Summary of time:
· Oregon Coast – rugged, big long sandy beaches, sea mist
· Big Giant Planes
· Snow capped Mountains
· Mt Hood Railroad
· Columbia River
Handy hints –
§ Good maps and information about campsites
§ Good camera for the views
The next morning was the start of a long driving day, but first it was a quick 10 mile detour so i could get photos of my beach (Ona Beach State Park), before we went to Newport for a coffee. Parking up we realised that it was before 10am and things were not quite open, but we found the “waterfront” and the local sea lions making their presence known, and found a coffee shop, which meant we also had cakes! We strolled along the road, walking past most of the shops, but bought some local caught prawns for lunch.
We then headed back onto Highway 101, and north. Along the coast road, there were many more state parks, long beaches and small towns where you could spend time. We even passed a place called Cape Foulweather, which has panoramic views, but it was living up to its name, as there was lots of mist, short distance visibility, so panoramic views were actually visible. Apparently winds can reach 100mph during storms at this point. Glad it wasn’t a storm i was driving through.
We passed through Depoe Bay (pronounced depot), which during the summer has about 60 gray whales resident off the coast. There was no time to stop to see if we would see them, but there were several boats out, and the visibility distance was better, but it had not fully cleared up.
The last place we passed through was Lincoln City, a real holiday place catering for the needs of every level of income. It has miles of beaches, as well as favourable winds for kite flying – there are annual summer and fall kite festivals – as well as great hiking areas.
Shortly after Lincoln City, we took Highway 18 eastwards and inland. There is an Air and Space Museum nr McMinnville, which holds the “Spruce Goose”, the biggest of its kind, which my dad was very keen to see. We found a small state park, nr a river, where we stopped for prawns (cooked in garlic) and salad.
Back on the road, we diverted into McMinnville, as some friends of my parents were looking possibly to retire in the area, and my mum wanted to see what it was like. We turned off Highway 99, and onto Norton Lane (meant to take a picture for Alastair (Norton) and Rebecca (Lane)), and headed into downtown, which was full of shops, actually reminded me of some small English towns and their high streets (the way it used to be rather than just all the big stores). Then back onto 99 and the Museum, neither mum or i was interested in visiting, so dad went off and pottered by himself, even going into the Spruce Goose and F19. He had fun.
At closing time it meant that we had a couple of hours driving to get to the Columbia River area, which meant getting onto Interstate 5, not getting lost in the myriad of turn-offs and -ons around Portland, and eventually onto I84 heading east along the northern border of Oregon. Where Washington State and Oregon are separated by the Columbia River Gorge (the river actually starts west of the Rockies in British Columbia), and you pass many waterfalls, and almost vertical mountain walls. We found a KOA site at Cascade Locks west of Hood River. Parking up, a “neighbour” commented to my dad on my reversing skills “She’s a keeper”, it was strange for people to see a female driving and/or reversing an RV!!!!
It had been a long day, but still time for the parents to enjoy the pool facilities before dinner.
Next day, not as much driving involved, but we were off on a journey back in time. We continued east to Hood River, a town which sits where the Hood River and Columbia River meet, but also it is 30 minutes drive north of Mt Hood, which is Oregon’s highest peak at 11,240 ft.
History of Mt Hood (from the Mt Hood Railroad pamphlet)
Lewis and Clark (the great explorers of Columbia River gorge) expedition discovered the mouth of Mt Hood in 1805; later settlers would come, drawn by the dense forests, and rich, fertile soil of Hood River Valley. In 1906, the Oregon Lumber Company built the Mt Hood Railroad, from Hood River to Dee to serve its new mill. The Dee area grew over the next 50 years while the railroad carried lumber to the Columbia River. In 1909 construction began to extend the line from Dee to Portland, and when completed was 22 mile in length and is the line that is in use today.
Orchards spread between mountain ridges in the valley, as well as fruit canneries and packing houses, and the Hood River Valley was soon world famous for its fruit.
The railroad was an economic lifeline for the valley, carrying the fruit and forest products down to the markets since 1906, but also commuters used the railroad to get to town.
Although the timber markets declined towards the end of 20th Century, tourism is helping to fill the economic gap. The main use these days of the line is the Scenic Tours for visitors, but it is still an active freight line for the fruit and lumber companies.
We caught the train from Hood River at the 1911 Station, we paid the little bit extra to be in the observation car, and throughout the journey up the line, we were all given a commentary on the history of the railroad, the communities, and also current situations. We were pushed out of the station by a diesel engine, but a couple of miles up the line we went on the Switchback. To ease the climb up the valley side, rather than having to build a long railroad with lots of steep curves in the line, the switchback was built. The engine pushing the train up the line onto the switchback, the fireman then changes the points, and then the engine pulls the train up the line. I had never seen one of these before, and apparently it is one of the few remaining in the USA. The first large snow capped mountains that you see is actually Mt Adams, which is in Washington State.
