Mt. Hood, Oregon

Hello everyone,
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.

Mt. Hood, Trillium Lake 

Blue hour, Mt. Hood. 

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!

Instapot to the rescue :) 


After breakfastt, we headed over to Ski-Bowl which was just a 5 mins walk from the vacation home. Kids had a blast! Ski-Bowl is like a mini Disneyland in Oregon with many rides & activities! And how can I not mentioned the view?!!! 

Some of us headed to horse riding and the rest went back to take some rest and have lunch as it was a very hot day. Ski-Bowl is very popular in winter too for its winter sports activities. Later that evening, we visited hiking trail near Timberline lodge. The sky was just amazing! Low clouds with fluffy white clouds & beautiful weather kept us all motivated to hike a little. 

Mt. Jefferson from Timberline Lodge

Mt.  Hood from Timberline Lodge

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 

Bangkok, Thailand 2019

Bangkok. I want to start with what made us decide to visit Thailand as our next family adventure destination! We all love Thai food in our family and Bai Tong in Issaquah highlands is one of our favorite restaurants. We decided to go to Thailand during our India trip because Bangkok is just 3+ hours away by flight from Bengaluru, my hometown. We decided to go to just one major city since we visited for just 5 days! Knowing me, my husband thought ONE city was more than enough for 5 days as I keep stopping every now and then to take photos :). Trust me, as much fun as it is to take photos for me, it sometimes can be frustrating to us all! I cannot be without capturing the moment and yet we would be running out of time to go somewhere else or my son would have to GO to a restroom or he would be hungry etc etc! But that is what makes our family trip more interesting & entertaining! We have stopped at times in the middle of nowhere to find a restroom! LOL Yep! We did that in Thailand too!!! 

Day 1: 

We took a late night direct flight from Bengaluru to Bangkok! It saved us time since we utilized the whole of next day for site seeing! 

We arrived very early in the morning at Bangkok! The other reason why we went to Thailand is because of Visa processing! For Indian passport holders, you can get visa on arrival at the airport! The counters were kind of hidden from our sight and at first we went to the wrong place to get our Visa as soon as we arrived in Bangkok. 30 mins wasted that we will never get back, ugh! Make sure you carry all the required documents before you arrive in Thailand. Get the bank statements, photos, pens & currency before you arrive in Bangkok if you are getting Visa On Arrival! USA passport holders don’t need a visa to visit. We found the right counters eventually and went to get our Visa. Lucky us - it was Chinese New Year week so no fees for Visa! Yaiiiee! We got our visa and found the airport to be fantastic and very organized. There were several ways to commute to the hotel and we decided to take a cab. It costed us around 700 bht from Airport to the hotel. A very cool lady taxi driver took us on a very smooth ride and we got super excited to see a very clean, old and new Bangkok! 

View from our hotel room 

Once we arrived at our Hotel Hilton Millennium, we were famished, and decided to order room service for some delicious breakfast! I have to tell you this - if you are in Thailand, do not miss the THAI OMELETTE! OMG! One of the best things I have ever eaten! It came on a plantain leaf (reminded me so much of India) and with white steamed rice! Oh what a treat! It was extra delicious because we all were super hungry! After shower & breakfast, we decided to just go down to the concierge to gather info on guided tuk-tuk tours. We reserved a very cool tuk-tuk tour for that evening. It was a customized tour (but bit of a loot as they charged us 8000+ bht for 5-6 hours but I think it was totally worth it). 

We went for a walk before our lunch that day and ended up going to a shopping mall next door - well we had no idea that the new mall ICON SIAM was brand new and one of the largest malls in Asia! Its one of the best malls I have ever seen! The first floor was super welcoming with lot of buzz, music, restaurants, shopping & street food etc. The whole first floor was decorated with a Floating Market theme! It was just fantastic to see and definitely a tourist spot! My son loved visiting this mall - it's very kids' friendly. Lots of colors, a variety of food options, fountains, tuk-tuk in the middle of the mall for kids to play with etc. The 5th floor had kids' entertainment too. The food was very good at this mall so we all enjoyed it a lot. 

Well, getting back to the tuk-tuk tour; at the end of the tour, and after dinner, we visited the very busy and colorful flower market at about 11 PM! No matter what, the Pak Khlong Flower Market is a MUST visit place in Thailand. The vibrant colors and the busy buzz of people working at night was just amazing to watch! According to our guide, the flowers are usually given to guests as a welcome gesture or are offered at the temple. I noticed that small ice cubes were kept with the flowers to keep them fresh to counter Thailand's hot weather. Here are some of the spots we visited during our tuk-tuk tour and also the pictures taken at Flower Market & China Town.

