My brother, Shawn, and brother-in-law, Manny, came to visit Tim and I earlier this year. It’s always a blast when they’re here; they definitely bring the party with them! We had just a couple of things on our list: get food, get drinks, and get outside. They visited over Valentine’s Day weekend, so it wasn’t the warmest of weather, but it wasn’t pouring rain (or snow!) either, so we were still able to make the most of their trip. (Fun fact: They were the ones who asked us to come with them to the Oregon Brewers Festival in 2013 and, because of that, are basically the reason we fell in love with Portland.)

In all of the times they’ve visited, we still hadn’t made it out to the Columbia River Gorge with them, so that was definitely at the top of our list this time around. We didn’t necessarily want to pick an intense, all-day hike, so Tim was tasked with finding a moderate hike we could all enjoy, but not feel completely exhausted by. He stumbled upon the Horsetail Falls Loop Hike and we all decided it was the perfect one to explore. On the drive out there, we stopped at Vista House, this beautiful lookout overlooking the vast and breathtaking river. It’s one of our favorite places to take guests. (Excuse all of our squinty eyes. The sun popped up in front of us right when we started taking photos!)

After the lookout, we were off to Horsetail Falls. When we arrived, the falls were directly next to the parking lot! It seemed ironic that the falls were at the beginning of the hike, but then a friendly passerby told us about the loop and that Ponytail Falls (cute names, right?), part of the loop, was a definite must-see. And boy was he right.

The incline to get to this point was intense. Our calves and thighs were burning like no other. Or maybe that was just mostly mine. ;) Once we arrived, the beauty of the waterfall was absolutely worth all the huffing and puffing to make it to the top. I mean, just look at that!

There was a cave-like area where the trail looped back around, which is why you see darkness at the top of the photo above. It was pretty cool to say the least.

Once we were about halfway, we found a lookout to eat lunch and chat. There was a large tree trunk to rest on and the GORGE-ousness of the Columbia River to get lost in. (How popular do you think that joke is? Even though I want to claim it, I know it probably existed long before my time.)

After we completed the hike, we ventured to Hood River, an adorable town about 30 minutes away from the trail. We had pre-dinner drinks at Double Mountain Brewery and then grabbed food at Full Sail Brewery. The boys were happy :)

All in all, it was a great day spent with the best people. It was so nice to unplug and just be. It reinvigorated Tim and I to get out to the Gorge and take advantage of all the Pacific Northwest has to offer more often.

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