Portland and the Columbia River Gorge -- May/June 2025

 Oregon - Planning and First Day -- May 28, 2025

Latourell Falls

This trip included our sons, 19 and 16, and us. 

Prep

We booked our first Alaska Airlines flight with high expectations that it was a nice airline. We do not have much option to book Alaska since we are in Texas; they do have flights from DFW to the Pacific Northwest. I was not as impressed as I hoped. We pre-booked DFW Remote North parking; we did not find a deal on terminal parking E this time when we were actually leaving from terminal E. Uber'ing was about the same price as parking, but Ubers have been harder to get from our house lately. So, we did not want to risk the early flight on an Uber showing up. 

I pre-brought one checked luggage during check-in on the app for $35. A second checked bag, for the same person, was supposed to be $45, but on the app, was actually showing $85 (ouch!--maybe lots of bags being checked). A second checked is no problem if you have multiple people that you can make it their first checked. We each had a roll-aboard, which was included with the basic fare, and one checked 25" rolling bag. To meet the current airlines' smaller carry-on requirements, I got a new suitcase for our oldest, Joel, that meets the current requirements; he is off to his second year of college so seemed useful for him. Normally, our kids use our older suitcases that we have replaced, but one just measured too big, so I did not brave it. 

Our 25" checked bag had two tents (our previously bought Aldi on clearance 4 person tent with hiking boot "garage" and a new 3 person tent for the kids from our Walmart -- after I saw that the Troutdale, OR and Vancouver, WA Walmarts were out of stock on the most affordable tent. It was paying for checked luggage, $70, or buy and throw away 2 tents where the cheapest one was $30, but out of stock, so $60 right there.) We were also able to take my sleeping bag in an air compression bag. We took our getting old queen air mattress that was heavy. The plan was to toss it after the trip and bring home the new full one that we planned to buy the kids. Unfortunately, when we got there, Walmart only had twin camping air mattresses left. Space in their tent was a consideration. We got an indoor full air mattress instead, which was self airing. The luggage was 7 less pounds on the way home with the swap. The verdict is still out on if it was a good swap because we are still testing if it is holding air, has a leak, or just stretching as the tag says. Also in the checked bag, we had our car 9V air mattress pump, camp and small towels, and some big liquids like sunscreen and lotion. 

We rented a car from Avis in Cully for $336 vs. $500+ at the airport. The Avis was only about 10 minutes from the airport, and we planned an Uber/Lyft.  

We had two nights camping at Ainsworth State Park and three nights camping at Memaloose State Park, both booked online at Oregon State Park site. It stored the reservations with my logon, so that I could review the site details and amenities while prepping. We also had two nights at the end of the trip in the Extended Stay American - Premier Suites - North Portland booked through booking.com.  

Trip Time

We got up at 4am to leave for the airport at 5am. Before we even left, we had a flight delay notification for a delay due to the incoming flight delay, so the rule of booking an early in the morning flight to avoid delays does not always work -- if your plane is a delayed red-eye from Seattle.    

We had a very full Remote North bus, with stops at terminals D (the International terminal) and E (smaller presence in DFW airlines like Spirit, Delta, and Alaska terminal) given it was so early in the morning. There was also a baby and toddler that I felt were too wide awake for that hour -- hehe. Luggage tagging went well, and when dropping it, I was much quicker with my drop than those in front of me. DFW had people accepting the bags; in Portland, where Alaska had more of a presence, they had automated machines (though the people at DFW did better than me at the automated machine). 

Security lines were a little long, but we were not in a hurry. After security, the kids and I got a Dunkin donut. Travis and I did a little more grocery shopping planning while waiting for the delayed boarding to begin. We were assigned the last boarding group. On both flights, they asked for volunteers to gate check bags. There were lots of volunteers, and I guessed that this was because Alaska will give free miles or $80 for bags not arriving 20 minutes after gate arrival. They announced this at arrival in Portland, but not in Dallas. Dallas is very tough because baggage always seems so slow here. However, our bag was out very quickly in both.

