What I find fascinating about this mural collection is that it reminds me of die Mauer (Berlin…read morewall). Each mural has an equal spaced blocked out. All are very well done and do a good job of depicting memorable scenes. For being in a random spot, right under the train tracks, I was surprised to find it such a pleasant experience. I'm impressed that this doesn't look to have issues with being defaced. Either out of respect or city vigilance, it's refreshing. At the end there are handwritten notes which makes this so personal. I highly recommend taking a walk by. Even a drive will do.

When I arrived at the memorial. I was surprised. It was much bigger than I thought it would be…read more It's a really long wall, where they painted pictures to help represent different foreign wars that our country has been involved in over the years. World War 1, World War 2, Korean War, Vietnam and so on. The pictures are really cool. They are great depictions. A great place to visit during your lunch break.

This is such a beautiful place to walk around! In addition to the beautifully restored Officer's…read moreRow buildings, there are barracks and gardens to walk through. The grounds are well maintained and there's plenty of free parking available. In the spring there's a row of beautiful cherry blossom trees, and tulip trees around the property. In the summer, there's many gorgeous hydrangea and butterfly bushes. There's a rangers station on the property where you can find information about Fort Vancouver and Pearsons Air Museum. There's so much to do here! I would highly recommend a visit.

Officer's Row is lovely place to just take a stroll and enjoy the various older homes that were…read moreonce the housing for Army Officers stationed at Fort Vancouver. There are informative signs along the path about the history of the area & homes. You can also take a free tour of the Marshall House, home to General Marshall (see the Marshall House website for details of what days each month they do the tours, and see my separate review of that home for additional info). As of this writing there's a winery/restaurant called Willful Wine, located inside the Grant House on Officer's Row, that I highly recommend for a meal or a glass of wine. Oh, and there's info about a self-guided Botanical Tour of the various trees along Officer's Row available on the Officer's Row website.

We love visiting this 191 acre site! There's so much to see...Officer's Row, barracks, gazebo, the…read moreFort, gardens, land bridge trail, and the Pearson Air Museum. We've been to almost everything this historical site has to offer. Our favorite part is just walking around any time of year and seeing what's in bloom. In the spring they have gorgeous cherry blossoms and tulip trees. In summer there's tons of hydrangeas around the historic buildings along Officer's Row. The Fort Vancouver gardens are gorgeous in summer with a wide variety of plants and flowers. There's a lot of vegetables too! Overall a great place to explore. I feel so lucky to have such a gem so close to home! Would highly recommend.

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site had been a place I wanted to check out ever since I learned…read morethat it was near Portland. With an easy drive just over the gorge, we headed out that way and arrived at Fort Vancouver in about 10-15 minutes from PDX. The grounds here are free for everyone, and pets are allowed outside the fort! What drew me to this site was its historical significance as part of the Lewis & Clark expedition, and their Junior Ranger program, of which I am unashamedly a huge fan. But I was surprised to learn that they just started their B.A.R.K. Ranger program, with activities that focus on your dogs! And because our dog was with us, we just had to do this too. The B.A.R.K. Ranger program encourages learning and discovery on the grounds outside the fort. There are some walking trails throughout, including one that leads to the Pearson Air Museum (free of charge). There is ample parking at the visitor center, near the historic fort, and next to the air museum. Unfortunately, dogs aren't allowed inside the actual fort itself, and there's a $10 admission fee per adult. If you have the national parks pass, you can bring 3 people in addition to yourself for free. But honestly, I believe the fort is the true gem and attraction of this site. P2 stayed outside the fort with our dog while I explored the fort. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they have docents that prepare food (not for sale or eating) using the same techniques they used when the fort was founded back in 1825. They also have blacksmiths on site making tools or decor out of iron ingots, and they all act the part. I didn't get a chance to see all the buildings, but I was able to climb up the stairs to the top floor of the watchtower. There are windows where cannons would have sat ready to fire back during the day. I was able to see the surrounding areas with more clarity up there. All in all, we had a wonderful time here. Fort Vancouver NHS is probably one of my favorite places to visit in the National Parks System. If you have kids, we can't recommend this place enough if you have the time and are looking for an educational and fun experience

