Traveling Twosome
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GORGE-ous drive from Walla Walla, WA to Portland, OR

9/19/2014

2 Comments

 
Since arriving in Portland, Oregon late Monday afternoon, we've been having an amazing, busy time and have been on the go almost every minute!  I've already fallen way behind on blogging, and it will take a week of rainy days to get caught up completely.  

But before we even start blogging Portland, I wanted to share our photos from the absolutely stunning drive we had heading west from Walla Walla in eastern Washington State. We got some great travel tips from my friends Terese and Teri, so we took our time and enjoyed the beautiful sights along the way.

The Columbia River Gorge is absolutely "GORGE-ous"!  The first dramatic sights began right after we turned off WA Highway 12 onto Highway 730 near Wallula.  All of a sudden we came over a hill and the Columbia River was right THERE, staring us in the face.  We were greeted with amazing gorge views like these.  And of course it was much more dramatic in three dimensions than flat photographs can begin to show.
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We crossed into Oregon soon after and would drive westward along the Columbia River for miles and miles, seeing dramatic cliffs, wind farms, and breathtaking views everywhere we looked.
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There were quite a few bridges across the river between Oregon and Washington, all unique in design.
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Amtrak train on WA State side of Columbia River
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As Terese told us, rather abruptly the scenery would change from dry, brown desert-like landscapes to green, forested, and lush.  She was absolutely right.  It does happen suddenly and takes you by surprise. And even though the sky was a bit hazy as we headed further west, all of a sudden we caught a glimpse of Mount Hood in the distance, looking incredibly regal, as if it were standing guard over the valley below. Wow!
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Mt. Hood
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Dam at The Dalles, Washington
We paid $1 toll to cross over to Washington to see the views from a different angle on this pretty green bridge.  You can see how many evergreens grace the river banks now.  Washington is called "the Evergreen State" for good reason!
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Washington landscape and freight train
The sun wasn't right to get any good photos of the Oregon side, so a bit over 20 miles farther west we paid another $1 to cross over this bridge back to Oregon.
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Soon thereafter, we chose to get off the interstate and take the winding, scenic old highway 30 past a group of waterfalls in this area.  Both Teri and Terese had highly recommended checking them out.
We'd originally planned to do a bike ride from Portland back to this area, but we decided we'd better stop and see them now just in case the bike ride didn't work out.  As it turns out, it didn't, so we're really glad we got here on the way to the city!
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First up was Horsetail Falls.
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Horsetail Falls
Next on the agenda was the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon, Multnomah.  
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All the trails in this area are dog-friendly so long as they're on leash, so Paisley had a blast hiking to the falls with us -- just check out that smile!
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Multnomah Falls -- of course we hiked up to the bridge!
The third waterfall we checked out was Wahkeena. This one had a slightly longer and steeper hike up to the viewing spot.
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There was one more waterfall further down the road, but we opted to skip that one and get on to Portland, as it was getting late in the day.
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Wahkeena Falls
We made one final quick photo stop at a viewpoint at the pinnacle of the windy climb up Highway 30. Here's the building at the pinnacle.
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And the view from above, which was stunning.  Contrast this with the rocky view when we first encountered the Columbia River Gorge earlier in the day, and you can really see the difference in landscape features. 

It was refreshing to be back in an area with so many trees after the more arid eastern Washington landscape we'd been living in for a couple of months (although my hair is not a fan of the humidity!)
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Zooming in...
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Beautiful fall color beginning in the river valley below
When we got into the Portland Metro area shortly after taking this final photo, we had to deal with tons of commuter traffic and the serenity we felt on this beautiful drive quickly fell away.  But there were still plenty of good times to come, so stay tuned!
2 Comments
Cheryl Geeting link
9/19/2014 04:49:43 am

Wow, I'm still amazed at the beauty right here in our country! I'm more and more convinced that RVing or something like you're doing will be somewhere in our future. Beautiful pictures!

Reply
Emily
9/19/2014 03:56:10 pm

Thanks Cheryl! And I totally agree -- we keep seeing new places we knew nothing about that take our breath away. Today the Oregon coast for the first time -- almost to amazing to believe we have never seen this splendor before!

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    Emily & Barry

    We're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base.  After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible.

    Our passions are bicycling, walking and hiking, birding, continuing our midlife struggles to learn Spanish, enjoying healthy food (and the occasional donuts & pie!), traveling (duh!)  We travel with a fleet of bicycles and Paisley, our 10-year old Boston Terrier. 

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    Paisley, May 2016
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    States visited (pre-RV)
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    Pearl, a 2007 Newmar Bay Star
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    States visited in "Pearl"

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  • Traveling Twosome Blog
  • BeBelize - Our life in Belize (2011-2013)
  • Earlier adventures (2003-2010)
    • First Belize Trip 2010
    • Fall Sail Cruise Aboard Logos 2009
    • Conch Key 2007
    • Charleston Sailing School 2007
    • Biscayne Bay Sailing School 2007
    • Key Lime Sailing Club 2006
    • Southwest Parks 2006
    • BEYC/Jost van Dyke, BVI 2005
    • Offshore Sailing School 2004
    • Annapolis Sailboat Show 2004
    • Finger Lakes 2004
    • NY State Bike Tour 2004
    • Biras Creek, BVI 2003