Land of Port: Columbia River Gorge, Part 3

Welcome to my travel blog.

It's not really a travel blog, but that seems to be most of what I blog about these days! OH WELL. :)

What I thought might be one of the less exciting stops along the Historic Columbia River Highway ended up being one of the best and coolest. After waterfall country, we got to the Bonneville Dam.

Pretty impressive looking...

And Erich, the electrical engineer, was mildly interested in how it works.

But the dam itself really wasn't that exciting. However, the fish ladder, a system to aid the fish in their regular migratory patterns, was extremely cool. Sadly, I did not get a picture of the exterior. I know, what was I thinking?

I don't want to leave you hanging, so here's a picture I've taken from Wikipedia.org:


And HERE'S what's going on inside:

We stared at the fish for a while inside and outside, learned about the different types of salmon that come through, had a little snack, then continued on to the fish hatchery. I had never been to a fish hatchery before, and I was shocked and amazed at how fun and interesting it was! First we saw a video of how the actual process works, but there was nothing actually going on this time of year, so we continued to the different fish ponds.

This is Herman the Sturgeon. I think. I suspect there was also a back-up Herman in this pond who was almost as huge. Herman is about ten feet long! Big fish amaze me in a way that makes me feel like a small child.


Next we came upon the rainbow trout pond, which the signs made pretty clear were there just for fun since they don't actually hatch them there. We found 25¢ for a handful of fish food to be well worth it!

(This is so cliché, but I hate hearing my own voice. I wish I knew how to take out the sound.)

I'm glad we didn't see any egg fertilization or sorting or anything because this stuff was WAY cooler to see: the salmon are trying to return to their birth place to spawn! I really wish I could have taken a video, but my camera batteries were dying.


Some of them would leap over a foot out of the water right into those wooden planks! That was sometimes startling but always mesmerizing.

This was a bit further back. Though some fish would take the flying leap to get up to this level, many of them were forced back because there was such a backlog of fish trying to get past the final barriers. Hilariously splashtastic!

From the dam, we went to the town of Hood River. We stocked up on some provisions at Safeway and decided we had waited long enough for dinner. Our Central Daylight Time tummies were hungry for dinner early! Hood River has a lot of wineries and breweries, and the National Geographic guide suggested Full Sail, so we went in search of it. Unfortunately, our GPS failed us here: it seemed unaware of any Full Sail brewery in Hood River. Weird. We went looking blindly and nearly gave up when there it appeared in all its glory! The pub portion of the brewery had a stunning view of the Columbia River, which nearly rivaled the gastronomic experience upon which we were about to embark!

I haven't missed beer too much during my pregnancy, for which I am very thankful. But in this instance, I really wanted to be allowed to order a pint. Though I don't get uptight about taking tastes, I won't actually have an entire drink, so I begrudgingly ordered a Diet Coke (a little caffeine, a little aspartame--well, no one's perfect). Erich ordered the pale ale, described as a "godlike nectar" on the menu, and I chuckled at this. Then I tasted this pale ale and found the description to be quite accurate. YUM.

When our food finally came, we had our second amazingly delicious and fully satisfying meal of the day. I ordered the fish and chips: Alaskan halibut, session lager-battered. The word "amazing" gets overused far too often these days, but it's so appropriate for this meal. I might also throw out the word "foodgasm." I even really liked the cole slaw, and I'm not a big cole slaw eater. Erich enjoyed his burger and his second beer, and I gladly took the keys and booked it out of Hood River to make it to Mt. Hood. We knew it would be nearly dark by the time we got there, but we couldn't get that close to the mountain and not actually see it. It was indeed nearly dark, so we didn't get out of the car or take pictures. But we've now seen Mt. Hood!

We completed the rest of the loop in the dark and got to our hotel nice and late, completely wiped out from our long and adventurous day. Yay, Portland!

