From Astoria, we headed inland up the beautiful Columbia River Gorge – although we hadn’t expected it to be quite as hot (mid 30s) and stopped at Horsetail Falls for lunch on the way.
We stayed at the Celilio Inn in The Dalles, right opposite The Dalles Dam. We had a couple of lovely sunsets just watching the dam and river from the patio, enjoying a lovely breeze to cool us down. Our first nights dinner was at Clock Tower Ales, which is the old courthouse and site of the last public hanging in Oregan in 1905!
We managed a very short walk around town and came across the American Empress paddlesteamer moored up on her journey between Portland and Spokane.
I even got my Scoopers ice cream – only 30plus flavours to choose from here – dark cherry was lovely and Andy enjoyed Caramel Caribou – just what was needed in the heat. We also loved all the murals painted around the town.
Next day we drove to Hood River to visit the WAAAM (Western Antique Aeroplane Automobile Museum). Wow, we’ve never seen so many early era planes and cars – all pristine, beautifully presented and apparently in working order! We spent a good 3 hours there checking them all out.
Then we went around the aptly named Fruit Loop – a lovely drive around near Mount Hood where the soil is volcanic and fruit grows well. Heavily laden cherry trees at this time of year and lots of cideries and wineries.
We also visited the exquisite Hope Ranch Lavender – stunning colours, lovely essential oil, and lavender sprays, and pick your own bouquets but BEST of all was the delicious homemade soft lavender ice cream! We also got some great advice about how to care for our own lavender plant at home.
On our way back, we diverted on to the historic Highway 30 and wound our way up to Rowena Crest – amazing views of the Gorge from the top and also the switchback we were going to travel down!!!
Finally, we left the heat of The Dalles, the turkey vultures and american pelicans, and headed back to the coast. We stopped off at the Bridge of the Gods (man-made version but the name originally came from the native Indians verbal stories of a huge landslide on the Washington side of the Gorge that completely blocked the river for many years), and Bonneville Lock and Dam.
Very interesting free tour here about the history of the Gorge and the dam. You can see the fish ladder that the adult salmon use (the juveniles go down the spillways on their journey apparently having to avoid sealions at Bonneville or american pelicans at The Dalles dam!) – believe it or not the fish are counted manually because technology has not been able to count and sort them into different species (yet!).
Then on past Portland, we came across the Evergreen Aircraft and Space Museum. We very nearly didn’t stop but decided we needed to stretch our legs. So glad we did because we discovered this museum is the home of Howard Hughes Spruce Goose!!! My goodness, it’s one hell of a huge machine – couldn’t get a picture of it all, it’s that big!!!
Again, excellent displays in both the aircraft and the space museums. There’s also a water park hanger with a 747 on the top that is part of a water slide – how mad is that?
We continued our trip through hazelnut and walnut groves before getting back onto Highway 101 and the Pacific coast, which was much cooler (phew) and stopped in Depoe Bay.