivered it to you during the movie. They were out of PBR, so we sampled yet another round of micro-brews. What a tasty trip!
The next day, Tom and I were on our own until Dustin and Cara showed up to take us back to the airport around 4. We decided to try and visit the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, or OMSI. To make a long story short, we did make it there eventually, although we took the longest, most convoluted walking route ever. Along the way we did manage to find a good bannister to slide down...
And a pretty fabulous almond croissant. Tom had a marionberry scone (what is it with these Portlanders and their marionberries?).
We had a good time at the OMSI, which was an interactive science museum. We spent a bunch of time trying to solve some puzzles which were spread out throughout the museum and looking at dinosaur skeletons, which apparently brought out the kid in both of us.

And that was that! Dustin and Cara picked us up from the museum and we all went to the airport. Sounds like they had a great time in Newport, eating some good food and walking along the beach and checking out tide pools with Dustin's family. We were excited to get one last view of Mt. Hood from our plane window on the way home.