Hey Guys!! We stayed in the Portland area for two weeks and we tried to squish as much as we could into those two weeks. We didn’t see everything on our list…but we came close.

Most of the time we spent in this area was smoky but we were lucky enough to have a couple of sun filled days to take in the views. We found a great overlook that gave us a nice view of Mount Hood. You can see the haze of smoke in the picture above.

Fort Vancouver was a British fur trading post built in 1824. The National Park Service has done an excellent job recreating Fort Vancouver. When I was looking it up online, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be much more than a partial fence and a building or two…it was really hard to tell online.

There was a volunteer manning the blacksmith building. If you ever really want to get a feel for what life was like while you’re at one of these forts…talk to the volunteers. The volunteers that choose to spend their time teaching the public about what life was like during certain areas or times are some of the most knowledgeable and passionate people we’ve met. We got to see what it took to make just one nail while we were in the blacksmith shop. He talked to us about how anytime the people in the fort needed anything they had to make it themselves. Want a house…better start making nails. Some of the blacksmiths back then could make 100s of nails an hour. The best ones could make 1000s of nails per hour. It took our volunteer a few minutes to make one. The blacksmith was one of the most important people in any settlement and usually made the most money.

The other building that had volunteers present the day we went was the carpenter’s building.  They were making some chairs while we were there.

Due to the lack of funding right now, there was only one Ranger on site and just a handful of volunteers so several of the buildings were locked up. One of the volunteers offered to show us the fur trading building where the area’s settlers would bring in their furs to get money or trade for other items. The biggest money maker was the beaver fur that the top hats were made of. Any respecting gentleman had a top hat made of beaver fur. They would bring the furs in all bundled up in 50 pound packs like the ones in the above left picture. The furs were inspected and weighed before a price was agreed upon.

There was a separate trading building for the Native Americans of the area. One family at a time was let into the fort to trade. When one family left another was let in.

I loved the garden at the fort! Look at all of those pretties! Y’all know my love affair with pretties. I can’t tell you how many pics of different flowers I took…probably more than what was necessary. Ha! The garden was full of life. Bees buzzing around…birds flitting about…I do love a good garden.

Pearson Air Museum is in the same area as Fort Vancouver. I believe the two parks are run jointly. The museum is dedicated to preserving the aviation history of the area. There are some very cool planes and exhibits in an old hangar.

The museum also keeps the history of the old mill that used to be in the area. I love this mural of the lumber mill that helped supply the WWI construction of biplanes. This was a great little museum that had a surprising amount of history and information crammed in it. We could have spent several hours here, but we’d spent all morning at Fort Vancouver and some of us were starting to get a little…hangry and needed food.

I knew there was a lot to do in the Portland area, but I really didn’t know just how much there would be to do! Maybe one day we’ll find ourselves back in the area.

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018