Day 31-April 20, 2018-The Columbia River Gorge
Drove 89 miles in 1-1/2 hour. Temp started at 55 and got up to 68. Some clouds but mostly sunny all day.
I-84 West follows the Columbia River Gorge and the views were wonderful. It follows the Oregon Trail and Lewis and Clark Trail. The whole trip was along the river on the Oregon side so all of our views were of the Washington side. This is a beautiful river and one of the most beautiful drives in the country. We always love coming here. We turned a corner and all of a sudden there was Mt. Hood staring us in the face. A beautiful mountain even when it’s not covered in snow, it’s even prettier when it’s all white. It would disappear and then BAM! come back into view. We saw a bald eagle sitting atop a pine tree looking for lunch over the river. I had tried to get into some private campgrounds on the river but they were all filled for the week-end. I finally found a state campground, Memaloose State Park in The Dalles, OR, that had room for us. So glad we came here, it’s gorgeous. Big, grassy, shaded sites right on the river with wonderful views. Lots of bit trees and tiny white flowers on the ground. It’s definitely spring here in Oregon, the tulips, lilacs, daffodils and other spring flowers are all in bloom. We got here early, set up, had lunch and then drove into Hood River and visited some of the vineyards and orchards. When we were in Idaho one of the women working at a winery told us about Mt. Hood Winery, where her sister was the manager, so we went there first and talked with her a bit. Her family grew up around here so she had some good ideas as to where to go. The wineries are busy and everyone is saying it’s because the weather is finally nice and it’s the week-end. As we drove one way we had a great view of Mt. Hood, then on the way back we had a great view of Mt. Adams. Mt. Hood is over 11,000’ and Mt. Adams is over 12,000’. They are both covered in snow and tower over everything in the area. We drove some of the “fruit loop” in Hood River, a circle of orchards, vineyards and farms. The pear, apple, peach and cherry trees are in full bloom and they look and smell wonderful. Back to the campground it’s starting to fill up for the week-end, lots of families, some tenting, some RVing.