Our day begin on the outskirts of Portland. We actually woke up to a thunderstorm. It wouldn’t be the Pacific NW w/o a little bit o’ rain, right? We then drove along hwy 84, which ran parallel to the Hood River.
Despite the cloud cover, you could make out the lush cliffs that line this corridor. First stop was Mantomah falls, a 700-foot year-round waterfall literally right next to hwy. Very cool.
We then stopped at a fish hatchery & dam. We fed the rainbow trout at the hatchery, visited a 70-yr-old 400-lb sturgeon named Herman and got to see a fish ladder with Salmon running up in in action.
Next stop was the cute little town of Hood River. We had a sampler at Full Sail brewery and watched the kite surfers in action on the river below. We then made our way up the hill in town to the “Fruit Loop” – I kid you not. Apparently, they grow a ton of fruit in this region thanks to the fertile land and lots of rain. We bought some Bing & Rainier Cherries and then went Lavender picking.
The moment you step out of the car, you can smell it, and it’s soo pretty whisping in the wind. We now have a bundle of it “drying” in the back of our Ford Escape. Haha! It smells nice every time we get in the car.
It was then on the Mt. Hood. Despite the clouds, the sun started to poke through and we were hoping to have good views from this 11,000 foot mountain. Alas, the clouds kept hanging around on the mountain and the chair lift to take you up for a better view was closed already. We hiked a bit up in the snow and poked around int he beautiful Timberline Lodge.
After Mt. Hood, it was then on to Bend, OR for the night. Along the way, the landscape turned from forest to desert, then to fruit farms. Bizarre, but beautiful. We also passed over a 300-foot chasm that warranted a pull off the hwy. The day was filled with pleasant “I didn’t know this was here, but cool!” surprises.
[pe2-gallery album=”http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/116540931850597192007/albumid/5740750161371368465?alt=rss&hl=en_US&kind=photo” ]
