Columbia River Gorge

Today we planned to drive along the Historic Columbia River Highway to see the sights, and especially the many waterfalls. First we stopped at the Portland Women's Forum State Park, where there is a magnificent vista of the Columbia River, Rooster Rock, and Crown Point upstream. Next we stopped at Vista House at Crown Point State Park, 633 feet above the river. From the balcony you can see a 30 mile view of the gorge. Our first waterfall was next: Latourell Falls plunges 249 feet. Just up the road is Shepperds Dell, which falls in two sections, hitting rocks and sending up spray to make a show.

Next we came to Bridal Veil Falls, another tiered falls. This one required a short hike, which Chris, Annie, and I made while Ken waited at the parking area and took photos.

The next falls heading east is Wakeena. The parking area was full, with cars stacked up along the very narrow highway. I dropped Ken, Chris, and Annie off and went to find a parking place, heading east along the highway. They took the short hike up to see the fan shaped falls.

Did I mention it's Memorial Day? And that I'm driving a ginormous wide dually truck? I sat in bumper to bumper stop and go traffic (mainly stopped)for the .5 miles to Multnomah Falls, the highest in the gorge and second highest year round falls in the country. Apparently way more people wanted to see it than there was parking space for. Clearly there was no way I was going to find a parking place for the truck, so I took the first opportunity to turn around and headed back towards Wakeena. Desperate people were parking half on the roadway, so the oncoming traffic was over the center line. My rear passenger side dually tire was an inch from the curb (overlooking the drop into the gorge....) as I inched through some extremely narrow spaces. When I got back to the Wakeena parking area, the entrance was at too sharp an angle to pull in, so I had to continue another quarter mile looking for a turn around opportunity before driving back to pick up the rest.

That was a very harrowing half hour for me, and we decided to turn back rather than try to get through the traffic jam. Ken took the wheel, and we decided to try the Larch Mountain Road, which offers a view of five mountains from the top. Chris noticed a sign saying it was closed at mile 10 due to snow, but we discounted it (snow? what snow?). When we got to mile 10, the gate was closed, so we turned around and consoled ourselves that the drive through the trees was pretty.... We'll go back another time.

Back at home we ate some leftovers. Then Chris and Annie and I biked over to the nearby community park and walked down to the Big Sandy River, where people were picnicking and playing in the water along a sandy beach. A rescue crew was on hand, offering free life jacket use for children. Signs warned of the shifting bottom, sharp rocks, swift currents, and broken glass and said you could swim at your own risk. It was both risking and nearly freezing water (46 degrees), but there were some people in the water. We poked our toes in and shivered. We came home and played games for a while. Then Chris and Annie packed up and we headed into Portland for dinner at Annie's favorite restaurant, Vege Thai, where Annie had her usual Pad Thai with TOFU and the rest of us shared Pineapple Fried Rice with Soy Shrimp and Massaman Curry with brown rice. All the dishes were good, but we really liked the Pad Thai noodles in peanut sauce that Annie shared with us. She was happy to share as long as we didn't take any of her favorite part, the tofu.

We strolled around the Hawthorne District, checking out vintage and dollar stores, until we were ready for dessert crepes at Chez Machin, a real taste treat. When we got back to their house, Annie's mom Edie had returned from Milwaukee, so they had a happy reunion. We made plans to pick them up Wednesday morning for our trip to Mount Saint Helens. It's going to require some tactical planning, because Venture is way too tall to get into their neighborhood. Ladd's Addition is full of lovely elm trees with low overhanging branches.