Mt. Hood / Portland

What a difference from the central part of Oregon. The areas around Mt. Hood and Portland

are absolutely gorgeous. We stayed in a park that was quite a ways outside Portland but was worth it. From here we visited Portland (more on that later), the Columbia River Gorge, our nephew Jeff and his fiancé Amberand Della, a friend of 30 plus years.

Jan took the back of the 5er and Mt. Hood

We had the best camping spot we’ve had so far. The park had a lot of trails and access to the Salmon River.

Site at Mt. Hood Resort

Each site was like a little park in itself and we were close to the clubhouse which came in handy because that’s where the WiFi was. We had some rainy days early in our stay but things cleared up enough for us to start seeing the sites.

First up, Portland!… We had heard about some tours and decided on a walking tour that would take us into the heart of the city and the “underground” part of Portland. We gave ourselves a little over and hour to drive the 28 miles. Then we were reintroduced to traffic. We finally reached the hotel where the tour was to begin. Bob and Jan found what they thought was a parking spot and headed to the hotel where they met up with the tour and waited for us. After circling a number of blocks I found a spot and maneuvered the best parallel parking you’ve ever seen…then saw the sign that is was “reserved” for something. Meanwhile,  Bob and Jan waited as long as they could for us and finally decided to leave the tour to be with us.  We stopped in a gas station to get some help and the guy told us to head over to a popular city park where we would be able to park.  The parking meter would only give us 1 hr so we fed the beast and headed back over to Chinatown. Three quarters of the way there it was obvious we weren’t going to make it in time so I double timed it back to the meter, gave it another hour, and tried to catch up. Found everyone having lunch at a Deli in Chinatown…really?  After frantically eating lunch we knew we wouldn’t make it back in time before the time ran out so I put on the running shoes and made it back just in time to feed the meter one more time. So, all in all, no tour, saw nothing, drove around for an hour, spent nearly $10 on parking, we couldn’t get out of that city fast enough!

Columbia River Gorge…Historic Columbia River Highway winds it’s way along the river on the Oregon side passing a massive dam, vistas where you can see literally forever and waterfalls that rival those of Yosemite. We made the trip around the north side of Mt. Hood along the river from Hood River to Wood Village. Our first stop was Cascade Locks where they introduce Salmon into the river. Next up was the Bonneville Dam. This huge structure was built during FDR’s New Deal and expanded in 1982. Horsetail Falls was the first of the falls and although not very tall was in a perfect little alcove.

Multnomah Falls (upper left) is the star of the highway. It was crowded even this early in the season. There was a restaurant, gift shop and very little parking. The falls are actually two levels and together reach 625′. There is a hiking trail that goes all the way to the top. The bridge you see half way up the falls is part of the trail. Next up was Crown Point. This observatory is called the Vista House and has a fantastic view for miles up and down the river

Vista House

 

View from Vista House

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting old friends… We were able to hookup with two friends we haven’t seen in a very long time. Russ & Judy McElroy moved to the Portland area over 10 years ago. We sent cards back and forth for a while but haven’t heard from them in years. Arline had an old address so we punched it into  and off we went. We  found the house,and Arline went up to the door, discovered a package from Amazon left at the doorstep that confirmed that  the recipient was our long lost friends     She knocked on the door and Russ answered. He didn’t recognize us for a minute, but the light eventually went on and boy was he ever surprised. We visited for at least 30 minutes and we were sad we were unable  to see Judy because she was at work. Nevertheless, it was great to catch up with
Russ. We also got to see Della Bigham, our neighbor from our first house in Riverside.  She lives in Gladstone, Oregon which was just five miles or so from

Janice’s son Jeff, who lives in Canby.  Jeff is engaged to be married to Amber this August and it was wonderful to catch up with him and meet Amber and their two  kids.   On our way to Jeff’s’ house we passed a relic from the past, an old paper mill on the Klamath river. Having been in newspapers, I remember when most of the paper production was move up to Canada and many of our mills closed. Here is a picture of the last of their kind.

