Oregon 2018

     Our road trip started on Wednesday evening, we made our way through Boise, Idaho where we stopped for the night around midnight. Thursday morning after showering, grabbing some food and refueling, we finished the last leg of our trip to Oregon. I was in awe of the beauty of the states as we traveled. Fall had not hit Utah enough for me to see the changing leaves but through Idaho and once we hit Oregon is was so beautiful I was taken back a bit at what I saw. We arrived in Forest Grove, Oregon around 6 in the evening and made our to the University campus for the reasoning of our trip.

     We had wanted to catch one of my brothers football games and made a mini reunion of it. My mom, older sister and nephew flew out from Hawaii, while I rode along with my aunt and her family. It was my brother’s first homecoming game of his college career and we weren’t missing it. I’d do anything to catch a college football game to be honest. It’s a good thing we chose this game to attend because we got a glimpse of the university atmosphere my brother gets to experience weekly. As we walked towards the stadium, pop up tents were all along the walkway with different treats and college gear. All of the alumni proudly supporting their alma mater. I’ve been to a few college towns and each are so unique and special in their own ways. I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting Forest Grove to be like but I was not disappointed.

        Besides getting to see my family and catching my brothers football game. One of my favorite activities we did was visiting a pumpkin patch. I’ve never seen a pumpkin patch as busy and as appealing as the one at Lakeview Farms. It was so cute, when you buy a ticket to go in, you get to choose between riding the boat to the pumpkin patch itself or riding the train. Then you just do the return trip on the other. My nephew had so much fun riding the boat, walking around the pumpkin patch and then riding the train back. He was so cute petting the dogs that were around and getting to run free just a bit. It was probably the best trip any of us had to the pumpkin patch. But lets be honest the food spots were my favorite part of this trip!

     So I am a big fan of food and I call myself a foody. We visited this Mexican restaurant called Ochoa’s. The serving sizes reminded of Polynesian serving sizes. They were so big, the food filled the plates and definitely filled our stomachs. I had to take a nap after the yummy food. It hit the spot just right! Our last night with my mom and sister before they left, we ate at a restaurant that serves local foods. It was special for me because unlike my family who came from Hawaii. I don’t get a lot of local foods. Let me just tell you it was so good and it tasted just like food from home. The restaurant is called Kama’aina’s and if you ever visit Oregon around the Forest Grover area, I highly encourage you to stop in and try the poke and Korean chicken! My last night with my brother we rode with our Aunt and her family to meet up with other relatives at a Japanese Buffet in Vancouver. I can’t express how good the food was at this buffet. The selection was very impressive and the salmon was probably my favorite. We ended our trip with some Voodoo Doughnuts and it definitely adds to the charm of Portland. Now I’m not a big fan of doughnuts but to try Voodoo doughnuts was worth the experience.

     Early on Tuesday morning we started our drive back to Utah. But first we stopped to explore this beautiful waterfall. We saw it as we were on our way in and I am so glad we stopped before we left. It is absolutely breathtaking. It was relatively quiet while we up there and just the peace and tranquility you feel is amazing. Hearing the rushing sound of the water and observing the changes of fall all around had me in awe and speechless. Oregon you are absolutely gorgeous and I can see why there are so many people who love it here. Overall my trip to Oregon was wonderful. On a scale of 1-10 I give it a 15. I cannot wait to get back and do even more exploring!