Well, we all went 'round the mountain, we all went 'round....

I have finally gotten some photos uploaded. It is so slow so this has been a few days in the making. Some of them are grainy because of the high contrast of the scene.

At the parking lot at Timberline. Linda, Karis and Toni admiring one of the Three Sisters on the horizon. I had taken panorama photos and stitched them together so it was a complete view from where we were. The proportions were too odd - too long and too short - I guess, since it wouldn't load up on blogger. This photo is a chunk of it and seems to be at least four different shots.

The View we were subjected to throughout lunch. Snowboarders kept coming down where Linda and Karis could watch them from their side of the table..

Below, the part of Timberline Lodge that faces south. We ate behind the center part of the building, facing north. The middle chimney in the photo is for the central fireplace/fireplaces - four hearths. It was to our backs and no fire that day. It wasn't necessary, except for atmosphere.

Coming away from the north side of Mt Hood, I pulled over to take a look. The best view was in my rear view mirror.

Looking north towards Washington, Mt Adams popped into view. Linda took pictures while I drove.

Karis and Toni in front of Bonneville Dam. What a beautiful day - and noisy with all of that water spilling through.

The view through the counting window in the fish ladder. The marks on the glass are different measurements. The fish are filtered through a narrow channel in the fish ladder where they can be counted. These are Shad. Some fellas at the old locks in Cascade Locks were catching and saving them in their freezer to use as bait when setting crab pots at the coast.

43,375 of these fish were counted the day we were there. 820 Chinook Salmon, 89 hatchery Steelhead (sea-going trout), 13 Wild Steelhead, 5 Sockeye Salmon and 15 Lamprey Eels were also listed that day (May 29, 2007) as having passed by this window. https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/op/b/fishcam.asp is a link to the camera there.

Lupin. Beautiful, peppery lupin.

At the Bonneville fish hatchery, the prime star is a Herman the sturgeon. Herman is a white sturgeon. When Herman was first introduced to his new home in 1998, he was 9’ in length, 400 lbs. and 60 years old. The first photo is this fella's face, the second, his mid-section. there was only so much you could get into view in each shot. They have built a larger pool for the big guys which has a little house containing an underwater viewing area.

Multnomah Falls

Karis was already up close taking photos while Toni, Linda and I took in the view. We walked up a ways above the bridge.

Crown Point

The gorge wind's version of Titanic's, "I'm the king (queen) of the world......"

The winds whip around this spot so fiercely that you can be knocked off balance quite easily. They were leaning into the wind, hair whipping around... it was exhilarating!

View from Crown Point looking east, up the Columbia River Gorge.

The view from Women's Forum State Park. This is a wonderful view of Crown Point (that white dot on top of the cliff) and the Columbia River Gorge.

A Most Perfect Day and I 'did a very bad thing'

I am very tired. I had a most wonderful day.

We four women – sis-in-law, Linda, niece, Karis, daughter, Toni, and I, piled into my gas-guzzler and headed east. We drove up Highway 26 just past Government Camp and sped up the road to Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood.

The day was excellent. We ended up having lunch in the bar – the only place with a view of the mountain. We shared wonderful turkey, tomato, etc, sandwiches and hot chocolate with crunched up English toffee sprinkled on the thick whipped cream while watching snowboarders and skiers swooshing down the mountain. Thus satisfied, we made the decision to continue to wrap our way all around the mountain.

We turned left on 26, continued until the cut-off for Hood River, and then took another left to the north. The weather was perfect. Warm, breezy, blue sky. We had a wonderful view of Mt Adams in front of us and Mt Hood in the rear view mirror. We kept driving until we reached the Columbia River. We took another left onto I-84 towards the Columbia River Gorge. We watched birds fly and the whitecaps on the river while we continued to chatter the entire trip.

We stopped at Cascade Locks and had our traditional ice cream cone. After wiping up all of the ice-cream drips, we got back in the car and back on I84 to make our way to Bonneville Dam. We had less than an hour before they closed access to the dam itself.

I tootled across the road to the guard station (post 9-11). When I stopped, the guard said, “You’ve just done a very bad thing.” My tootling was at 30 M.P.H. and the limit was 20. It sounded like he had said that before. He told us we only had a half an hour so I slowly sped across the locks, up the side of the power plant and on to the parking lot.