P.S.: I loved the flowers at the hatchery:

Land of Port: Columbia River Gorge, Part 2

Have I iterated enough just how much we loved our trip to Portland? It made a wonderful early second anniversary celebration/babymoon, and it would not have been possible were it not for free Southwest flights from Erich, free Mariott points from my dad, and childlessness. Or my cousin Dennis, without whose wedding we would not have had the impetus to go at all!

After our stop at Crown Point on Friday, we continued along the Historic Columbia River Highway through twists and turns past giant trees, dramatic rock walls, and gorgeous (get it?) vistas of the river. Eventually, we came upon a waterfall, so we stopped and got out of the car. I should have taken a picture of the sign because I can't remember this waterfall's name. [ETA: Erich figured it out! It's Wahkeena Falls.]

It's a tree stump!

This plant was all over the Portland area. Any amateur botanists know what it is?

Tree had precedence.

The next place to stop on the road was the granddaddy of the Columbia waterfalls, Multnomah Falls:

All fresh and airplane-y!

View from the bridge.

Lower falls, from above.



Lost shoes!

Land of Port: Columbia River Gorge, Part 1

Friday morning before Labor Day, Erich and I arose at the ungodly hour of 5:30am to catch our 8:00 flight out of Chicago to Portland, OR. Yes, I'm aware I will have to be up all the time during the night and early morning in just a few months. No need to remind me!

Anyway, because Erich had been up late doing homework, we didn't get a lot of sleep and I worried we wouldn't have a very good day as a result. After a four-hour flight, we landed in Portland and had our rental car by 11am. My desire for a nap soon faded as I took a look at my surroundings. The huge trees and mountainous landscape captivated me, a first-time visitor to the Pacific Northwest.

With nothing much else to do, we embarked upon a scenic drive of the Columbia River Gorge as prescribed by National Geographic Traveler. We stopped first in the town of Troutdale, just outside of Portland, where I, sadly, did not take any pictures. We had lunch at the General Store, a cute little shop with a lunch counter; we sat outside. My lunch was AMAZING! Happiness is a delicious meal eaten outdoors, and this experience definitely qualified. I had salmon chowder (fresh and delicious!) and a salad (freshest of fresh greens, juicy-sweet tomatoes and raw mushrooms; so, so good).

After lunch, it was back on the road to Crown Point, a GORGEous (get it? get it?) and crowded overlook. Crown Point features Vista House, built in 1918:



And for the real scenery:



I was really starting to think I wouldn't mind living in or near Portland. But then I was reminded of the downside to the area when I saw this car:



This guy wanted Hillary AND Obama for president. Ew.

Vacation 2009: Day 4, Part 2

After we exhausted the available activities and exhibitions at Fort Michilimackinac, we crossed the bridge again back to the UP. We stopped in St. Ignace to stroll along the boardwalk, do a little window- and fudge-shopping, and have a dinner of delicious pizza.

One great thing about the UP is you can go in to a pizza place, slightly below the dining experience level of a Pizza Hut (but much more delicious), and sit on the patio, which happens to have a very pleasant view of Lake Huron:

After dinner, we began the long drive back to Manistique, stopping at a beach off the side of the road for some after-dinner frolicking.

She does NOT do sand.

Baseball!

The sun started to set.

I could've sworn I was sucking in!

That's better. :)

After at least an hour of driving, we got home close to 10pm. And this is what the sky looked like:

And this concludes my series on Vacation 2009. Friday was a very low-key day and very windy and dreary, so I took zero pictures. But it's nice to end on pretty sunset pictures, right?

Vacation 2009: Day 4, Part 1

Thursday took us over the Mackinac Bridge to the Lower Peninsula! Destination: Colonial Fort Michilimackinac.

First, we saw a cannon demonstration.

There were lots of activities and things to see at the fort. The pristine weather and beautiful setting made for a fun day!

As you can see, we didn't get far into the LP at all.

There was an Odawa tribesman there, and he was very taken with Lexi and her Cherokee heritage.

Here are some random photos that I like:

Archeologists are still finding artifacts every day.