Hope you all are having a fantastic summer! I have to apologize for not being an active blogger lately! My family and I have been on our toes with multiple travel (traveling as much as possible before my son goes to middle school), summer camps, meeting friends/family and lots & lots of driving( I am my son's chauffeur). I want to soak in the sun as much as possible during this summer and I hope you all are doing the same.
I want to share a quick experience about our Mt. Hood, Oregon trip. I am so excited to write about this because, its still summer, and, its a great time to visit Mt. Hood!
We love Oregon! I personally feel Oregon is specially designed by Mother Nature herself. There are so many places to visit when you are in Mt. Hood vicinity. But on this particular post, I am focusing only on Mt. Hood and nearby locations. I will also briefly mention few popular waterfalls and hiking spots to visit near Mt. Hood and Portland.
We have visited Mt. Hood and Portland at least 5 times so far (honestly, I have lost track). Twice, just to visit Mt. Hood and the other times we covered a bit of waterfalls and hiking trails near Portland. Mt. Hood (Government Camp) is a magical place. The approach is so easy unlike the rugged and massive Mt. Rainier. It feels like a very easy drive to Mt. Hood with very few curves and bends(good for those who have motion sickness). This year, we visited Mt. Hood with our closest friends and together we were 15 people. We decided to rent a place from Airbnb. We found this wonderful property that could accommodate us all and keep our kids busy! I am attaching the link to this fantastic property below. The property had fully equipped kitchen, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 living areas, 3 car garages, a bonus room with multiple bunk beds + video games, movie, books etc. A perfect vacation home for large groups.
Oregon Rental Property
The property is a bit old & dusty but very close to the restaurants & stores in Government camp. Its a stone throw away from Ski-Bowl, 15-20 minutes drive from Timberline Ski area & trails , 20 mins from Trillium lake. We marked only few attractions to visit during this trip as we had kids and my friends' parents visiting from India.
We started from Issaquah and drove for 2 hours and took a break at a rest area. We all met together for a potluck lunch.We then headed straight to our vacation rental home. We checked in, unpacked all the kitchen items that we carried from home for our trip & we took a nice refreshing walk to Government Camp. We cooked dinner and right after our dinner, we visited Trillium Lake for night sky/Milkyway. Trillium lake is an easy & perfect spot for night photography, to see night sky if you are with kids, parents or if you are a non hiker. We reached Trillium lake past sunset and enjoyed the blue hour and within an hour we got to see the beautiful milkyway with billions of stars in the night sky. It was a thrilling experience for us all It was one of a kind adventure for parents visiting from India and for kids who had not been out late in the night to see milkyway. I also got to try some light painting for our family portraits! Here are few images of the beautiful night sky & Mt. Hood. We all headed back to get a good night's sleep after a very memorable experience.
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| Mt. Hood, Trillium Lake |
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| Blue hour, Mt. Hood. |
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| Milkyway We started off the next day by having breakfast and setting up food ready in Instapot for lunch. I have to say this, Instapot is such a blessing when you are traveling far with families. We enjoyed cooking dal, pulao, idlies, rice etc in Instapot for us all! It was such a fun experience to cook with my friends and their moms! Having breakfast/lunch & dinner as one big family was the best part of this trip!
 
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After a fun walk, we headed back to the vacation home, had dinner and we all had a fun chat and relaxed. The next morning, we check out, stopped at a mall briefly for shopping & lunch (no Sales tax in Oregon, remember? 😋😁) and drove back to Issaquah. I also want to remind you all to enjoy eating at different restaurants in Portland. We love that Portland has many different vegetarian/vegan options.
We had a wonderful family time and made new memories which we will cherish for a long time to come! I hope you enjoyed reading our travel experiences and find this blog informative. Feel free to ask me questions in the comment section and I will definitely reply with as much information as possible.
Camera gears for this trip:
Sony a7rii with 24-70mm,
16-35mm,
Battery + remote
Nikon D750 with 150-500 mm
14-24mm
Battery + remote
2 tripods
Iphone 8 plus
Attractions near Mt. Hood:
Mt. Hood - Timberline Lodge, Timberline trail
Trillium Lake
Lost Lake
Ramona Falls
Few other gems near Portland(I will be blogging about the below locations later):
Pittock Mansion
Rose Garden
Portland Japanese Garden
Multnomah Falls (hiking optional)
Latourell Falls (easy hiking - optional)
Horsetail falls (no hiking)
Ponytail falls (medium difficult hike)
Wahkeena Falls (easy hike)
Woodenshoe Tulip farm (Spring)
Silver falls state park
Mt. Hood Adventure Ski-Bowl (For all ages)
Enchanted Forest (For kids)
Oregon Zoo (All ages)
Oaks Amusement Park (For Kids)
Columbia River Gorge scenic view
Hood River (Fruit Loop drive)
Cannon Beach
Family friends Hotels that we enjoyed:
Sunriver Resort, Bend
Collins Lake Resort, Government Camp
Surfsand Resort, Cannon Beach
Skamania Lodge
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