Astoria, Oregon - Still on or near the coast we visit Astoria, Oregon - one of the first cities settled on the west coast. This stop was high on my list because of the west coast encampment (Fort Clatsop) of the Lewis and Clark expedition during the winter of 1805 & 1806. But we learned there is much more in this area - while here we visited Cannon Beach (a few miles south), the Lavel House, the great Columbia River Museum, and we crossed the river and checked out a couple towns in Washington State where we saw a sand sculpture contest in progress.
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| Astoria Waterfront & Bridge to Washington |
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| Sand Sculptures - Long Beach, Washington |
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| Columbia River Sunset |
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| Cannon Beach, Oregon |
Columbia River Gorge - Don and Deb left a day before us headed on a similar path (at least in the beginning) so they were sending messages back about what to see and do. We took a very pretty drive along the Colombia River and bypassed Portland - some really nice scenery. We opted to stay off the interstate and take the scenic route (Hwy 30) that proved to be a challenging drive with the trailer. Kathy said it was beautiful but the roads were so narrow and windy that I didn't see much. We will come back without the trailer! We ended up in a Forest Service campground called Eagle Creek near Cascade Locks Oregon. From there we spend the remainder of that day visiting the Bonneville Dam and Locks and a fish hatchery there.
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| Relaxing at Eagle Creek |
The damn area was very entertaining - we toured the hydro-electric plant (pretty interesting) and spent most of the remainder of the day enjoying the fish survival stories there. This was our first experience actually seeing how the fish ladders look/work for allowing the Salmon (and other species) to navigate back upriver above the dam. It was quite impressive and the Army Corps of Engineers has done a great job of making it so folks like us can get a good look at how it works. I am amazed at how those fish can swim upstream against that current!
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| Bonneville Dam |
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| Fish Ladder |
At the fish hatchery we were also amazed at the size of Sturgeon - who knew? I'd heard of them before but was not aware how long they lived (up to 100 years) and can grow up to 20 feet long and 1500 lbs.
Next day we spent the morning driving the scenic highway 30 drive again (without the trailer) and enjoyed some waterfalls, hiking and nice views from the Vista House.
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| Columbia River Gorge View |
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| Vista House Interior - Gorge Waterfall |
In the afternoon we went to Hood River where the wind is boss - an amazing atmosphere of kite surfing and wind surfing on the Columbia River. We were there on a Monday afternoon (workday) and were amazed at how many people were there. I talked to one guy and asked "doesn't anyone work in this town?" and to that he replied "not when the wind is blowing!"
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| Hood River |
From the Columbia River Gorge we are making a turn to the eastern USA, albeit slowly and heading for home with multiple stops planned. We are going to drive easy and plan to play golf in several cities on the way home. First up was Bend, Oregon - for no particular reason other than we'd never been there and the drive there would route us through the Mount Hood National Forest for a closer look. As we arrived in Bend we quickly learned that camping spots were few and the one we found was $110 (yes a campsite) so we visited Walmart for groceries and moved on. Next destination is Boise, Idaho.
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| Mount Hood National Forest |
Don & Deb update - they traveled to Craters of the moon national monument in Idaho and reported it was a good stop - we plan to visit there after Boise. They moved on from there to the Grand Teton, Jackson Hole, & Yellowstone National Parks area. They are having a grand time - saw buffalo, bear and elk. Last we talked they have also traveled to the Bear Tooth highway, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and are now pointed eastward via the Badlands.
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| Cowboy Bar - Jackson Hole Wyoming |
We visited Craters of the moon after a two day stop in Boise where the town was very cool but the temp was very hot - 100 degrees. We stayed at an Air National Guard base there that only had 7 campsites but very nice and a good location to see the town. We had met at least two different people on the trip that said you HAVE to try a restaurant called Barbacoa's - fine dining! It was a great meal. We really enjoyed Boise.
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| Volcanic remnants at Crates of the Moon National Monument |
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| Greenbelt trail in Boise, Idaho |
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| Dinner at Barbacoa's |
We are headed home now and have planned stops for rest and golf on the way. Since leaving Idaho we stopped at Park City, Utah (beautiful area) and played golf at the Jeremy Ranch country club. Next stop was Fort Collins, Colorado where we also played golf at the Fort Collins Country Club. Another nice course and great time.
We have additional stops planned for rest and golf at Topeka, Kansas, St. Louis, Missouri, and Nashville, Tennessee before arriving home in a week to ten days or so. This will serve as the last post on this blog unless I do a post trip write up. We've had a great time and really enjoyed being with Don and Deb.
