Portland Oregon Photographers

Hungry for an adventure? Here’s why we’re hooked on the PNW.

Our Trip to Portland, Oregon | Apollo Fields Travel Photography

“If I know my wife—she’s gonna love milking that cow,” I declared to everyone surrounding Sierra, the gentle hobby farm, Portland(ish)-based cow. It all started as a joke—a one-off comment made by my brother, Matt, and his wife, Morgan—to go to a local farm at night to milk a cow after an epic powder day of snowboarding on Mt. Hood. To our surprise, we all responded, “well, that could actually be fun,” and just like that our winter vacation to Portland, Oregon, got off to an authentically Apollo Fields start.

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The following day we took a scenic route through the foothills of Mt. Hood, meandering on winding streets beneath mossy branches, vines, and canopies, surrounded on either side by vegetable, livestock, and tree farms. The quick transition from the below freezing, fluffy white sloping facade of the mountain’s coniferous trees to this foggy, almost magical forest instantly inspired in us a sense of wide-eyed childlike wonder. I didn’t realize I appreciated the diversity of flora until I imagined the contrast of the barren branches of the east coast with the explosion of ferns and teeming life of the Pacific Northwest.

We continued on a self-guided tour of waterfalls, short hikes, and scenic pull-offs as we made our way back down to Portland proper, driving along the Columbia River Gorge, and taking in our first view of the Portland skyline. The first thing I noticed were the many bridges that reached over the Willamette River (which bisects the city), whereupon Matt informed me that aside from being known as the “City of Roses” because of all of the roses that adorn the highways and streets, Portland is also known as “Bridgetown” or “Bridge City” (“The more you know…”). The easy access to nature from the city reminded Heather and I why we loved living in Colorado as we were quickly began to fall in love with Portland.

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After trying a bunch of local breweries (shout out to Cascade Brewing and Base Camp Brewing), bakeries, and coffee houses, we rounded out the trip with a drive to and Cannon Beach on the coast. 55 degrees and overcast, we hooked up with one of our east coast comrades and he showed us one of his local surf spots. Again, another short hike captivated us with towering trees, babbling creeks, and thriving life in the trail’s every nook and cranny. I saw a creek flow into the ocean for the very first time. By the time we left that beach, our hearts had officially been won by the Pacific Northwest.

Heather and I realized on the flight home that this vacation was the first one we have taken since our honeymoon to Negril, Jamaica in November 2018. Yes, we’ve traveled to a bunch of states this past year and enjoyed documenting one epic wedding after another, but it was so damned refreshing to just kick it with one another and our families and friends. It didn’t hurt that we found a corner of the planet that we might want to eventually call home, but for now we’re refreshed and revitalized. Whether you find peace on a snowboard, on a hiking trail, in the city, or beside a cow, never stop exploring this world to find where your heart is at ease—there is truly no better feeling in this life. Cheers to 2020 and beyond.