The Columbia River Gorge

We took a drive towards Portland to visit the waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge. We haven’t hiked in the area for about 25 years, but that’s not even a second in geological time! This winter season ensured that the falls would be dramatic with the recent snow melt.

Murals

The Dalles downtown is decorated with murals depicting the long history of the area. We enjoyed a walking tour to view them as well as other interesting sites.

The Dalles

We have spent 2 weeks in The Dalles, Oregon, on the banks of the mighty Columbia River, house- and pet-sitting for friends. I’ve gotten inquiries as to the origin and meaning of the name “The Dalles” and finally looked it up. “The name of the city comes from the French word dalle (meaning either “sluice” or “flagstone” and referring to the columnar basalt rocks carved by the river), what the French-Canadian employees of the North West Company called the now-inundated rapids of the Columbia River between the present-day city and Celilo Falls.” as per Wikipedia. We enjoyed hiking into and around town and along the Lewis and Clark River Trail that meanders from downtown along the river to the excellent Discovery Center Museum.

The Year (Dec. ’09)

The month of the winter solstice. The dark and cold descended on us. Thankfully we were house-sitting and enjoying a warm gas stove. Mavrik had his friend Seiko to play with in the snow and we enjoyed our first full winter in Bend in 12 years!

The Year (Nov. ’09)

We started winding down the year in November, preparing the property for it’s winter rest. Since we aren’t leaving the area for most of the winter we have 2 rigs to winterize. Usually we pull the Bigfoot camper out and take it on the road for the winter, leaving the Terry Trailer under the carport. We needed another carport, one to cover each rig, so we bought another one. The weather held long enough for us to get it up and get the Bigfoot safe under it.

We took a break and went to The Dalles to visit friends. Robert got some fishing in and we enjoyed a great Jeff Dunham show for Robert’s birthday.