I know that I stated that the Oregon Coast is my FAVORITE place, the truth of the matter is that I have MANY "Favorite" places!! To the East, just under 100 miles from the City, is Mt. Hood, beyond that is Eastern Oregon!! SO MANY PLACES!!! I just plain love OREGON!!
I have been back living in the City of Roses since 1997, and since a drive to the Coast is expensive, we went on a lot of short drives. The drives we took were all within 50 miles of our home in Portland. Just a very short drive from the City Limits, through Gresham, through Troutdale, is the beginning of the Scenic Drive on the "Old Columbia River Hwy".
This is one of THE most SPECTACULAR drives in the Whole United States!! (My opinion only), but let me take you on that drive, where you can judge for yourselves!!
This particular trip was captured on film during 1990-1991. The Man who shared the trips with me was my VERY BEST FRIEND of over 20 years, John, and my Husband for 1 1/2 years when I lost him to Cancer, (There will be a Memorial Site for him is linked to my home page). It was only one of many, MANY times that we took that drive.
OK, get whatever it is that you settle down with when you want a leisurely relaxing interlude to whatever is happening in your "real" life, and let us start the trip exactly 22 miles from our home at the time:
(Yep, that's ME~giggle~,(a hefty little thing I was in them thar days). This is, of course, my Partner, John:
From here, we started our descent down toward the falls that are too numerous to count. It's a 10 min. drive if you take it slow and look at the scenery BETWEEN official pull overs--and not one of the many poor tourists we pulled over to let pass because they were on "scheduled" stops and had only X amount of time for this trip. (I say "poor tourists" because they have NO idea what they are missing speeding down this very curvaceous "Hwy".
ferns, and especially wild Rhodadendren Bushes
and tame ones in many yards.
A little History here: The fast paced Main Hwy is now on an Intersate which run at "river level" and is a beautiful drive in itself. This Hwy that we are on today was the only Hwy that the Logging Trucks had to travel when it was start in 1913 and built during the Great Depression which gave Work to people. The road is built with AMAZING architecure of Stone. Thankfully, it is a Historic Site and is under constant restoration.OK, OK Uni--We're going!!
Our next stop is the World Famous Vista House. We've still a long way to the waterfalls and "Our Spot". We always stop here, it's another Spectacular View. The Vista House itself is under MAJOR restoration now.
One usually needs a sweat shirt, or coat if you get out of the car, the wind blows quite consistantly, which is a reason that the Gorge boasts a World Famous Wind Surfing area located at Hood River, Oregon
So onward we go, through many more curves
flowers
past several waterfalls until we reach Our particular favorite one, Lattourel Falls.
(He's getting anxious, he's almost "home").
A favorite shot of mine:
and another one:
.This is the bridge that crosses on the Old Hwy. It is the bridge that we can see from "Our Spot" at the base of the Falls.
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Leaving the "Hwy" here, we wander down a side road where you are surprised to find a beautiful little community of residence who are nestled under trees like this
Past the town, about 50' or so is a small wooden bridge that crosses the now rushing brook that is the Lattourel Falls base. This is "OUR SPOT" where we spent many days and hours just sitting there, listening to the babbling brook and roasting hot dogs or some other picnic that we had brought along.
.Yes, this is Uni's home and many's the time you could sit by this bridge and glimpse the Unicorns who play just beyond that bend
We had a house fire which claimed most of our pictures, but a few have survived and I will take you now on a short trip further up the Gorge to Bonnieville Dam and the Fish Hatchery that is there. This was a trip up the Gorge on a cold Fall day when we had the honer and privilage of "baby sitting" this utterly DELIGHTFUL 2 year old. Thomas was an enthusiastic child who was always overwhelmed and thrilled by the places we took him. He was a joyful addition to our trips and took center stage when it came to "entertaining tourists)!!
And OF COURSE at Latourell Falls:
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Here are a couple more shots of a WONDERFUL place to go within 5 miles of our home on a hot Aug. day:
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I am SUCH an amature, and think the trip I just took you on was good, but for a far better look at this area, click on the links below. The second one is a WONDERFULLY well written tour, the opening picture?? "Ta-Da", The Women's Forum Park! ~GIGGLE~! The first one is a very EXCELLENT Site for professionally done photography, not only of The Gorge, but other locations around our most GEORGEOUS State of Oregon!!
