Oregon Escape June 2017 – Part II

After two days of sleuthing around the Pearl District and downtown Portland, it was off to the coast via Tillamook where I found a tasty lunch at the Tacos La Providencia food truck next to a grassy field and a rich ice cream cone dessert at the Tillamook cheese factory visitor center.

Once at Cape Meares, a gentle sloping walkway to the tiny lighthouse brings you right to the cape’s edge with a wide, south-to-north panoramic view of the coastline and out to the open sea.

View of Oregon coast from Cape Meares

A vivid red lens sits like a cherry on top of the squat, white tower of the lighthouse. A whitewashed, one-room building sits snuggly next to the tower. On the clear day I visited, the red lens, brought all the way from Paris, France, was a colorful accent against the background of blue sky and sea.

Cape Meares lighthouse

A little further south is Cape Lookout where a trail winds through the thick, ferny contours of the sloping hillside on its way out to the cliff overlook into the Pacific. The footpaths are composed of moist wood chips and the fallen greenery of leaves, ferns, and grasses so your steps are silent and the surrounding vegetation muffles all sound. This makes for a very quiet and peaceful walk through rich, verdant landscape. Branches draped in moss and twisted roots stimulate the imagination toward thoughts of fantastical creatures. And I didn’t encounter one mosquito.

Footpath on Cape Lookout

Back in the car I headed south to Pacific City to check out the Pelican Pub & Brewery and then turned back inland to McMinnville for an early dinner and then to Salem where I spent the night. I met up with a longtime friend in Salem at the Saturday market. The variety and quality of handcrafted wares was impressive. As expected for Oregon there was fruit, flowers, wooden bowls, pottery, clothing and accessories, music, and a fine mist filtering down on everyone from the low clouds overhead.

On the way to Bend along the Santiam Highway I got a great view of the pinnacle of Mt. Washington and then looked around the Suttle Lake Lodge in the brisk wind.

When I pulled into Bend Saturday afternoon, groups of marathon runners in their colorful outfits were converging on NW Brooks St where throngs of people and tents of merchandise awaited them. A craft market was happening in the parking lot of the Education Center and after browsing there I found a local brewery where I had dinner. I’d heard about McMenamin’s Old St. Francis School and parked nearby and spent a pleasant while warming by a fire pit and enjoying a beer and conversations mixing with the smoky air. O’Kane’s Whiskey and Cigar Bar is here, too. This was a fun spot with quirky architectural features and a thing for the ogee arch.

The final destination for the next day was the town of Hood River on the Columbia River up north, but on the way I stopped at the Crooked River Gorge a few miles north of Terrebonne. This is a quiet little park area near three bridges that span the gorge. The canyon walls are comprised of dark, broken basalt geometric columns that drop dramatically 300 feet to the river below.

I’ve always wanted to visit Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood so it was my next stop. The lodge is a WPA project and so is filled with examples of fine craftsmanship in wood, stone, and iron.

Finely crafted wooden stairway in Timberline Lodge

Large wooden and iron door

Melamine panels by Douglas Lynch

Wood Workers, Howard S. Sewall, 1937

Solid wood slabs are used for stair steps and chair armrests, and bannisters at the top and bottom of stairways are capped with a variety of carved wooden animals.

Carved animal newel post cap

The abundant use of raw materials creates an environment that is casual rustic, but everything is beautifully executed. I lunched on the delicious offerings of the buffet in the Cascade Dining Room. As I ate, I watched the snow melt outside my tableside window in the sun exposing the stairs to the upper platform where President F.D.R. dedicated the lodge in September of 1937. The dark, craggy stone of Mt. Hood rises another 5000 feet above the lodge and skiers were still sliding down its slopes.

Cascade Dining Room lunch setting

1937 FDR dedication plaque above main entrance

After exploring all the nooks and crannies of the lodge, I climbed back into the car and headed north toward the Columbia River. Arriving in the town of Hood River it is impossible to miss the colorful sails of windsurfers and parasail-boarders floating in the brisk wind that channels through this narrow passage of the Columbia Gorge.

