Columbia River Gorge

Portland/Fairview RV Park, Portland, OR:  Socked in AGAIN this morning.  Undaunted, we headed east up the Columbia River Gorge.  We drove about 62 miles on I84 to the little historic town of The Dalles.  I84 is a beautiful scenic drive right next to the river with high bluffs, large rock formations covered in moss and mountains all around. The drive started out in a primeval rain forest of sorts and by the time we got to The Dalles we were in a desert topography of lower hills covered in short, brown buffalo grass and pine scrub.  Coming back, we took historic Rt. 30 as much as possible which was built around 1916.  Went through the little historic towns of Hood River, Mosier, and Cascade Locks.  Saw lots of waterfalls.  What a beautiful area. Cleared off by the time we reached The Dalles.  81 today.

Wind surfer on the Columbia River.  The winds in the gorge are horrendous--up to 70 mph is not unusual.

Area around The Dalles.

Indians used to put their dead in a canoe and inter them on this island.  Lewis and Clark stopped here in 1806 on their way back from their historic trip to the Pacific.

Beautiful!

Horsetail Falls

Multnomah Falls

A tunnel on the old Rt. 30 which is no longer used.  This survived a couple of earthquakes.  Very sturdy, I'd say.
Picture by Mike

Mike and I at Multnomah Falls.  We dined alfresco at the lodge here with a view of the falls.  A wedding party was on the upper bridge behind us when a boulder the size of a school bus came crashing down and drenched the whole party.  Wow!  Don't know if that's a good omen or a bad one.

The Lodge at Multnomah Falls

Chinese Garden, Chinatown (Portland)

Portland/Fairview RV Park, Portland, OR:  Socked in again this morning.  So we decided to take care of the laundry in the morning.  Got that taken care of early and then went to see another movie—this time “The Lone Ranger”.  This was definitely a different take on this duo.  Tonto was THE MAN in this version.  Pretty funny.  Love Johnny Dep.  After the movie we came out to sunny skies and no clouds.  Did the grocery shopping and then back to our park.  A beautiful afternoon. Upper 70s today.

Little Grotto

Portland

Portland/Fairview RV Park, Portland, OR:  Really socked in this morning.  They’re calling it a marine layer--even this far inland.  Whatever, there was no sun.  So we went to the 12:25 showing of “Whitehouse Down” which was pretty good.  And by the time we emerged from the theater the sun was peeking out.  Back to our park and sat outside reading for a while.  75 today.

Downtown Portland.

Shop near Old Town.

July 4th

Portland/Fairview RV Park; Portland, OR:  Just laid low today.  Headed out to run some errands and the park was cooking up burgers and hot dogs.  So I stopped and had a hot dog.  Ran our errands and stopped at a fruit stand and bought some marion berries, raspberries, and cherries.  Stopped and looked at a beautiful fifth wheel.  Way too fancy for us, but it was so tempting.  Back to our park and sat outside reading for a while. Upper 70s today.  I'm still thinking about that fifth wheel.  Hmmm.

Happy Birthday America!

Chinese Gardens

Portland/Fairview RV Park; Portland, OR:  Back on the rapid rail to downtown.  It’s such a great way to go downtown—clean, fast, and cheap.  Got off at Old Town/Chinatown and walked around until we found Voodoo Donuts.  We’d heard they were really good.  There were people lined up in front waiting to get in.  After about 20 minutes of waiting in line we got our donuts and sat outside to eat them.  They were pretty good.  Then we headed to Chinatown and the Chinese Gardens.  This beautiful little oasis takes up about a city block in Chinatown.  After the gardens we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in the area.  Stuffed, we walked back to catch our train.  Back to our park by 3:30 and sat outside reading for a while.  Mid-80s today.

Voodoo Donuts

China Gate--Chinatown

Lan Su Garden

Lan Su is considered the most authentic Chinese garden outside of China.  It is beautiful!

Most of the materials used to build the garden, including more than 500 tons of rock, came from China.

Sixty-five artisans from Suzhou lived in Portland for 10 months while they assembled and completed the structures that were crafted in China.

Beautiful lily.

The walkways are a beautiful design of different inlaid stones.  If you walk barefoot on them, they're supposed to make your feet feel good.  It is beautiful.

Cute little portal in one of the walls.

Tea House

Interesting little window.

Portland

Portland/Fairview RV Park, Portland, OR:  Beautiful morning!  We drove over to the rapid rail station (only 5 miles from our park), parked the truck and bought two one-day tickets on the blue line.  Only $4 for both of us.  It took about 40 minutes to get downtown.  We got off at Old Town and walked down to Pioneer Square.  Walked around and finally found a great place for lunch.  We both had beef brisket which was really good.  Then decided to get on a hop on/hop off trolley tour which took about an hour.  Got back on the east-bound train and were back at our parking spot by 4:00.  Back to our park and sat outside reading for a while.  We’re going to go back on the train to the China Gardens in Chinatown.  Upper 80s today.  Nice!

Pioneer Square--downtown Portland.

Courthouse at Pioneer Square.

Mikey in Pioneer Square.

Downtown Portland.

Did a lot of walking.  Lucky for me, I had my "go walk" shoes on.

Downtown Portland from Washington Park.

Warehouse area in Old Town Portland.

Convention Center

Waterfront Park

Downtown Portland

Historic home in the Washington Park area.
Picture by Mike

Portland

KOA, Lincoln City, OR, to Portland/Fairview RV Park, Portland, OR:  Didn’t leave until 11:00 this morning.  I tossed and turned all night, so Mike did all the driving today.  Back on Rt. 18 through McMinville again and the cute little towns of Dundee, Newburg, and Sherwood.  Big winery area—especially Dundee.  Wanted to go back there, but by the time we got through all the Portland mid-day traffic, I nixed that idea.  Caught our first view of Mt. Hood off in the haze.  Pretty impressive.  We’re in a very nice RV park just east of Portland.  90 when we pulled in here.  Feels nice to be able to sit in the shade and still be warm.  Got set up and sat outside reading for a while.  We’re here for two weeks.

All through Oregon, and especially the coastal road, you see these self-contained bicyclists.  Loaded down with gear, they struggle up long hills.  Doesn't look like fun to me.  Plus, in some places there isn't a shoulder to speak of.  

This is a water park at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.  The water slides and chutes come out of the other side of this 747.