Hi there friends! I have some exciting news: Two Purple Couches is undergoing a makeover! As the finishing touches get worked out, I’ll be sharing a 3-part travel series this week. Call it the last hurrah of summer 🙂 I’ll keep you posted on when you can expect the new look to go live!

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Last month, Tom & I packed up our bags, declared “Westward, Ho!”, and boarded a flight bound for Oregon. I won’t go into the detail of our full itinerary, not because I think you’ll be bored, but because this post would become an epic novel. Instead, I’m going to hit the highlights this week in a series I’m cleverly calling “Our Week Out West.” So clever, right? I mean, how did I ever come up with that?

Why Oregon, you may ask? Well, I have family in the Hood River area. We have friends in the greater Portland area. And we were overdue for a visit.

With this being our first trip to the area, we wanted to maximize our time and do/see as much as possible. We fit a ton into our trip. Hence the three-part series that’s going to span this week ;).

Let’s start with a photo-tour of scenic views, vistas, and landscapes. For there are plenty of these to be found in the great state of Oregon.

Our trip began on the coast at Newport / Nye Beach.

Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge.

The Columbia River and River Gorge. Oregon on the left, Washington on the right.

A view of the Columbia River and Washington State.

The massive, the majestic, the impressive: Mt. Hood.

Scenic streams on Mt. Hood.

View from Timberline Lodge atop Mt. Hood. The peak in the distance is either Mt. Jefferson or Mt. Adams.

I’ll just note that none of these photos have been touched up or Photoshopped (with the exception of the captioned photo to kick off the series). I’m not telling you this because I think I’m an awesome photographer, I’m telling you this because Oregon really, truly is THIS gorgeous. When it comes to vacation destinations, I’m really more of a mountains and canyons girl than a beaches girl. Keep your sand and give me some pine trees and rock formations any day!

Hope you enjoyed the photo tour! I could’ve shared about 50 more photos. Be glad I edited or this post would be the world’s first picture-novel 🙂

What’s your favorite vacation destination? Are you a mountains/canyons person or a beaches person? Or something else entirely?