Windsurfers and parasail-boarders at Hood River

The riders shoot across the water surface in rapid bursts of speed and some are quite athletic leaping out of the water and changing direction. There is also a nice camaraderie as people on the shore help the incoming riders land their sails on the bank and anchor them while the rider struggles in the water with his lines and board in tow. Later, I made a quick sneak into Washington state to check out Everybody’s Brewing in the hillside hamlet of White River and captured a shot of spectacular Mt. Hood in the fading light.

View of Mt. Hood from White River, WA

Back in Hood River a cozy seat by the fire pit with a beer at pFriem Family Brewers finished a satisfying day filled with more of Oregon’s natural beauty. Tomorrow would be sightseeing the many waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge.

After breakfast, before looping along the Historic Columbia River Highway to view the waterfalls, I made a stop at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. The grounds were immaculately landscaped and planted with a variety of flowered plants in bloom. Along the winding pathways I found long, wide pools full of salmon. There are more ponds of more fish and a below-water-level viewing room to get a full view of the 10-foot long sturgeon, Herman. This was a much richer experience than I expected and all enclosed in quiet, calm, green surroundings.

On this trip I wanted to see the easily accessible waterfalls along the Historic Columbia River Highway. All but one waterfall is approachable only from the eastbound highway so I travelled west on I-84 and started at the Women’s Forum parking lot to look across Marvelous Gorge for a view of Vista House at Crown Point. Then I began working my way back east.

In front of Vista House was a bicycle with saddle bags and a small trailer in tow. On the back of the trailer was a placard displaying a hand drawn outline of the United States. Soon, Alan Thompson walked up and shared the amazing story of his two-year journey around the US to raise money for Save the Children and Habitat for Humanity. He asked me to take his picture in front of Vista House and then he was on his way. Check out his website at http://www.usperimeterride.org/home/4589262762.

I continued eastward winding through the tree-canopied Historic Columbia River Highway stopping when I came to a parking spot near a waterfall. In planning this trip, the waterfalls were to be the highlight and they were spectacularly beautiful. Latourell, Shepperd’s Dell, Bridal Veil, Wahkeena, Multnomah, and Horsetail Falls were flowing fully and sending spray off into the gentle breeze.

Horsetail Falls, Columbia River Gorge

Mossy stonework on HCRH bridge

After soaking up the view and sounds of Horsetail Falls, I headed back to Cascade Locks to see the Native American fishing platforms and watched fishers lined along the stone embankment snag fish after fish from the turbulent river.

Native American fishing platforms at Cascade Locks

Then it was over to Thunder Island Brewing Company for a very pleasant meal at the edge of the Columbia and watch the boiling current reflect the light off the water on its way to the Pacific.

Thunder Island Brewing Company, Cascade Locks, OR

Portland is where this loop trip started with the trek to the Pacific coast, turning inland through McMinneville and the fertile Willamette valley to Salem, continuing to the Cascade Mountains and Bend, then northward to Mt. Hood and farther north to the Columbia River. Now it was time to close the loop so I returned to Portland for a final view before leaving the state.

My last day was spent finding shops and places in Portland that were full of beautiful things and absorbing the sights seen while walking the streets. The food carts in the block between SW Washington and Alder streets and 9th and 10th avenues offered a fantastic variety of foods and good quality, too. More walking took me to Jake’s Grill with one of the warmest, cozy interiors I’ve been inside. In golden lamplight, the location-appropriate murals glowed with stylized, old map depictions in honor of Lewis & Clark’s historic expedition.

Lewis & Clark-inspired mural at Jake’s Grill

For more nice things, I browsed the beautiful offerings displayed in Canoe, The Real Mother Goose, and The Joinery.

Exotic wooden keepsake boxes

Colorful scarf selections

Strikingly designed natural wood rocking chair

Sliding door concept at The Joinery

My hotel was adjacent to Director Park where Teachers’ Fountain attracts waders of all ages. On the walk back to the hotel I enjoyed the memorials and statuary in the quiet parks in harsh contrast to the imposing Justice Department and District Court buildings just across the street. And I paused to admire Sylvester Farrel’s 137 year old sycamore tree still flourishing at the corner of SW Park and SW Main with its commemorating plaque.

This was a very satisfying trip and pleasant return to Oregon. And to repeat a phrase I’ve used often to describe it, everywhere was rich with natural beauty and moist greenness. So different from my home town of Tucson, Arizona. I can’t imagine how it could’ve been better.