Further up the line we passed the orchards, and we could see the pears which were nearly ready for picking. We also saw the old and new ways in which the farmers warm and cool the orchards. There were small stacks amongst the trees that would be lit when it gets too cold, but there were also wind turbines to move the air when the temperatures are too warm. They have been trying various different varieties of pears, trying to predict the change in trends of taste etc of the consumers. One of the varieties of pears that we could see were a red variety, which we did buy and try, but was not to mine or mum’s taste. It was certainly very different to Conference Pears, but actually was great cooked with blackberries (especially cooked with a blackberry wine!)
When we were up in the area known as Mt Hood Valley, we got great views of the snow capped Mt Hood. We saw the site of the old Dee Lumber Mill, which had been destroyed by fire, lumber yards, canneries and packing companies, and were fortunate to be able to take the train all the way up to Parkland. A few years ago, floods following a storm, changed the route of the river, which eroded the ground under the track. A lot of money was spent to re route the river back to its original path, reconstruct the eroded ground, and relay the several hundred yards of track, which was only reopened at the end of 2008. Arriving up in Parkland, the small community has a couple of cafes, a museum, a few shops, and a general store (the store where you get almost everything you need – although maybe not a huge variety). We had an hour stop here for lunch.
I took a picture of the train with Mt Hood in the background, but looking at it, it almost seems as though the mountain is a false background!
On our route back down we stopped at the Lumber yard. The engine disengaged from the train, and transferred on to the Lumber Yard line, it shunted some of the empty wagons along the line, to ease the filling of them, and then collected the part-full wagon of lumber, and brought it back and attached to the train, before we went down the line.
There was still part of the day left, so it was decided that we would cross over the river into Washington State, along the river and then cross over on the “Bridge of the Gods” at Cascade Locks – we were stopping at the same place, one of the few places we stopped more than 1 night.
Having filled up with fuel (Oregon doesn’t have a provincial tax, so things are cheaper here – remember the price you see is before tax, except on fuel), we then crossed the river. I was driving, and i am not often a nervous driver, but this bridge made me very nervous. It was narrow – two lorries or two RV’s or two big vehicles almost touch wing mirrors, with not much space on the other side. Being a large vehicle my dad was checking the distance between us and the bridge, and i was driving slowly across, especially when crossing with larger vehicles to make sure we didn’t touch, it felt very close on many times.
Once on the other side, it took a while for my nervous state to ease off, but also knowing that the Bridge of the Gods would not be much wider! It was great seeing the views from across the valley, but i kept moving over onto the turnouts, to let the other traffic past.
The Bridge of the Gods is much higher off the river (which is how it got its name) and although narrow, it was actually a bit wider, but i was still slightly nervous. The bridge was actually raised 30ft when the Columbia River was dammed down river and the water level rose.
Stopping in Cascade Locks, we got an ice cream......big ice creams! We stopped at the local park, found a Native American site where we could buy local caught Coho Salmon, and learn some of the history of the River. When the river was first explored, and for many years after, there were a series of cascades, which were dangerous to navigate by river, so everyone had to get out, and everything included the boats were transported by land, up above the cascades.
As time progressed this was not an easy solution to getting around the cascades, so a series of 5 locks were built to the side of the cascades and improved the movement of traffic up and down the river. With the dam that was built downstream, the need of the locks was no longer necessary with the level of water rising, so although the locks have been dismantled, one area still exists so that it is possible to see what was there. This is a place where the First Nations people can fish with their nets; they are the only ones legal allowed to do this.
Later on at the campsite, as i was working on the internet, i was sat outside the main block nr the washrooms to get a wireless signal, many people stopped to talk to me commenting on the computer, or that i was sat where i was, and on hearing the accent (i don’t have an accent really – well i do compared to here) asking where i was from, and where visiting etc. One of the people who stopped to talk to me was one of the neighbours we had talked to at the coast park by the dunes. It was funny we were on the same site, so we were comparing notes on what we’d been doing, and our plans for the following day. They had certainly been doing a lot more than we had but they only had 1 week holiday so were trying to see as much as possible, and to keep the kids active to tire them out as they seemed to sleep during all the driving (the parents were going to bed not long after the kids)!!
In Portland there was a fabric warehouse, so mum wanted to see what she could find. To get to Portland we headed west back on the I84, stopping at the Multnomah Falls which at “620 ft are the 2nd tallest year round waterfall in the USA”. What they don’t stay when they make this claim is that the falls are actually 2 falls with a 50+ft distance between them, the higher falls are 542 ft, with the lower falls are 69ft (according to the stone sign at the falls), which by my maths comes to 611 ft!!!
They were quite a sight to see, although i can imagine after the snow melts in spring they are spectacular. There were a few tour groups around, so our stop was only brief one, before heading to the outskirts of Portland and the fabric shop.
There was a big warehouse full of all types of fabrics for all your needle working needs, from curtain material to material for evening dresses. Dad went for a coffee, whilst mum and i wandered around and bought some things.
After lunch it was time to move on, taking the I84 and then north onto I5 and into Washington State.
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