Friday, November 23

Hood River, OR to Bonnevile Dam to The Dalles to Hood River Loop

Up about 6:30 this am.  Dark but not raining.  We decided to get coffee before showering etc.  Went back to 10 Speed and got there just after they opened at 7a.  Bob got another Americano and an almond milk latte for me.  I also got a cinnamon pear scone that was still warm and smelled like heaven.  We drove further into town to find a muffin or something for Bob.  Third try the charm: a piece of sour cream coffee cake at Ground coffee.  And since my coffee was gone, I tried an Americano from there — nice.  We went back to the hotel and decided to do a drive loop and see some of the area.  I showered and dressed while Bob ate his coffee cake and then I blogged about yesterday and shared my DELICIOUS scone with Sierra while he showered, etc.  We were on the road again by 9:15 and it started raining almost immediately.

We headed west on Hwy 84 which runs right along the river. It is funny there are train tracks right down by the river on both the OR and WA sides.  It’s about 20 miles to Bonneville Dam and Locks.  We toured the wonderful visitor center there.  It is four stories (five counting the roof top viewing level), going down, and the first floor has windows to view the fish spawning; since it’s past the season, we didn’t see one single thing going by but some sea grass.  On a normal day in September (high season), there can be 20,000 going by.  We happened to hit the endless movie loop in the theater during the movie about Lewis and Clark on the Columbia in 1805/6.  They waited out the winter in Ft. Clatsop near the mouth of the river at the Pacific Ocean and then headed home when the weather improved.  Very good timing that we caught that movie!

We headed back towards Hood River four miles to the Bridge of the Gods at the Cascade Locks to go over to the Washington side.  Had to go over a toll bridge ($1) that was really interesting. We were crossing the bridge right at 11a.  Still raining.  On the other side, we visited an interpretive museum that was fantastic.  Lots of old artifacts and information about the river, train transportation, history of the area, indians, more Lewis and Clark and the Oregon Trail.  There was a sentence by a woman who was on one of the early wagon trains west that I am going to paraphrase:  “I have not told half of what we suffered. I am not adequate to the task.”

There was a fascinating collection of over 4,000 rosary beads — some huge beads on lengths of 6 feet long strands — collected by a Catholic convert named ‘Donald Brown, Dominican Brother’.  Most were given to him be a variety of famous and not-so-famous including JFK.  He was canonized by Pope John Paul II.  It is the largest collection of rosaries in the world.  That, my friends, is why you hang with Bob and visit every historical marker and museum possible.

We continued along the river to The Dalles.  We got to the Spring Creek Hatchery which was right across from our hotel.  Lo and behold, it was clear enough on the other side to see Mt.  Hood rising behind it!!  Tried to get a photo but hard with light behind it.

We were going right along the railroad tracks and no trains!!!  The geography changed from lava type rock to meadows and back to lava cliffs.  It was beautiful.  Great signs along the way:  “ROCKS” not ‘beware falling rocks’ just ROCKS.  And “Litter and it will hurt you.”  We crossed the bridge back over to The Dalles on the Oregon side.  As we got there, there was this ancient looking billboard advertising the historic Baldwin Saloon for lunch in the historic downtown…. I Yelped and we went.  Great old bar, paintings (nudes, landscapes including Yosemite and Mt. Shasta), ancient huge cash register that they still use…. old photographs.  Bob ordered a French dip with a caesar salad and a Pepsi; I ordered the lunch special bouillabaisse with a caesar — perfect portion of soup bowl size that had perfectly flakey chunks of white fish (I think it was halibut as they had halibut and chips on the menu) and about 1/2 dozen clams and mussels in the shell.  Really good spicy tomato base broth with lots of garlic.  We both liked the caesar and the glass of Maryhill Chardonnay ($6) that I ordered.  Very good stop.

We got back to Hood River by 3p and relaxed, reading, catching up on iPad, etc.  One of just napped.

We can’t wait to have leftovers for dinner!!!  Sad to leave tomorrow morning.  We will definitely come back here.