Camping Trip to Portland, Oregon

We just got back from a fun 4 day camping trip down to beautiful Portland, Oregon. We left Wednesday after work and drove down to a really pretty RV park that was right on the banks of the Colombian River. Part of our adventures down there was to go exploring around the Portland area and also so that Mackenzie could audition for the popular TV reality show "American Idol".

Wednesday morning after Mackenzie and Steve got back from checking in and getting their American Idol wristbands and ticket for Saturday we took off to go exploring. Our first stop was "Voo Doo Doughnuts" - a very unique doughnut store recommended by one Mackenzie's friends that had previously lived in Portland. It was quite the adventure let me tell you!

They had so many different varieties of doughnuts with lots of clever names, shapes and flavors!

Here is Mackenzie with her "Voo-Doo doll" doughnut. It even had raspberry filling inside and a pretzel stick stabbed through it's heart! Nice doughnut... Put that one on the list of "must see... ...once" places! :-)

One of the places we stopped at was to see the beautiful waterfront. It was a cloudy day but we still enjoyed walking around the harbor.

We then drove to the Portland, Oregon LDS temple and took some time to just walk around the beautiful grounds.

Mackenzie posing in front of the temple.

The flowers around the temple grounds were gorgeous and a perfect backdrop for a cute picture of Brooklyn.

On Friday we took a scenic drive east about an hour from Portland to see some beautiful waterfalls. Some of the falls were right by the road and some were a short hike to see. They were so beautiful and the drive was spectacular with a warm sunny day.

Brooklyn at Bridal Veil falls.

Mackenzie inside an old tree stump on the trail to the mid level bridge at Multnomah falls.

Friday night after dinner we made two posters for Mackenzie to take with her to the try-outs for American Idol. They were a lot of fun to make. Saturday Brooklyn and I kicked back at the swimming pool at the RV park we stayed at while Steve and Mackenzie were gone for the auditions. When Steve and Mackenzie got back in the late afternoon we then packed up and came on home.

It was a short little camping trip but we sure packed in a lot and had a great time together as a family. We look forward to a couple more short camping trips over the summer.