What should be blooming in the planters but beautiful lupin? I saved a sniff until we came back. We hurried to the fish-counting floor where we watched many Chad make their way up the ladder. I did not see any salmon. I saw that they have been coming through but it is early for the June run.

We then went outside to look at the top of the ladder – to watch the Chad sneak over the cement steps of the ladder. Salmon are much more exciting since the really jump from one level to the next.

By this time, it was time to head back to the car. I went to sniff the lupin while the others took pictures. Unfortunately, Canada geese had been there first and had left, ahem, signs of their presence. Magnificent birds but magnificently messy, too. We then drove down off the dam and went over to the hatchery.

We saw rainbow trout by the hundred, and salmon fingerlings by the thousand in holding ponds waiting to go off to make some fisherman/woman very happy. We stopped to look at Buddy, the huge sturgeon, and his friends and feed the rainbow trout in the trout pond.

Then it was back to the freeway until I was able to switch to the old road to the falls. We passed several cool spots and stopped at Multnomah Falls. While taking pictures we decided to take a walk to the bridge. Unfortunately, I left my bifocals in the car so coming close to the side of the pathway or to the railing on the bridge was a concern. I have no depth perception and tend to get vertigo without my glasses.

The result of that is that I have a terror of falling and pitching myself over something. I made it across on two feet (I’ve been known to crawl) and up the path a bit to get some great shots. When we got back down, we stopped at the gift shop then got back on the road.

We slowed for Wahkeena and Latourell Falls, pointed out Shepherd’s Dell and Bridal Veil and finally arrived at Crown Point.

Normally, I drive this road from the West and hug the inside next to the rocks and grasses and safe stopping. From the East, you are hugging the edge of the road with guard-rails that don’t make me feel protected at any cost and the view straight down to what lies below wasn’t on my ‘gotta see’ list.

At Crown Point, Toni stayed in the car to see if anyone wanted to join us in town for Pho. The wind was wonderfully brisk and we walked and were blown around while taking pictures and saying ooooooh a lot. These Texas gals did the Titanic ‘flying’ at the bow thing as they leaned into the wind with their arms reaching out. It was exhilarating to be out in the wind but it was wonderful to get back into the car.

We then went around to Women’s Forum State Park to show them where they take the most beautiful shots of the Gorge.

My normal spot to get back to the freeway was closed because of slides so we went the long way through Corbett, down along and over the Sandy River at Stark Street and came back up to civilization.

We met my son-in-law at the restaurant and had wonderful food. I had Sesame Chicken. This is going to be a repeat item.

We got back into the car as the evening sky was at my favorite point – from dark blue through green at the horizon – and came home. Sadly, they will leave Portland in the morning. We all need our rest tonight after a long, perfect day.

Zee Cannon Beeeeech

We brought our laptop (that is really sad...) so I though I would share a couple of photos. The first is at sunset last night down on the beach; the second is from our balcony this morning. A little virtual vacation for you. Can't you smell the salt sea air and hear the squawking of the sea gulls?

The last one is of Bob working on a puzzle. They were giving them away at the Radiation Center when we were there yesterday. Not only did his PSA go down a wee bit but we got a puzzle to boot. The best thing about the puzzle is that it is one that has already been put together and they put large chunks of it back in the box. That makes putting together 1000 pieces much easier on a two-night stay.

We're on our way out to take a walk on the beach then go to lunch at Dooger's. They have the best clam chowder!!! It is a white-type but it has a flavor like none other.

Talk to you later
Kathleen

Happy Anniversary

Winco Wanderings

I had a delightful thing happen today. I was sitting at a light and noticed a baby in the vehicle in front of me. I thought it was so cute – looked just like it could have been one of my own. I then noticed “it” was strapped into the same kind of vehicle my new-mom daughter just got and realized that must be Brandon. Even from my perch behind them, I could tell that the baby looked like John.

I was ready to tap my horn when the driver waved – and the passenger waved - both of my younger daughters. I had a stop before I went to Winco to fill up those spots in the fridge. I pulled up next to them and we rolled down our windows – they were on the way to Winco, too. After my quick errand, I arrived at Winco, parked and got a cart. They were still at the entrance, waylaid by the mom of an old friend of theirs.

It was fun to shop with my girls and to get some peeks of my mostly-sleeping grandson. She had him in a Baby Bjorn so I couldn’t take a turn holding him but it was delightful. We didn’t stay together the whole time but spent the same amount of time, occasionally at the same spots. We walked out; spread some kisses around and went home