Washington Park, OR

Written politely 2018-06-30.

Washington Park

Today is another day to explore the city and its awesome everything. Today we decided to go to Washington Park. It is pretty incredible and takes up a significant chunk of the Western half of the city. We took the streetcar south to the downtown area we were at yesterday and then got the Light rail to get to the entrance to the Zoo. From there we took a free shuttle and began our walk into the park. It really didn’t feel like we were in a city park at all, especially that we were so close to such a big city.

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As we hiked as a family, the rainforest surrounded us engulfed us. We hiked for probably an hour and a half. We came across a wedding in the rainforest, which was cool because whoever was getting married will have the same anniversary as us. Right around the spot after the wedding, I took this picture. The rainforest was filled with amazing sight such as this. So beautiful!

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Pittock Mansion

I was surprised, but the culmination of this beautiful hike led us straight up to Pittock Mansion, where we had this incredible view. alt text Wow! We could see the whole of Portland from right where we were sitting. We took a bit to just take it all in. The mansion itself was pretty incredible as well. Happy Anniversary to this pretty lady!

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After our hike, we walked down to the bus stop, which was down a considerable hill and across a road with some serious cars that disappeared around a bend. It was a considerable hill across 4 lanes, so the traffic was going pretty fast when it came into view from around the bend. Traversing it with 3 young children was a cause for a bit of anxiety, but we made it to the bus stop and back to the city.

Donuts & Gelato

We were a short walk back to our hotel, and we decided to stop and get some Gelato and donuts on the walk back to the hotel. Well, it wasn’t exactly like that. We stopped in to Blue Star Donuts and some of us got some donuts (they looked amazing, but I didn’t get any). Then we stopped at Alotto Gelato where the rest of us got some gelato.

What a wonderful day in a beautiful city. The weather was perfect and the company was pretty good, too. I am excited to spend another day exploring tomorrow, when we go to Cannon Beach, OR.


Lucas McDaniel

Husband, father, teacher, musician, avid gamer, nature enthusiast, and passionate about the human condition.