I arrived in Hood River Oregon Sunday Evening 10/4/2021. I spent most of Monday and Tuesday catching up on work during the day and exploring nearby brewpubs, tap rooms and wineries in the late afternoon and evening. All 4 of the brewpubs in town were excellent. Full said brewery had an interesting flight designed like a sail. All of the places I visited had friendly and personable staff and I got many recommendations for places to visit.

I stopped at 2 wineries that were both excellent and picked up a couple bottles of wine. Wyeast Winery had a great bartender who had an excellent knowledge of wines and even had Alpaca’s roaming their yard . We chatted a bunch about the Grateful Dead and things to do in the area.

My hotel had a nice view of the Columbia River that gave some ambiance catching up on work in bed.

I departed Hood River on Wednesday and stopped at Multnomah Falls. The view of the falls was great, but I changed my mind about hiking the falls after some contemplation. The falls were located right next to the highway and would have been a small walk up a paved walkway that was very crowded. It was a little bit to touristy for my tastes and packed with people.

Sadie had warned me about this when we were hiking last week and had mentioned I should check out the Angels Rest trail that was only 15 minutes away. I drove to Angels Rest and departed the trail head around 12:30. This was a beautiful trail. The early part of the trail was rocky but pretty easy to hike. As I rose higher the trail became a series of switchbacks with a beautiful view of the Columbia River Valley. One interesting part was near the top there were signs of a fire that couldn’t have happened more than a couple years ago. When I reached the top I was treated to a magnificent view of the valley featuring a rainbow.

I arrived stopped in Portland and visited some local breweries and tap houses. One thing I am going to vent about is a new trend in the industry that I am not a fan of. I stopped at the Steeplejack Brewing company on a recommendation I got earlier in town. The building used to be a church and had some great architecture and you could even look down into their brewing tanks. This place had a lot of potential. However, after I took a seat, I was greeted by… a QR Code. Yup, you sit down, scan a QR code on your phone and order that way. No interaction with the bartender, server, etc. I ran into this in Chicago to and I do not like just how impersonal this is. May as well just have seats and self serve vending machines. This was a sharp contrast to how friendly and chatty the bartenders and servers in Mt Hood were.

I am now at a crossroads and unsure what to do or where to go next. I wanted to go to the coast, but I am having trouble finding a room open anywhere.  The lack of biking in Oregon is a bit unexpected. There are lots of places you can go biking on roads, but biking and getting buzzed by cars going 55 MPH is not my style and I prefer trails. Maybe ill hang out in Portland for a bit and do some city biking?  I do see a trail 45 minutes from here that does look like it has potential. Unfortunately at the moment it looks like rain most of the week next week so I am leaning towards finding an AirBnb and taking a week to work to pad out my vacation time. We shall see

If my car was here I would be thinking of heading to California with the rain and cool weather predicted. On that front I did hear from the body shop and my car should be ready at the end of October.

Angels Rest  & Multnomah Falls – https://photos.app.goo.gl/9GdMfw5yAVe2VXDt6

Hood River Oregon – https://photos.app.goo.gl/5yxLALUUyrr2H1PC9

Portland – https://photos.app.goo.gl/fiPvFhM9oihURfpz9

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