Our guides :) 

Dusit Palace

Vishnu & Garuda on sail boat, Dusit Palace

Marble Temple

                         

Fresh Jasmine flowers placed in ice 

 

Flower Market at 11pm

 

 

After a quick look of color splash at the flower market, we then drove to China Town! I was so overwhelmed with China Town! It was very late at night & yet China Town was amongst the busiest places in Bangkok! We enjoyed seeing thousands of people shopping, trying out new food & having fun! China Town is a great place for people to try out different street food. Its a paradise for foodies! If you are trying street food - do try out some fruits esp Mangosteen. It was very delicious and I crave for that taste after coming back from Thailand. Also don't forget to try Sticky rice with Mango.  

Peeled Mangosteen

Sticky rice with mango

I requested my guide to take us to Grand Palace since I wanted to take pictures of Grand Palace at night before going back to the hotel room. The Grand Palace is indeed very grand! Its such a fascinating place and it glows in the night for real! Do drive or walk around Grand Palace at night if you get a chance; be there by 9 PM and not later. We then went back to our hotel room bidding our tour guide good night. We felt content having seen a lot for Day 1!

The Grand Palace at night

Grand Palace - close up

Day 2:

After a busy day, we usually take it slow the next day. We had breakfast at our hotel every single day. The buffet was fantastic at the Flow Restaurant - YUMM! Since we are vegetarians and a child with food allergies, we stick to restaurants that can understand our needs and customize our food accordingly. We relaxed at the hotel pool and had lunch at Flow again.  

 

 


We then headed to Wat Arun. I wanted to see more of Wat Arun during the day since we didn't get enough time the previous evening. Wat Arun is stunning and you need a couple of hours to explore. We enjoyed exploring and taking photos, and took a cab back to the hotel. I would like to give a tip here: DO NOT take Tuk-Tuk at the temples. They charge you more than the cabs. If you want to experience Tuk-Tuks, do it once or twice but the cabs are a cheaper means of commute. There's no 'Uber' in Bangkok.

Here are a few images from Wat Arun. 

After coming back, we refreshed at the hotel (yeah we had to do that since it was really very hot) and headed over to a local shopping bazaar (Klongsan Plaza) that was right next to Hilton.  I did not carry my camera so here are some iphone shots. I felt as if I was in a local bazaar in India. It was narrow, small, colorful and people were bargaining!!! I did not shop anything there since I reserved all my shopping for the floating market. 

 




After the local bazaar, we then headed over to Icon Siam (yep we went there every single day to get drinking water and to enjoy live shows at the mall). We tried out new ice cream flavors. I really wanted to taste Sesame ice - cream. After trying it, I have to say that its an acquired taste - I can't say I liked or disliked it. 

 

Instead of dinner that night, my husband & I decided to try out some street food - mango sticky rice, fried bananas that were the size of small fingers, fruits.. and they all were super yum! Before heading back to the room, we also had some amazing Thai tea. Thai Tea was so aromatic and delicious. The taste was very unique - stronger in flavor but lighter in texture compared to the Indian tea.

Day 3: 

WAT PHO! Yep! A big plan indeed if you have to visit Wah Pho! Its a massive place and a bit confusing too! Check out the directory! 

 We kept 3-4 hours for Wat Pho, so right after breakfast at the hotel's Flow restaurant, we headed over to Wat Pho. Our first priority was to see the Reclining Buddha but we didn't realize how big Wat Pho is with many Buddha temples/statues. In fact, by the time we reached the temple of the Reclining Buddha, we had about 2 hrs left to finish the rest of the temples. It maybe quicker if you are not stopping to take photos / changing lenses or if you are a faster walker than I am! I go at times at a snail's pace which could frustrate my family ;)! Expect a lot of crowd for the Reclining Buddha. It is mesmerizing! You will notice fantastic architecture at the Wat Pho. Be prepared to walk! Here are few images from the spectacular Wat Pho. 

Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

 

My little one at Wat Pho

 

The day was extremely hot and we stopped at AromD Cafe & Bistro for lunch. Its very close to Wat Pho. The best way to cool up in Thailand: Tender coconut water! Also check out Cocoburi if you see one - they have very delicious coconut milk & tender coconuts. 

  

We then took a Tuk-Tuk back to the hotel as the traffic was very heavy. Just like in India, Tuk-Tuks take you to places more quickly than cars (though expensive during rush hours). We had an  important appointment to keep up - the EFORA SPA at the hotel! The Thai Massage was amazing (the clean massage and not the uncensored version - so no vulgar thoughts here :)!). We all three took a family massage which was super relaxing. We were then offered delicious fresh fruit and tea for relaxation. We were snoring that night away as we were super relaxed.

Day 4: 

Another busy and fully packed day as we had breakfast and headed over to Grand Palace. I was super impressed with the architecture of Grand Palace and I understood why it was so crowded. It was HEAVILY crowded and trust me, I heard its that way all the time and more so during peak tourist seasons (which felt like all the time to us!). A massive place! The architecture, again, of the Grand Place is stunning and is a must-visit. Check for timings before you leave as they are open for just few hours everyday and if possible buy tickets before arriving. And, there's a dress code - shirts with sleeves (no tank tops) and full trousers/pants - but make sure you still dress light to counter the hot weather. If you are not dressed appropriate, you can rent appropriate shawl-like clothes at the entrance.

