Portland & the Columbia River Gorge

We left Rainier Wednesday evening after our snowy hike. We were tired, a leetle bit wet from slipping and sliding in the snow and generally happy. Portland was a 3 hour drive. The girls slept, Eddie navigated and I drove. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express and went for a swim and a soak in the hot tub. It was perfect. After showering we were able to walk to dinner and eat outside at a pub. Delicious dinner which was welcome after an expensive, yucky dinner in Rainier. Everyone was exhausted., Eddie and I sat in the lower lobby of the hotel doing laundry and attempting to blog on a really slow connection!

Thursday morning Kayla and I walked to a local grocery store to restock our cooler and then we headed out to the Columbia River Gorge. Instead of traveling on the main highway we drove the old Columbia River Scenic Highway which provided numerous opportunities for viewing the river gorge. Our first stop was a 14 mile drive through old growth forest to Larch mountain. There is a viewing platform that required a 1/3 mile hike, with some area still snow covered, that allows a view of 5 mountains, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, Mt. Ranier, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Something Else(I'll need to look at our photos). Very impressive site even though it was too hazy or smoky from the fires to see all of the mountains. A lovely group of older folks were relaxing, reminiscing(sp) and telling stories of favorite trips in their youth. Both girls commented that the men reminded them of Papa!!! This picture has Mt Hood in the background.

We returned to the scenic highway for a picnic lunch outside at the Vista House, a neat building from the early 1900's designed for viewing the gorge.


The remainder of our day was spent viewing some of the many waterfalls along the way. Some can be viewed from the road and others require short to moderate hikes. This shot is of the first one we stopped to see. Pretty impressive sheer drop. Next came bridal veil falls. It was just beautiful. The star of the show, Multnomah Falls, was replete with gift shop, tour buses and ice cream stands, thoroughly opposite of the spiritual, meditative feel of the rest of the waterfalls that had no facilities.