After boarding, there were further delays; the Captain noted that they had to reboot the computer to try to get it to work. He said it was a 3rd backup system and that we could go without it working, but that they had to try. His reboot did not work, but maintenance's did. However, we did not take off until a little after 9:30 am for a 7:30 am flight...no guarantee on on-time take off, like they have on bags. The Captain also noted that turbulence was expected, so they would not service snacks and drinks until 1-2 hours into the flight. He also kept noting that they had an award winning crew; that does not matter if they cannot work. The service was standard. I did not think it felt very turbulent; though the family agreed that it was turbulent. I guess that I have just had some very bad turbulence in the past. We were quite hungry by the time we got our snack and drink. We had some snacks in our bags, though I should have remembered more, I normally do have more. We were assigned seats 25A-D for both flights earlier than check-in. They were all together, not all the way to the back, with a window and two aisles, so very nice for basic fare. Hello, Mount Hood and snowy mountains. 

After the late arrival, we found the Lyft pickup location and requested a Lyft. The Lyft driver was very friendly, and he gave us advice on what to do in Portland. Lately, Uber/Lyft drivers have not been very friendly or talkative. Both of ours to and from the airport were awesome. The Avis employee was a little rude about insurance. He assigned a Santa Fe/SUV when we booked a Toyota Camry or similar. They never seem to have the car that we booked. In hindsight, the Santa Fe would probably have been fine, but I do not know how the 5 pieces of luggage would have fit or if the luggage would have been visible for the back window. He happily changed our car to a Chevy Malibu that I would be more comfortable driving. I don't know why they just pick and don't just ask. I also did not know the gas mileage expected on a Santa Fe with Pacific Northwest higher gas prices than we are used to. 

Next, we went to Walmart. Since it was now lunch time with the delayed flight, we ate at the Walmart Subway because it was conveniently there. We got our groceries for camping and finished our camping supply shopping. They had a camping section at the front of the store for the camping season; though in the normal camping section, they had everything locked up where you have to find someone to help you get it. This included 97 cent hot hands, hum. 

Then, we got to start touring. Starting our drive to the Historic Columbia 30 highway, we found Mt. Hood looking great in the east. Our first day was a clear day, and the mountain was out. Our first stop was Vista House. This was not one of the few days it was open, so we just peeked inside. It is still a very nice building from the outside and has great views of the Columbia River Gorge and river.

The guys with the gorge and river. Vista House. 

Then we went to Latourell Falls in the Guy W. Talbot State Park. After, we went to Bridal Veil Falls. Both are free to park and no admission fee. Both were pretty close to the parking; no long hike required. Latourell had vault toilets, so we waited for Bridal Veil with flush toilets and handwashing available. I saw this on a youtube video before arrival. 

Owen found a big rock to climb. We were able to go down to the waterfall pool. All the water that I touched was very cold; too early to swim in waterfall pools.

A Historic Columbia Highway bridge from the hiking trail.

Then we arrived at Bridal Veil Falls. Travis and Owen climbed to the bottom. 

Joel decided to cross the river on a fallen tree. 

We stopped at one more view point before going to our campsite at Ainsworth State Park. 

Both campsites were near the river, so also near the the train and interstate highway 84. This one was a hike-in campsite, which we have not done before, but they were charging out of state residents an extra fee for RV hook up available sites or pull into sites. When we arrived, I pointed to the "Enter" sign that we followed and completely missed the hike-in/Loop C parking. We found the camp host and saw him to ask. For check-in, he pointed us to the Park Ranger. Some check-in was online -- number of tents, any pets, and car info. Since ours was a rental, I could not complete this park. She, the Park Ranger, complete it, gave us a rearview mirror hanger with check-out date, and pointed us in the right direction. The parking did have the promised water spigot. 

Hike-in was not too long of a walk, but having to hike up and not being near our stuff was annoying. It was even further to the restrooms. Restrooms were nice -- warm, lights, shelves for toiletries while getting ready, hot and cold water, soap, and paper towels. We found a lot of paper towels in Oregon and not those annoying hand driers. We did finally find some hand driers, but still many with good paper towels. I did not try the showers here, but they were available and included. Travis noted that his was a fine mist, but Joel picked another and had no issue. The shower stalls were nice too with a dry area inside the stall before the shower/wet area. The dry area had a stool and hook for stuff to keep dry. The shower are had a soap shelf. 

Though our campsite was not ideal/the best choice. Our tents were on two different levels. Our tent was on the top level with a drop off pretty close to the tent. The rainfly stake was a tripping hazard by the picnic table. The kids' tent was on the lower level, going more downhill where their air mattress was pushing on the side of the tent and bending it badly. It is pretty though. The Milky Way was supposed to be very visible on our nights in Oregon, but there quite a few trees blocking the sky view. Travis did see it though. I just saw many stars. 

Next up...Multnomah Falls

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