It was almost 9:00 before we checked out and went back across the bridge over Young’s Bay, Had breakfast at Denny’s ($15.75 cash). I had three pancakes. Brynne had scrambled eggs, two pancakes and hash browns, and my bacon. Kent had poached eggs, pancakes and hash browns. He also first had coffee at the hotel. It was a gray overcast day as we drove first to Fort Clatsop National Memorial ($4 cash). Had out National Parks Passport stamped.
Here there was a replica of the fort where Lewis & Clark spent the winter of 1805-1806. It was named for the Clatsops, a local friendly Native American tribe. We could try on clothing of the time.
Saw a demonstration of a flintlock gun. Hiked to the spring, and down to the canoe landing. They had nice paths of wood chips.
We drove along Business US-101 into Astoria and found our way to the Flavel House, a Queen Anne Victorian house with a cupola and lots of gingerbread trim.
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Welcome to Astoria sign
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Acorn Man or Ikala Nawan/Man
Who Fishes (1987, by Peter Toth) |
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| Flavel House (1885, Queen Anne Victorian style) |
There were many Victorian houses in the area, but none so grand as this one built in 1885 for George Flavel. We then found our way to the highest point in Astoria on Coxcomb Hill, 635 feet above sea level above the Columbia River. We climbed the 164 steps in the 125-foot high column built in 1926 to commemorate the discovery, exploration, and settlement of the area.
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Panoramic view from Astoria Column on Coxcomb Hill
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View straight down
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Astoria Column
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This was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rockies. On the column exterior was a spiraling frieze painting of the history of the area. Bought a few postcards and returned to the car.
We found US-30 and headed east, driving 40 miles to Clatskanie with a detour to a Twilight Eagle Sanctuary, but there were no eagles or nests to be seen.
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Twilight Eagle Sanctuary
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At Clatskanie, we drove up a hill to Flippin Castle, a restored 19th century gingerbread trimmed residence crowned by twin cupolas. Closed and in need of painting.
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Flippin Castle (1900, in Queen Anne Shingle style)
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We saw some sun, but mostly low-lying clouds. No views of Mount Rainier or Mount St Helens from St Helens. We ate lunch in a Burgerville in St Helens. Cheeseburgers with Tillamook cheese, but too much special sauce, and very potato-y fries. Brynne had the chicken fingers. Left $13 in cash. Continued on US-30 to Portland; not a very scenic route along the Columbia River, with pulp and paper mills, ports, a nuclear plant, etc. But also wooded hills, wildflowers, and farms.
We arrived in Portland, took I-205 south, then turned west on US-26 to Washington Park and the Portland Zoo. Able to enter with our Jacksonville Zoo membership (50 cents cash for postcard). Not an easy zoo to get around. It is known for breeding programs of Asian elephants, Humboldt’s penguins, and black rhinos. A real attempt at natural environments and education. We went first through the rainforest with steam, thunder and lightning. Bats, birds, and crocodiles.
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Fruit bats (PBB)
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Saw the visiting koalas, one was eating and one napping. Next zebras, giraffes, and a pile of naked mole rats. Past the goats to Alaska Tundra with grizzly bears and a wolf.
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| Ursus arctos horribilis/Grizzly Bear |
Africa with hippos and rhinos, and birds.
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| Hippopotamus amphibius (PBB) |
Past the concert lawn with a Birds of Prey demonstration, to the elephants. Went through the Elephant Museum. Saw golden eagles, then the Primate Gallery with gibbons, orangutan, De Brazza’s monkeys, lemurs, tamarins, etc. Sun bears, polar bears, penguins, and finally the Insect Zoo.
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Larosterna inca/Inca Tern and
Spheniscus humboldti/Humboldt Penguin (PBB) |
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| Humboldt Penguin diving for fish |
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| Ursus maritimus/Polar Bears (PBB) |
We bought tickets ($7.50 cash) for the train and soon boarded to go to Washington Park.
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| Diesel locomotive #5/Oregon Express at the Washington Park Station |
Walked past the International Rose Test Gardens, just packed with blooming roses. The rose garden was established in 1917, with 4 acres, 400 varieties, and 10,000 bushes on three terraces.
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International Rose Test Garden
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We finally figured out the direction to the Japanese Gardens ($14 cash), and climbed the steep hill. Designed in 1963 by Professor Takuma Tono, an authority on Japanese landscaping. One of the most authentic Japanese gardens outside of Japan. Five traditional gardens including the Strolling Pond Garden with a pagoda lantern from Sapporo, Portland’s sister city, a Moon Bridge, Zigzag Bridge, and a deer chaser noisemaker (water pouring into a bamboo tube hinged in the middle, and it clacked when tipped forward to empty and drop back to the ground to be filled once again.
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| Chisen-kaiyu/Strolling Pond Garden |
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Moon Bridge
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| Zig-zag Bridge |
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Waterfall to the Lower Pond
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The Tea Garden with a Tea House. The Natural Garden of streams and waterfalls, and paths with tiny bridges.
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Shizen/Natural Garden
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The Sand and Stone Garden with abstract weathered stones in a raked bed of sand meant to suggest ripples of the sea.
