Anniversary Celebration - 2019

Two weeks before our special day, as I was sitting and browsing in my laptop the best places to travel in Winter nearby, I came across few winter activities in Oregon state. For our last year anniversary we had already visited Oregon Zoo Lights where a million of colorful LED lights will be displayed throughout the Zoo and also drove the Peacock Lane where all the houses in that lane will be decorated by dozens of lights. One of them we did not try was Cosmic snow tubing in Mt.Hood. The plan was finalized; This year anniversary again in Oregon. 

On the first day we started around 9 am in the morning; we took I-90 East drove through Yakima where the entire landscape slightly changes from green tall trees to big mountains.


From Yakima we drove through Route 97  and stopped at point called Windy Flats, Centerville where you can take a glimpse of giant windmills. It was 2 pm. We had our lunch here and started driving further. 


From Route 97 we merged to Route 84 and this drive was awesome. The cloudy weather, giant brownish green mountains and river flowing  throughout that stretch made the drive super cool. 


We had to take a deviation from Route 84 to Route 35 to go to Mt.Hood Meadows ski resort. The roads were cleaned from the snow and we get mobile signal as well here!. We reached there around 4 pm. There were so many people who had come for skiing. It was cloudy and when we reached there the mountain top was fully covered by the clouds. We waited for a while for the clouds to get cleared so that we could capture the full view of the mountain in our camera. The wait was worth it!!!


The snow tubing was at Mt.Hood ski bowl , Government Camp which is half an hour drive from this ski resort. We had booked the first slot that is from  5 pm - 7 pm. We reached the snow tubing area exactly at 5 pm. We had already reserved the tickets online which is around 35$/person. We had to just go and get our tickets printed from the counter. We had snow tubing experience twice in Washington but snow tubing in the night time was for the first time. Throughout the snow tubing area were flashing LED, laser lights, colored lights and also rocking music. There is also a small restaurant and a small fire camp set up outside to warm yourselves in the chilling weather!. The snow tubing area was not that big and it was crowded. 


The lanes were bumpy and the ride became exhilarating. The first time when we slided through the snow we slithered down in such a speed that we went off and directly hit the barricade. The second time the lane was too bumpy and at one point I felt as if I will be thrown out of the tube! The third time when we slided we got knocked off by one more person who just landed down and for that force we bounced back about 20 foot in the reverse direction and same way other person was pushed in forward direction. We did not dare to go one more time! But altogether it was fun and exciting. 

The hotel we booked was Holiday Inn Express and suites in Hood River which was 1 hour drive from Ski bowl. We had drove for about 15 min and the weather became foggy because of which we could not see the road. We had to drive in this weather for about 15 miles. Finally We reached around 8 pm to hotel. 

Foggy road

Next day the plan was to go to Multnomah falls, Sunset beach and drive back to  home. Multnomah falls was 31 miles away from our Hotel. We started around 9.30 in the morning. On the way we stopped at Bonneville Lock and Dam. At one of the Visitor center here called Bradford Island Visitor Center there is underwater window where you can view the migrating fish passing through the fish ladder. This was closed for maintenance when we went. 


We then drove towards Falls enjoying the scenic Cascade Locks drive. The entire drive from hotel to Falls was spectacular. We had hiked to top of the falls before in summer, this time we just walked till the bridge. 




We decided to have our lunch in Portland at Swagath Indian cuisine. We had visited this restaurant last time and we really liked the food here. It was around 40 min from Falls. The food was delicious. After lunch we were all set to go to to Sunset beach. The main attraction of this beach is you can drive in the sea shore and enjoy the ocean sitting inside your car! We reached there around 3 pm. By the time we drove in the sea shore and captured some beautiful pictures, the sun was setting down. It was bit cloudy and the sunset was picturesque. We seized this stunning moment in our cameras. It was a wonderful evening!



Finally we drove back to home and reached around 9 pm. Truly, this trip made our special day more special and memorable!.


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