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One of the highlights of our time in Portland was the opportunity to visit a place called “The Grotto”.

The Grotto is a National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother, an outdoor shrine and botanical gardens. It is set on 62 acres and provides a retreat for more than 200,000 visitors each year.The heart of the Grotto is a cave carved into the base of a 110 ft. cliff, with a life-size Pieta in the center the cave. It includes a meditation hall, a trail of the Stations of the Cross, a Labyrinth and beautiful gardens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s time to move north…next stop Olympic National Park and Seattle.

 

 

 

 

 

Bend, Oregon

We’ve been in Oregon for a couple of weeks now and two thing make this state a real vacations spot…They pump your gas & clean your windshield and I paid $1.99 for diesel. Also, there is No sales tax. What is says is on the price tag is what you pay.

O.K., maybe there is a few others…you already saw Crater Lake which was awesome, now we’re in central Oregon. There are two distinctive areas or climate regions in the state. One on the ocean side of the Cascade Mountains and the other on the inland side. Being on the inland side Bend is more like a high desert than you may think of Oregon. It gets pretty cold, has some snow but the summers are hotter. We spent the week exploring two places near Bend. The first was a quaint little town call Sisters. It’s name comes from three peaks in the Cascades that bear the name Three Sisters. These are volcanic mountains and we heard the middle sister is developing a bulge…something that may be a precursor to a future eruption? Sooo two sister…Anyway, back to Sisters…a collection of shops, restaurants and brewery. It’s real claim to fame is quilts. There is a giant quilt festival once a year.

Next up was the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. A major caldera, 4 miles by 5 miles across, is the major star of the area but is supported by numerous cinder cones, lava tubes (caves)  and what is called a volcanic Riff that runs for miles. A Riff is basically a crack in the ground that spews lava. We weren’t able to get up to the caldera because of snow but managed to climb a 500 ft. cinder cone and with the help of a couple of borrowed lanterns investigated a lava tube. In the tube were stalactites and stalagmite made of ice!

We hike along the Deschutes River for about a mile and found where the river is forced between two basalt lava flows and becomes formidable rapids.

Deschutes River

Lava tube

 

 

Bend Oregon is actually considered part of the Great Basin. This area includes western Utah, Northern Nevada, parts of Idaho and Oregon. We visited the High Desert Museum just south of Bend. They have great exhibits including birds of prey, Porcupine, Bobcats and the 1904 Miller family Ranch. All this on 135 acres. The display

of Native American artifacts was the best I’ve seen and actually come from private collections from the area.

 

And there ends our adventures in Bend. Next stop, Mt. Hood and Portland, Oregon

Crater Lake / Prospect, Oregon

Crater Lake, OregonCrater Lake  still had at least 15 feet of snow on the ground when we got there.This place normally get up to 45 feet a year so it’s going to be June before the it melts. The overcast skies hid the deep blue of the lake but you could still see how crystal clear it is.  Crater Lake was formed about 7,700 years ago when Mt. Mazama erupted. Unlike Mt. St. Helens or other volcanoes,  Mt. Mazama didn’t “blow its top” but was a series of small eruptions that encircled the mountain about a third of the way down the slope. When the eruptions formed a complete circle the top of the mountain collapsed into itself causing the crater. 4,000 feet of the mountain top collapsed! There are stories from the local native American tribes of their ancestors accounts of the eruption.

We stayed at Crater Lake RV park  in Prospect., Or. which is about 25 miles south of the National Park and next to the Rogue River. This area of the river has lots of waterfalls and

Prospect Hotel

a gorge carved out of the lava flow. In town we found the quaint little hotel. The Prospect Hotel, at one time a stage coach stop, now is run as a B&B inn, was built in the late 1880’s and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Rogue River Gorge

 

Pearsony Falls

Mill Creek Falls

Mill Creek Falls was one of the best falls I’ve seen in a while. It falls 173 feet into the Rouge River Gorge. Just a short hike up the trail is a terrific bridge that crosses the Rouge. I hiked down to the rivers edge and took this picture looking back up at the bridge.