Lucia Falls Regional Park And A Winter Day In Portland

About this time two years ago, I took a trip down to visit the bestie. After several discussions about what we felt up for, we opted for a local hike that afternoon and urban hiking in downtown Portland the next day. I had read about the Portland Winter Light Festival that sounded intriguing and since it took place after sunset, that meant we would find a few other things to do while we waited for the sun to go down.

Lucia Falls Regional Park

Lucia Falls is just a few minutes from Elizabeth’s house and about 45 minutes from downtown Portland. The 24-acre park rests on the north side of the East Fork of Lewis River offering a 1 mile loop trail and a variety of picnic areas and viewing points. If you wanted to combine this hike with time in Portland on one day, it is totally possible!

The trail is a mix of forest and volcanic rock from early lava flows. I love how the river spills and pools around the knobby rock formations.

The falls are a popular spot for viewing the spawning of Chinook and Coho salmon, you learn the best time on the WDFW website here. It was a little late in the season for our February visit.

I could have sat here for hours.

The next day we got up and started with Elizabeth coaching tennis lessons for littles. I walked around a bit but also knit up a few rows. It was actually pretty warm, part of that fake spring we get this time of year.

Ingrid’s Good Street Food

For lunch we headed into downtown Vancouver and were disappointed to see Ingrid’s was closed! We would later visit when they were open, you can read about it here.

Desi PDX

Plan B was Desi’s PDX at the Prost Marketplace food truck court in east Portland. I had followed them on Instagram forever and it was finally time to give them a try. The chutney sauces for the papadum were tangy and pungent, and the masala had a deep, rich flavor.

There was abundant seating and 11 food trucks, plenty of room and choices for everyone.

Close Knit

We decided to get our urban hiking in by leaving the car at Desi’s to walk to our next destinations.

Close Knit was a cozy, eclectic shop that felt like you were shopping at home. I didn’t see anything I had to have but did get some knitting inspiration for future projects.

Rose City Book Pub

Next was a local book shop that doubles as a pub!

The seating was old wooden benches and upholstered chairs, along with snug little nooks for sipping a beverage and reading prose. There was so much to look at in every corner of the space.

We weren’t hungry for any of the salads, sandwiches or appetizers on the menu but we did try the dark chocolate truffles, highly recommend!

Portland Winter Light Festival

The Portland Winter Festival was in another part of Portland so we walked back to the car and headed to the Pioneer District. The event is an art festival based on light with galleries, open installations and performances.

I had downloaded the walking map to help us but after all the walking we had already done, we ended up just checking out a tiny portion of the event. You really would need two nights to be able to visit everything!

Cosmic Bliss

We did make one last stop at Cosmic Bliss for some coconut milk based ice cream. The store was open and bright with so many delicious choices of frozen treats. I am very sad to hear the store has closed now but thankfully you can still buy their ice cream in grocery stores.

I do plan to visit the light festival again and in researching, it sounds like Kate’s Plant Based Ice Cream will be worth checking out for non-dairy desserts when I do!

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