US Trip 2013 - Mount Hood & The Columbia River Gorge

Today we woke up at around 5am to prepare for our 1st destination to Mount Hood National Forest. We packed breakfast to eat in the car and by the time we reached the Mount Hood Visitor Centre it was around 8+am. We took some brochures and were disappointed to be informed by the ranger that we would need a chain on our wheels to drive up the mountain. We were also told that there is a simple trail which we could do with the kids but it would be a little wet as the drizzles never stop. We were a little reluctant about the idea at first. 

We decided to try our luck by driving further up but after a short distance we saw a damaged car by the roadside which we believed has skidded off the road earlier. It was snowing very lightly and we saw thin layer of ice on the road so we decided that we had to stop driving. We parked our car at the road side, got the kids out of the car to feel the extremely cold wind, took some pictures and had to quickly go back into the car :)

We had no choice but to change plan, so we decided to heed the suggestion from the ranger to go on the suggested trail, Old Salmon River Trail. But the kids were kinda freak out about the idea though :) We didn't go too far but we met 2 hikers who told us that the view at the end point is spectacular

Jared was clinging on to daddy like a koala bear, I guess he was so freaked out with the sight of moss growing on the tree branches

After that we headed to The Columbia River Gorge, another scenic drive. We wanted to visit the Multnomah Falls and Bonneville Dam. 
Multnomah Falls is the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon. The view was spectacular and we could see the Columbia River on the opposite site.

After spending about an hour there, we continued our drive to Bonneville Dam. At the Visitor Centre we were given a free guide on the history of Bonneville Dam, how it generates hydroelectricity and how they are overcoming the fish migration problem with fish ladders to help salmon and other fishes get past the dam on their journey upstream to spawn.