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.

I've visited multiple times, and my pro tip is to visit when the blacksmith shop is open. It's…read morestaffed by volunteers and they work on projects including parts for doors, etc for the fort as well as other NPS sites. It's cool to watch them work, but even better, if you ask them nicely, they might even give you a hand-forged nail to take home! The rest of the fort is nice to stroll around. Sometimes there are heath cooking demonstrations with fruit and vegetables from the nearby garden. Don't forget to check out the Pearson Air Museum. It's a free museum that houses many artifacts related to aviation history tied to Pearson Field and Vancouver Barracks. Quite interestingly, the museum discusses the Spruce Mill (which is located quite literally on the ground you're standing on) which produced lumber for planes during WWI. It ran 24/7. There's a small visitor center and gift shop if you want more guidance on what to do on your visit.

If you are anywhere near Vancouver and have even the slightest appreciation for history, do…read moreyourself a favor and walk the waterfront, then wander over to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and soak it all in. Right nearby sits Old Apple Tree Park, home to what was known as the oldest apple tree in the Pacific Northwest. I remember seeing the old tree standing there like some weathered pioneer that had witnessed centuries pass by. The original trunk finally died, but shoots from its living roots were replanted, and the tree lives on through its offspring. Considering apple trees were not native to this land and had to be brought across oceans and continents, there is something downright incredible about standing next to the very beginning of Northwest orchard history. Fort Vancouver itself is fascinating. Established by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1825, it became the center of trade, farming, and industry in the Pacific Northwest long before Washington or Oregon were even states. Back then this place was a bustling multicultural settlement with trappers, traders, farmers, blacksmiths, sailors, and families from all over the world. They cultivated massive gardens, orchards, and farmland here to feed thousands of people traveling through the region. It was essentially the headquarters of the Pacific Northwest during the fur trade era. Walking through the fort today feels like stepping into another century. Between the wooden palisades, parade grounds, river breeze, and views of the Columbia, you can almost imagine canoes arriving loaded with furs while smoke curled from fireplaces inside the fort walls. It is peaceful now, but this place once shaped the entire region. I honestly think one of the best afternoons you can have in Vancouver is to stroll the riverfront, grab a coffee, walk through the historic reserve, and end up here reflecting on how much history happened on this patch of ground. Relish it. So much of the Northwest rushes forward so fast that we forget where it all began. Fort Vancouver reminds you.

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

My sister recently had her wedding ceremony and reception at The Grant House, and I truly cannot…read moresay enough wonderful things about Pam and her team. What started as a small gathering of around 10-15 guests quickly grew into nearly 40 people, and through all of the last-minute changes, they handled everything with grace, professionalism, and an incredible sense of humor. Pam was an absolute blessing throughout the entire process. She was warm, responsive, accommodating, and genuinely cared about making the day special for our family. This was actually my first time officiating a wedding, and Pam even complimented the ceremony script I had written, which meant a lot to me personally and helped calm my nerves. The food was phenomenal. The short ribs were so tender they practically fell apart with a fork, and the herb roasted chicken was equally amazing. Not a single plate came back to the kitchen with food left on it. The drink service was also outstanding -- the open bar was handled perfectly, and somehow Pam always seemed to appear right when someone needed a refill. The "English Garden" house special was a huge hit with our guests. What impressed us most was how the team handled unexpected additions to our guest count. They even prepared last-minute meals to make sure everyone was fed and taken care of without ever making us feel stressed or like we were causing problems. That level of kindness and hospitality is rare. The historic charm of the venue and beautiful landscape created the perfect backdrop for a small, intimate wedding ceremony. Our guests are still talking about how much they loved the food, service, atmosphere, and overall experience. If you are considering hosting a wedding, celebration, or event here, do yourself a favor and reach out to Pam early -- she and her team are incredible to work with. We are already planning to come back for a casual lunch, and The Grant House will absolutely be at the top of our list for future celebrations. Thank you again to Pam and the entire team for helping make my sister's wedding day unforgettable.

The place is historic. Kinda cool. Table for 4, sat outside. Beautiful weather, just a bit…read morebreezy. Ordered charcuterie to start, which was good. We went with the suggested specials. Crab cakes, short ribs. Normally a nice restaurant will give you the details of the entrée and also tell you what the price is. In this case they never mentioned the price. We probably should've asked, but feels so tacky. I expect most people wouldn't ask. Food was good. So we got our bill and found out each entrée was over $60. Yikes. Totally not worth that. If that's not bad enough, they added a 20% tip - for a table of 4? AND our server let us know she would appreciate an additional tip that would go straight to her. .. so where is the 20% going? It all felt sleazy. Obviously would never go back.

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.