The drive to St Helens was our first day on the open road and it felt good to be travelling on to the next part of our adventure. Driving over the river from Washington to Oregan we saw some of the industrial logging in the area, large piles of cut trees all laid out and on the other side of the multiple warehouse buildings neatly stacked planks of swan timber ready to be shipped off.

Oregan definitely has a 'Goonies' feel about the place with lots of moss covered rocks, woody pines and lush rolling grasslands banking the rivers and ocean.

​

We arrived after dark to a lovely family home on a small holding and were greeted warmly by one of their dogs 'Charlie' who came up to the car, tail-a-waggling. The couple had two young girls and lived in the main house adjoining the space we stayed in. It has been one of our favourite AirBnB places yet, an open plan apartment filled with interesting books, unique pieces of furniture, a loom and a whirlpool bath. In the morning we watched the sun rise over mount Hood in the distance before ambling down to a little fishing lake not far from the farmhouse. The huge spruce trees were dripping with moss, I'd not seen anything like it before.

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

 

 

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We set off towards Portland and stopped off at the Vedanta Retreat at Scappoose which had shrines, trails and meditation seats set in a place of natural beauty for people to reflect and honour spiritual traditions. The 120 acre grounds contains ten shrines from different faiths all set amongst the peaceful forest.

Vedanta is a spiritual path which teaches three tenants;

1) The Divinity of the Soul,

2) The Oneness of Existence &

3) The Harmony of Religions.

The trails and paths among the trees of the retreat seem to encourage harmony and mindfulness of the spirit.

​