Hood River and Columbia River Gorge

One of the advantages of going through Bend instead of driving up I-5 is that it let us approach Portland by driving west through the Columbia River Gorge. This has spectacular scenery, much of which is difficult to photograph since there are relatively few places to pull off the road. I hear driving on the Washington side works better, but we were on the Oregon side and had limited photo opportunities. Here's one shot of the rock cliffs, though:


A great place to stop and spend some time is the town of Hood River. Hood River is an outdoor enthusiast's paradise, with both river and mountain sports. This shot is from the park by the river - the gorge walls aren't very high here, but then that's why they could build a town in this spot...

One of the favorite water sports is parasailing because the wind coming up the gorge is always strong. You can find people out here every day, parasailing and partying...

The town is yet another picturesque slice of America. We've run into a lot of these pretty little towns, but then again, we've planned our route to hit as many of them as possible!

Hood River has also been hurt by the recession. The real estate market seems to be strong, but the retail in town clearly shows the impact, with many open store fronts and 'for lease' signs. We asked about the Columbia Gorge Hotel (http://columbiagorgehotel.com/), an historic inn that Steve knew about and was told that it was closed, a casualty of the recession. It was in the process of being sold to a new owner when credit tightened and the deal fell through. We drove by and the grounds were still meticulously maintained, waiting for a new owner I guess...

On the Road

In a land full of beautiful images, this is perhaps my favorite picture. We stopped off the road at a totally desolate place between Bend and Hood River. This is truly high desert, with very few trees and scrubby gray sage bushes. But the sky is incredible and the silence is broken only by birds singing -- the birds sounded like they came off one of those nature cds, too good to be real. I'm planning on getting this picture printed large scale; it's the only way to really appreciate it.


Mount Jackson was the next mountain we saw in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It is between Mount Jefferson and Mount Hood.

This is a shot I took at a rest stop on the way into Bend. I'm really missing my cats, in particular my red tabby Sage, so somewhere between Austin and Mesa I bought a 'fake Sage' at a rest stop. It's one of those stuffed animals that breathes and purrs. This is Steve with Fake Sage:

And here's a closeup of Fake Sage:

She rides in container we keep right behind the front seats, next to the sunglasses, bottles of water and computer power supply. Good for a laugh, but no substitute for my real furry friends!