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| Kare sansui/Sand and Stone Garden |
Near the pavilion was the Poetry Stone with a haiku carved on it. Sapporo Plaza with a drinking fountain, a gift from Sapporo in 1988. Also the Iyo Stone from Shikoku in Japan. Finally the Flat Garden with raked sand and plantings depicting a sake cup and gourd bottle signifying a wish for the visitor’s happiness.
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Hiraniwa/The Flat Garden; Plantings symbolize
the sake cup and gourd bottle |
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Antique Entrance Gate
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From the pavilion deck, a view of the city of Portland, but not of Mount Hood. Although it was sunny in Portland, there were low-lying clouds all around it. We used the restroom and returned to the train station, catching a different train from the one on which we arrived. This was the Zooliner.
We departed from the zoo and drove towards the airport to our hotel, Courtyard by Marriott. Checked in to Room 203. Free hors d’oeuvres for guests tonight, so we had fruit, potato salad, baked beans, ribs and sausage links, and drinks for dinner. I went out later to a K-Mart for film and batteries ($37.66 cash).
Wednesday, July 8, 1998
Portland, OR to Mount Hood, OR
Up at 8:00 and had breakfast at the Courtyard Café, buffet-style ($17 cash). Checked out and drove to I-84 E/US-30 E. exited at Corbett to follow scenic Old Route 30, the Historic Columbia River Highway. It was first built in 1915, the first paved road in the state, based on European highways that followed the topography. We stopped at the Women’s Forum State Park for a first view into the immense Columbia River gorge, which was misted-in by clouds. Saw the first of several rock formations, Rooster Rock at water level.
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View from Women's Forum State Park
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And you could see the Vista House ahead. That was our next stop in Crown Point State Park.
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Vista House at Crown Point State Park
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Built in 1918, the multi-level Vista House had views, a gift shop ($13.45 cash for postcards), displays, and live examples of all the wildflowers in the area. Located at 733 feet above sea level, we were rising in elevation.
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View of Rooster Rock from Vista House
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Next we went to the Guy W Talbot Park to find Latourell Falls, but ended up back on the highway, at Latourell Falls. A short walk to see the falls in its entirety.
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| Latourell Falls |
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| Monadenia fidelis/Pacific Sideband Snail |
These are the first of 11 waterfalls in the gorge. Saw a large snail on the path. Next stopped at Bridal Veil Falls State Park that had its own little lodge, a B&B.
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Bridal Veil Falls
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Took a winding up and downhill path to the waterfalls. Lots of salmonberry bushes here.
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Okay, not salmonberry, but Rubus odoratus/
Purple Flowering Raspberry |
Continued on the path to the gorge overlook, with lots of wildflowers and birds. The Swainson’s thrush was the dominant song.
Continued, seeing but passing Wahkeena Falls, to Multnomah Falls ($1 cash donation) with its bigger lodge. Here there were two sets of falls for a 620-foot drop, making this the biggest falls in the gorge, although skinny. Also one of the highest waterfalls in the country.
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Brynne & Tamiko with the Upper Falls
and hiding the Lower Falls |
Walked up to a footbridge above the lower falls, and saw the interpretive museum.
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View from bridge of storm damage at Lower Pool
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We drove past the Horsetail Falls, then at Dodson we left the old Route and got on I-84 E. Passed Beacon Rock (848-feet high), the largest monolith in the United States, sitting across the river.
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View of Beacon Rock from Bonneville Dam
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Stopped at Bonneville Dam at the Visitor Center ($10.15 cash for postcards) on Bradford Island. Wandered through the museum, then took the elevator up to the observation platform. We could see the Oregon-side Powerhouse, and the Spillway Dam.
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Bonneville Dam Visitor Center (Brynne & Kent)
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Spillway Dam
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Fish Ladder
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We also looked down on the fish ladder. Took the elevator to the lowest level to look through the viewing windows underwater on the fish ladder. Saw mostly eels and shad. Went out to the Fishway and did see larger fish, probably salmon, swimming against the current, and sometimes jumping up a step.
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Underwater viewing of the fish ladder
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Bonneville Dam Fishway
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Navigation Lock
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We drove to the Navigation Lock to take a peek, then to the fish Hatchery, a huge place with lots of growing-tanks.
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Baby salmon
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Millions of little salmon. Artificial spawning takes place in November and December. Pete Seeger worked at this dam, thus his song “Roll on Columbia.”
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Fish Hatchery Salmon Fountain
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Drove through a tunnel and stopped in Cascade Locks for lunch in the Cascade Locks Inn, like a diner. I had a tuna melt, Brynne had chicken strips, and Kent had a Chef’s Salad ($18 cash). Stopped in Marine Park to see the old lock where folks were fishing. Had a view of the Bridge of Gods to the state of Washington. Supposedly the bridge was once natural, and legend says it collapsed when two warrior gods (Mount Adams and Mount Hood) fought over a goddess (Mount St Helens).
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| Bridge of the Gods (1926) |
Continued to Hood River, and ended up at the Columbia Gorge Hotel to get a view of all the windsurfers in the river below.
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Tiny little windsurfers seen below
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Apparently back water from the dam (which filled the Cascade Locks) and prevailing winds from the Hood River valley make this an ideal place to windsurf. We explored the flower-landscaped grounds and the lobby of the grand old hotel.
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Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River, OR
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Waterfall in the hotel gardens
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Gardens of the Columbia Gorge Hotel
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Next: 1998 Oregon, Not the Coast II.
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