Amy & Michael in North America: Redwoods to Portland(ia)

After driving 3,500km in 14 days we finally made it to our second last US destination of Portland, Oregon. Oregon is a pretty crazy place, with some pretty crazy laws but I will get to that soon.

We left Chico and headed back to the coast/Highway 1. We spent two days driving through amazing scenery. We went through the Redwoods National Park, drove the Avenue of the Giants, and even got to drive our car through a tree. It was pretty exciting. The Redwood National/State Parks are home to the tallest/biggest trees of the world. The largest tree is about 113 meters, which is six feet taller than the statue of liberty (if anyone has seen that).

Avenue of the Giants. It's a 30 mile long road of this amazing scenery.

We got to drive through a tree

And hug a tree...

Coastline of 101 - this particular section is a very tectonically active section.

After the Redwoods, we headed inland along Route 199. We were originally going to keep following the coastline but due to the rainy weather we decided to just go inland and head North. I'm so glad we did because the beginning of Route 199 was amazing. It follows the Smith River through yet another State Park and the whole drive you are next to a beautiful river with even more trees surrounding you.

Now for Portland. It's a beautiful town which is divided into an East and West side. There are 8 bridges crossing the river within the downtown section alone. The city is also known as Bridgetown & Stumptown. We went on a walking tour and the man told us that when the city was clearing the woods to develop Portland they had to remove a lot of trees quickly. However, once the lumberjacks cut down the trees, they didn't have the equipment to remove the stumps, and therefore, they remained in the ground. The city was also almost called Boston. Two gentleman bought the land in which Portland was developed on, 1 was from Portland, Maine, and one was from Boston, Massachusetts. They ended up flipping a penny, and Portland won. The penny is on display in the public Museum.

The crazy laws that makes Portland weird (some are state wide) are as follows:

You can not pump your own gas. If you lift the pump and a cop sees you, it's a $500 fine.
In Portland, it is illegal to have a rooster for your own personal use
In the state of Oregon, it is illegal to strap your children to the roof, fender or hood of your car (This law passed less than 10 years ago, I would have imagined it was just common sense)
In Oregon, it is illegal to modify the weather without a permit
In Portland, laying on the floor of a public bathroom is a misuse of a public bathroom.
In Marion, Oregon, it is illegal for Ministers to eat garlic and onion before giving a sermon.
In Portland it is illegal to whistle underwater
In Yamhill, Oregon, it is illegal to predict the future.
In Portland, Oregon, it is illegal to feed fish canned corn.

Anyway, theses are just a few of the many crazy laws. If you want to read more, then just google it. Portland is also home to the worlds largest public park, as well as the worlds smallest public park. England are currently disputing the claim that Portland's smallest public park is in fact a park as it has no fence or sitting area, which apparently make a park, a park. This was quickly rectified by the installment of the worlds tiniest park bench and fence... and a bazooka for good measure. The smallest park is also known as Lepricorn Park and every Saint Patty's day they close the street and have a massive party.

Portland is also home to about 700 food carts. They are amazing. There are blocks of food carts in the downtown area. There is a block and a half of carts known as the Mecca and you can get almost any cuisine you want. There are waffles, burritos, chicken and rice (which sounds boring, but this chicken and rice will change your life), Indian, Thai, Bangladesh, Egyptian, Korean BBQ, Vietnamese, Italian...you name it, it's there...and for pretty cheap.

A half hour drive outside of Portland also gets you to amazing waterfalls. There are about 7 waterfalls within a 15 minute drive of each other. We headed there on the way from Eugene to Portland. It was a little rainy but totally worth the trip. That is where I will leave it. Enjoy the photos below.