The first garden we visited while still in Portland was The Grotto (http://www.thegrotto.org/); it was really a nice place.
They have it split into two levels that are separated by a 110-foot cliff that you have to take an elevator to get to the top garden. For those who don’t know me, I hate elevators. The elevator was creaky and squeaky and mostly made me dig my fingernails into my hands. 
But I survived and was rewarded by beautiful scenery and statuary. We didn’t take an abundance of pictures at The Grotto; it just seemed more a place for quiet contemplation than for tourists with cameras.
The second garden we visited was The Classical Chinese Garden (http://www.portlandchinesegarden.org/home), which was also amazing. They are really particular about pictures being taken and what’s done with those images as is stated on the back of the entrance ticket: “The Portland Classical Chinese Garden retains the copyright to all photos, drawings, paintings, artwork, etc. made of the Garden or objects therein. Works of the Garden may be made for personal use, but the Garden must approve any commercial use in advance, in writing. 
So for my personal use I’m posting a couple of images here that are not for commercial use! And that concludes the catch-up of the gardens. The waterfall at the Chinese Gargen was really nice. The rock used was all shipped in from Suzhou, China and the surrounding areas. The Gardens are never the same twice as different plants and trees are blooming at different times of the year.
We also had time in our last week to get back to Multnomah Falls (see previous post for web links) and take some pictures of the area. I’m not going to write a lot about these falls, but here are some pictures.
Vista House and the view at Crown Point. The day we went was a bit cloudy and a little hazy, so the pictures don’t show just how breath taking the Columbia Gorge can be. (http://www.vistahouse.com/). 
The following pictures in order show, Latourell Falls, Wahkeena Falls, Multnomah Falls (with the bridge), and Horsetail Falls. These aren’t all the falls, only the ones that are viewable from the road of the Historic Columbia River Highway. These are the falls that you can view as you drive by and pull off and take pictures of, there are others that you can see if you hike the trails, which we didn’t have time for.
So there it is, the catch-up post for the Gardens and the Falls, the last week of Portland. We are currently in Montana…two days early….but that will be another post.
Hugs~
;-)Kari
