Day 12: Columbia River Gorge

Today we awoke to rain; we have been lucky enough to somehow avoid having to get ready in morning precipitation the entire trip. The Columbia River Gorge, which runs along the border of Oregon and Washington, was our destination for the day. Again, since we had planned to leave by nine, we left at ten. This has been a normal occurrence for us during the last two weeks or so. It was also the first full day we were able to try out our new plastic passenger side window. Even though we had done our best to tape it down as tightly as possible, the wind whipped it around like crazy, tempting us to rip it out and strangle ourselves with the plastic. Our ears were ringing after just 10 minutes on the interstate!

As we drove along the gorge, we saw hundreds of windsurfers taking advantage of the strong winds that are trapped between the high cliff walls and whip through the gorge over the water. It was an incredible sight to see – the bad weather did not stop the windsurfers. We arrived at the famous Multnomah Falls, eager to get out of the car and do some hiking to stretch our legs. We couldn’t believe the type of clothing the majority of people wore to walk the 100 feet to the base of the falls, have their photo taken and then head straight to the snack stand. There were women in tube-top dresses, heels, faux fur shawls, knee-high Converse shoes and disco-style pants. Remember… it was raining out. The higher we climbed up the falls trail, the less crowded it was and we got a chance to take some photos. The falls were spectacular; it was broken into two levels, both of which were completely covered in gorgeous green moss and ferns. The back of the falls was composed of different layers of volcanic rock.







We chose our next stop in hopes of avoiding any more herds of tourists: Bonneville Fish Hatchery! It was surprisingly interesting. There were buildings designated for egg incubation, long troughs where the baby fish (called fingerlings) were raised to adolescence, and holding ponds for the adult fish before they were released. Salmon, trout and sturgeon were all raised there. The most interesting part of the entire visit was the viewing the aquarium full of sturgeon and a few rainbow trout. We were in awe of the immense size of the fish. The star of the show was a sturgeon named “Herman.” If Herman was released into the wild, he would definitely be mistaken for a killer whale or shark. He was about around 8 feet long, 60 years old, and 750 pounds. Sturgeon can get up to 20 feet long, 1,000 pounds and 100 years old.









After the hatchery, we booked it to the east side of the gorge to learn more about the area at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum. We thought we would have plenty of time here, but turns out the museum closed at five o’clock, and it was ten past five. Since we had missed out on the one place we had been planning to visit the whole day, we did the next best thing and drove straight to Portland to catch the 7:30 showing of Eclipse. We needed a fill up on gas, so we pulled into the nearby 76 to visit our trusty friends. This time next to the pumps, we noticed 76’s entertaining version of public service announcements explaining how to identify smashed bugs on a windshield and easy ways to loosen up sore muscles. While our car was being serviced, we got out of the car and stretched out for the drive ahead of us, and thanked the station for their useful signs. With a tank full of diesel, a fresh cup of free coffee (thanks to the “buy a tank, get free coffee” deal), and a toothless grin from our gas attendant, we battled Portland rain and traffic to get up close and personal with our favorite vampires.



Since we’re beginning to get fed up with paying for ice, Martina has developed an excellent solution. We have now resorted to stopping at outdoor motels and filling up plastic bags with ice from the ice machine, and dumping these into our warm cooler. One man watched her in her sneaky attack, and gave us a thumbs-up. Apparently she's not the only smart thinker around here.