Our Pacific Northwest adventure started with a photography workshop where we had a pleasure to meet photographers from all over the world, learn and get inspired. We also photographed a few couples in Seattle, Gold Creek Pond, Rattlesnake Lake and Portland! It is always great to explore new places with other people and be able to capture their love along with the majestic landscape.
Since we love exploring the west coast it was only natural that after a few days in Seattle and the completion of the ChooChoo workshop we decided to drive to Portland on the 101 highway down the Pacific Coast through Washington and Oregon.
The show Portlandia was our only reference to this unique city before our visit. Certainly the Pearl District, full of great restaurants, brewpubs and shops, was a close match to the visuals in Portlandia with a similar feel to Toronto’s Queen West neighbourhood.
At the Portland Playhouse we caught a great play about life and all of the Every Brilliant Things in life which the playwright and actor placed on a long list.
Being nature lovers, what we found most exciting about Portland was its proximity to both the ocean and some spectacular mountains. After a day trip to the iconic Cannon Beach it was time to set course for one of the largest mountains in North America, Mount Rainier.
At over 14,000 feet the mountain towered over us for three very overcast days without us catching even a glimpse of this snowy giant.
Finally on our fourth day we had the chance to see the towering mountain. We quickly took the opportunity to climb a small part of it near Paradise Valley before returning back to Seattle completing our west cost adventure.
We are very lucky. We love that we can combine our love for photography, travel and adventure so seamlessly.
