Touring the Portland–Vancouver Area

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

 

When you’ve lived in a place for a while you don’t know where the tourist attractions are.  Well, you know where some of them are but not the ones the Chamber of Commerce or Visitor’s Center think one should necessarily visit. After all, you live there.  You aren’t just visiting.  You certainly don’t really know what other folks will want to see when they visit either.  Such has been the case with visitors in the Portland area.

We lived in this area for many, many years but that was also many years ago.  Now we hang around because of family only during the summer time.  When we have visitors show up I know a few places I like to go but it isn’t always places they’ve heard about.  Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t.  When Terry’s brother visited years ago we learned about places we never knew about.  One such place was the Grotto -- amazing.

Inside the Vista House

Vista House

The places I suggest now don’t necessarily include that but always include Powell’s Book Store, the waterfront and Old Town plus areas around Portland and not necessarily in the center of the town.  Of course, weather around here dictates what’s fun to see and what isn’t.  Blue skies can make a dreary tour into a pleasant one.  We have played tour guide to this area numerous times even chartering a bus once for a group.  On this day the weather was the best ever.

My point?  We have visitors.  Our full-timing friends, Marsha and Paul from Where’s Weaver, are in town.  For a couple of days we’ve been playing tour guide.  You can’t see a lot in just two days.  There are so many more places to visit but with the drive and time involved isn’t always possible to see them all.  My choice for day number one was the waterfalls area along the Columbia River.  Here’s a map and a little information. 

By heading east out of Portland on I-84 to exit 22, you can follow Historic Highway 30.  The first place of interest we stopped at was the Vista House.  Vista is a clue as to the view from this place.  On a clear day you can see forever or so it goes.  It was built about 1917 as a place to enjoy the fantastic view.  It was a little hazy in the morning the day we were there.  It was still a beautiful day and we could see quite a distance east and west up and down the Columbia River.

Shepherd Dell Falls

As Historic Highway 30 moves east on the windy little road, one waterfall after another is just a short walk from the main road.  I was a little disappointed though that the road and walkways around the waterfall at Latourell Falls was closed.  It was under repair. We drove beyond that one a short distance to the next waterfall at Shepherd Dells.

Marsha at Bridal Veil Falls

Paul at Bridal Veil Falls

Then, it was on down the road to Bridal Veil.  We walked the 2/3 mile round trip to view another gorgeous fall.  Going down to the fall was a piece of cake.  However, climbing back up we realized we needed to conserve our breath.  Sometimes talking and walking is difficult.  Can you imagine we were quiet for a spell?

Multnomah Falls

We stopped at a few more waterfalls along the road but the biggie was definitely Multnomah Falls.  This is the most popular tourist attraction in the state of Oregon in that it attracts the most visitors.  Why?  It’s the second highest waterfall in the United States falling 620 feet.  Gorgeous?  That’s an understatement.  You can climb to the top of the falls.  It's about one mile up and up some more.  The view from the top is another breathtaking glimpse of the falls but at a different angle.  There is a very picturesque hike above the falls which follows the creek and more waterfalls --- been there, done that a few times but probably won't go back.  Remember -- it's all uphill.

Horsetail Falls -  If you hike up the path, you'll be able to walk behind the upper falls. Been there and done that before and actually would like to do that again.  (Tammi?  Sabrina?  Want to go?)

We weren’t through.  Next stop -  Bonneville Fish Hatchery.  It is the largest fish hatchery in Oregon. Between Fall Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Summer and Winter Steelhead the hatchery raises over 10 million hatchlings a year.  There were so many in some ponds that you could hardly make them out.  In addition to the ones that are being raised there are also viewing ponds for Rainbow Trout and Sturgeon.  The young fish will be released into the Columbia River below the dam for their travel to the Pacific Ocean and back. Adult salmon begin arriving back at the hatchery in September and are then sorted through before spawning begins.  During the late summer and early fall, visitors can witness the spawning operation.  An Egg Incubation building is also on premise.  This incubation building can house about 15 million eggs.  If you have to pick just one hatchery to visit, this is the one.

Next stop – - we moved along to the Bonneville Dam and the fish ladders. Fish ladders are built around the dam to slow the flow of water making it easier for the fish to swim to their spawning grounds upstream. Certain months of the year the ladders are full of fish. This was not one of those months. The ladders look like a maze.

Finally, it was time for lunch.  Lunch was in Cascade Locks at the base of the Bridge of the Gods which crosses over the Columbia River into Washington.  We’ve eaten here many times.  It’s just a cafeteria which sits on the edge of the bluff.  The food was great but the company and the view were even better. 

You think that was it for the day?  Not quite but we’re getting close.  Next stop was Vancouver Barracks and Officers Row.  I love this area and wanted to point out the US Grant House and Marshall House in this area.  It’s close to where the reconstructed Fort Vancouver is so if you see that, you’re close.

Bridge of the Gods

When Ulysses Grant was a Captain he served in this location.  Thus, the home was named after him.  It was built between 1849 and 1850 and currently is a restaurant.  One of these days we’re going to eat there but I keep saying that and haven’t made it yet.  The flags along the porch are US flags at different times from 1777 to the current flag of today.

U.S. Grant House

On our way to deliver the Weavers back to their motorhome we made one more little detour.  This time we drove through the Evergreen High School field for a view of Mt. St. Helens.  This is where we watched the volcano erupt 32 years ago.  The view at this time wasn’t spectacular as a few clouds covered the top of the mountain.  Oh well, another day and there will be another view.

It was a busy day.  By the time we got back to our motorhome we were zonked and I'm sure the Weavers were too.  The next day we tackled downtown Portland,  the Rose Garden and so much more.

‘Tis life on the road.