Its was just nice to be on the state line. Half in Oregon and half in Washington. We were on a…read morebridge that stated we were leaving Oregon and entering Washington

My family and I always take pics of welcome state signs when we cross state lines. We are always…read morethankful when they are situated in in a place we can temporarily safely park to take the pic, like a wide emergency lane or spacious grassy area. Both signs did. You do have to cross a bridge at least along the Portland area. The only thing is that the Oregon sign needed some TLC since it's a bit faded. But great places for pictures

The grilled cheese with caramelized onions and truffle aioli was phenomenal. We also got a cheese…read moreand charcuterie board too. The cheesecake was also fantastic. We sat outside and enjoyed the atmosphere. The services was impeccable and we throughly enjoyed getting to know our wait staff. They have great recommendations for wine pairings.

The food was very overpriced and the portions tiny! I ordered a chicken confit entree for $32…read morewhich arrived in a small salad bowl. It consisted of 1 thigh, a little risotto and a few pieces of broccoli. Needless to say, I left still hungry. The service was very slow, my friend ordered at the same time as me and it took over an hour for her food to arrive.

It does it's job and I always did like it's unique look. For the most part, traffic moves pretty…read moresteady and all the lead ins on both sides feed in pretty well so you do not get a whole lot of dangerous situations or accidents. They have been promising, threatening and suggesting it's replacement for as long as I can remember....

This is my second in my suite of bridge reviews. The first was the Glenn L. Jackson Memorial…read moreBridge which earned a ROTD. This is probably my second favorite bridge too, if I'm being candid. Traffic is always terrible no matter what time of day you're traveling. If you're really unlucky you'll get stuck in one of those raised bridge situations. Your day is completely fucked if that happens. The aesthetic of the bridge isn't bad. It's a dual truss design with vertical lifts. It's 3,538 ft. long and carries Interstate 5 over the Columbia River. Opened on Valentine's Day 1914 for the northbound span and southbound opened in 1958. I guess with the two world wars going on, that slowed down the project. The bridge has 3 north and 3 southbound lanes carrying well over 150,000 vehicles daily. In 1982 the bridge was placed on The National Register of Historic Places. There has been debate and proposals since 2005 about replacing the bridge and adding light rail to the new bridge. Of course nobody can agree on anything and it's been going on 20 years so I don't see anything happening soon. Ridiculous politicians. 2025 -Review #1

We recently had our anniversary celebration at The Covington House and it was pretty great. We're…read morebig fans of historical places and each year on our anniversary we go to an historic home. This way we were able to do that and have our friends join us for dinner & a nice celebration. They've done a nice job of setting this building up for an intimate gathering during bad weather and I imagine during good weather you could really spread out and make it a beautiful location for an outdoor wedding or event. The big fireplace made for a beautiful backdrop to the autumn theme we had and kept the place nice and toasty, too! The people we worked with to coordinate the rental were friendly and supportive. There was a lady that met us there right before and right after the event to help make sure we'd remembered all the clean up items we needed to wrap up to get our deposit back. They had a nice kitchen to work with and, while we brought most of our stuff prepared--we appreciated that they had serving utensils, coffee pots, and other supplies to use in the kitchen if we needed them. I think the only challenge we bumped into was enough refrigerator space, but that was a minimal issue and partially our fault. We were going to bring a cooler and forgot to. How can you go wrong having dinner in the same room where Ulysses S. Grant dined with the family that ran the school that resided in this building back in the day? How cool is that? We definitely will consider using this location again. If you are considering renting it, I recommend you set up a time to go visit the building and check it out. That way you can take some pictures and do some planning and just enjoy the ambiance of the house.

This is an awesome historical landmark right in a busy part of Vancouver. It's also now a group of…read more3 Poke Stops if that is important to you. Unfortunately you can't actually go inside the house, but you can walk around it. Looks to be holding up in good condition after 150+ years.