Here are some images from the beautiful Grand Palace!

 

We spent 3 hours at the Grand Palace admiring the architecture, designs and also taking photos. We had to wait a lot too due to the heavy crowd. It was a very hot and humid day, so after 3 hrs, we were quite exhausted and took a cab back to the hotel. After having refreshed outselves, we headed over to our booked dinner cruise. It was a pre-Valentine's Day celebration since it was Feb 13th. The pricing for the same cruise was 3 times more the next day since it was Valentine's day. We went on Loy Nava Dinner Cruises. The food was not very impressive. They go back to back very quickly with many dishes & we hardly had time to enjoy the food. The staff were after tips as they kept talking to us about their personal problems. The staff who served us food tried stopping us from paying the ladies who performed dance and music which I was not very happy with! Even though they got tips from us, I was very upset that they interfered when we were giving tips to the performers. Having said that, I felt the music and dance was very nice and being on the boat with live music was very soothing. 

Live music on the boat: Dinner Cruise

View from the Dinner Cruise 

Day 5: 

Last day in Thailand. How can we not shop?!! Shopping for me is all about getting small souvenirs & small gifts for friends and family! We had kept aside a few hours to visit the awesome floating market - Damnoen Saduak!!! It was a thrilling experience for all of us. 

When we used a cab locally in Bangkok, we saw the ads in the car about the day trips he offers so we hired him to take us to the floating market. We found a nice older cab driver who spoke very little English but he was very sweet and wanted to show us many kids-friendly places. The drive from Bangkok to the floating market was around 2 hours. The traffic gets hectic and it takes longer to reach during the day time - so, start early! Also my son was unwell due to a stomach upset and had to make pit stops and it took us ~3 hours to reach the floating market. Once there, they bombarded us with multiple options to rent the boat; they will insist on selling you the most expensive options. Carry cash. We insisted on renting a boat for just 1 hour as we knew we might get bored after an hour. 

It was a speed boat and not a row boat. He took us through many channels and at one spot he stopped us in the middle of nowhere. We were wondering why and I panicked a bit as we didn't see anyone around. As we waiting for few seconds, we saw the guide was actually waiting for a Monitor lizard to cross the water - Yikes!!! Out of nowhere it just popped out of water! 

Eventually we reached the shops. Oh it was so colorful!!! So many things to see and so many small fancy things that you can buy! It was a fun experience. At the hotel, someone told us that the market commodities prices would be rocket high and to bargain! I am so bad at bargaining so I left it to my husband :))! He is not an expert either at bargaining but it was fun to watch him shop for me :)! I will always cherish that experience! 

Colorful Floating Market

After spending one awesome hour shopping and looking around street food, colorful items, some exotic animals & plants etc., we headed back to the cab. By the way, when we started the tour, a lady came over and took our photo without asking our permission. They reproduce our images as souvenirs. Even though we didn't want to get it at first, we bought both the options as memorable souvenirs. So if you are planning to shop in Thailand, pls do so at the Floating market. You will see several interesting items and its a great place to shop compared to other places in Bangkok! Here are some images from the floating market. 

Our cab driver was waiting for us at the market and we told him to take us back to the hotel and instead on the way, he stopped us at Tiger World and said kids love going to that place. We were first hesitating as we didn't want to see wild animals behind bars but my son got really excited to see the tigers. So we made a pit stop for 30 mins before we returned to the hotel in Bangkok. 

My little one feeding the tiger with the caretaker/owner of Tiger World

The last night at Bangkok, we spent at the Icon Siam again by having dinner and watching a live reality show and fountain show. It was a good way to wrap up and relax as we flew back home the next morning. It was such a memorable, colorful and fun trip! As far as what we saw, the Thai people are friendly, courteous and helpful. We also understood that they are very hospitable to all tourists, very respectful to their King and they they are very courteous to their fellow citizens. Even though its a very crowded place, they have tried their best to keep the city clean and organized. 

Khaawp-Khun Thailand! 

Camera Gears used: 

I did not use any filters on this trip, however, I would suggest an ND, if possible.  

Sony a7riii with 24mm-70mm

Nikon D750 with 14mm-24mm & 70mm-200mm

Tripod, batteries, remote shutter release 

Highlights - Family friendly places: 

Grand Palace

Wat Arun

Wat Pho

Marble Temple (Wat Benchamabophit)

Wat Suthat

Chatuchak Weekend Market 

China Town

Flower Market

Floating Market

Khaosan Road (shopping & streetfood)

Tiger World

Wonder world Theme Park

Lumphini Park