A Few Days In the Portland Area

We made a short stop in Portland.  We're beginning to realize that we want to be out of cities for awhile and will satisfy that desire in a few days.

After a return trip to Bob's Red Mill we "happened"  upon a Pendleton Store.  We are planning on visiting Pendleton later in Eastern Oregon and had no idea this store is in Portland.  It's the Home store when they sell home furnishings and fabrics by the piece and by the yard.  There are some very good bargins and we had a ball looking through the place.

One can easily become a Pendleton fan just wandering around.

We managed to find a beautiful fabric and some coordinating solids to use on Ed's Stickley chair.  We've been slowly looking for new fabric for awhile to replace the worn out leather. 

Michele Friedman of the Pendleton staff and I got into talking about quilting and she showed me some of the wool packs they have put together.  Good thing they won't be releasing them until long after we have moved on.   Monday was offically proclaimed Cute Dog Day...Finn was not the first to visit that day.

The staff informed us the factory and factory store (for clothing) was just 45 minutes away.  Off we went!  And they even offered a factory tour.

Our guide showed us the buildings and then took us on a 1 hour tour of the Pendleton factory.  Sorry, no photos allowed inside.  We saw everything from the fresh wool bales to the dye vats, roving ready to be spun, spools of spun wool, working looms, blankets before and after they were softened and the sewing and finishing areas. 

Biggest impression for me:  After seeing the old mill in Salem, I realize that nothing has changed.  There are some new machines that speed up some of the processes, but the weaving of wood has

not changed at all!!

The beautiful sunshine has left us and been replaced by clouds and rain.  We began our tour of the Gorge - that's the one along the Columbia River that divides Oregon and Washington - in Troutdale.

This is the view we had most of our drive and we got rained on (softly) most of the day. 

Yesterday we had a clear gorgeous view of Mt. Hood.  I can report that it is covered in snow and looks somewhat like a soft serve ice cream cone swirled to a point on top.  Today it looks more like this photo...

We stopped at the Vista House, built in 1918, this beautiful structure was built as a potty stop for the ladies who toured the Gorge.

Look at this gorgeous interior!  It's 3 stories tall.  And it's a loo!

This part of the Gorge is known for it's waterfalls and we stopped at all we could.

This is Wakeeha Falls...

Across the road is Wakeeha Falls Picnic Ground.  It's so lush and green and the driveway perfectly frames the falls.

The picnic area trees are covered moss.  We've seen a lot of tree moss, but this takes the cake for the most moss.

Multnomah Falls - the second highest in the U.S.  First highest:  Yosemite Falls, that we saw in all its glory.  There's a bridge over the falls.  We walked up the switchbacks to stand on the bridge.

So pretty and so green...

That's Finn and me on the bridge.  He wanted to race up the switchbacks.

And then we stopped at Horsetail Falls.

A park volunteer told us to go and see the salmon swimming upstream.  This brought us to Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery.  The dam was built during the Depression in the 1930's as a project of the Civilian Conservation Corps and was designed by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers.  It was to put Americans back to work as well as provide electricity and flood control for the Columbia River Basin.   

We headed for the Visitor's Center but were stopped when our road wasn't there.  There's one lock that allows barges to pass through the dam.  It involves a swiveling bridge.  That's our road in position for a barge to pass through.

The barge.

The road eventually came back.  It's almost in position here.

The dam has 8 turbines providing power to the Portland area.  It's a huge complex.

Ed photographed this aerial view of the Bonneville project.  We drove a mile from the gate to the Visitors Center, a 5 story building, part of it underwater.

We entered on level 4.

A great deal of thought went into consideration of the salmon and other fish to allow them free passage up the river through the dam so they can spawn.  They built them a fish ladder,  and they count them daily to make sure the intention is working.

On level 1, we watched the fish swimming upstream.  The water at the top is flowing to the right and the fish are swimming to the left.  Every so often a large salmon came through - just not when I had the camera focused on the window.

We happened upon this place by accident.  We knew nothing about it.  What serendipity - the fish swimming and us being there.

There's not a lot of action in the gift shop so I had to have this picture of the volunteer taking a snooze.  He never knew I was there...

We enjoyed a lovely evening with David Schargel.  We had hoped Pegi would join us, but it was not to be.

We are moving on in the morning.