My Great Adventure (Volume II)

[MZ5]

I've been taking a few photos as I ride around the Pacific Northwest this summer while away from home for work. I'm not a brilliant picture-taker by any stretch, but I figured why not post a few up anyway? You all are very generous with your photos, and I enjoy seeing them and seeing where you ride, or live, or whatever. So, without further ado, here are some photos from around the Columbia River Gorge. The Columbia is a huge river, which provides irrigation water to eastern Washington State via the Columbia Basin Project, and electricity and navigation to the entire northwest (and maybe further?). The Columbia is also most of the border between Washington and Oregon, and that is where the gorge is. US Highway 30 runs down the gorge and was completed approximately a century ago. The gorge is a beautiful and wonderful area. If you have a chance some day, it's worth exploring.

Here are some photos from Vista House, which is essentially an early 'rest stop,' though considerably more fancy than those of today!


In this shot, you can see the Vista House on the clifftop to the right of center. This is looking up-river.



This one looks back down-river, toward Portland.

 

[MZ5]

Here's another set of Gorge pics. This is further up, on the east side of the Cascade Mountains. When I was young, we used to refer to this as "the jailhouse." It's just barely to the right and up on a little hill from the highway. So, as you zipped past it, you could briefly see through the front doorway and up toward where the ceiling/roof would have been. As far as I can tell, it's a very old, very primitive house made from local rocks. We called it the jailhouse because it used to have what looked like bars when you saw in through the door. I think that was just the remains of roof supports, but maybe it really was a jailhouse!


Next I have a few pics from along the Oregon coast. These are from Astoria, Seaside, Manzanita, and so on down to Tillamook, though not in that order here. It's very pretty countryside!

This is a pic of a monument to Lewis & Clark:


Nice, sandy beaches:

 

[MZ5]

The yummy lunch I had (I LOVE steamed clams!):


And of course, a few of the milk cows that make Tillamook's famous cheeses, butter, and ice cream. The people are there because, most unfortunately, the highway was closed for a few hours due to a fatal car crash.

 

[MZ5]

Although these were not part of the same ride, I thought I'd throw a couple pics of blueberry fields in for fun. I was here for work. I LOVE blueberries, and Oregon grows a ton of them!

 

[Fuzzy]

View attachment 25227

Must have been a bus tour of city folks for that many to be lined up taking pictures of cows.

 

[Therapy]

Ahhh....
Another place I would like to see.
Never been that far.

Thanks.

 

[MZ5]

Must have been a bus tour of city folks for that many to be lined up taking pictures of cows.

There was a carload of Russian speakers waiting in front of me. The ones over by the cattle were Portlanders just killing time. To be fair, the cattle initiated the while thing by coming out of the barn and over to where all the dopey-looking 2-legged creatures were sitting near their metal carriages.