The Columbia Gorge is the star of Picture Day!

If one lives in Portland, one must do certain things as a tourist. One must visit the beach, which we saw last week. One must visit Mt. Hood, which we'll get to. And one must travel through the Columbia River Gorge, featured so prominently during the river boat scenes in the super-fantastic Mel Gibson/Jodie Foster classic, Maverick. The gorge is a beautiful place, and it's chock full of waterfalls, which, as you may recall from Picture Days Past, I dig. So it was only natural that in the spring of 1994 we headed out on the old Columbia River Highway, far above the foot of the gorge and the four-lane superhighway that is Interstate 84. The old highway takes you by all the big waterfalls and deep into the forested hillside of the Oregon side of the river, and it's well worth the day trip. We made it more than once, in fact.

This first picture is the gorge itself. Sorry about the haze - that's just the way it is. On the right is Vista House, which is a small observatory on that promontory. Good views of the gorge from that spot. We later had one of our wedding pictures taken with it in the background.


The next few pictures is Latourelle waterfall. It's a cool scene because the path leads right down to the base, which is where we took these pictures. Actually, a lot of waterfalls in the area allow you to get close to the base, but at this one, you're practically able to walk into the pool where the water is crashing. This one is of the lovely wife, who wasn't yet the wife.


This is the top of the falls, obviously.


That's me on the other side of the waterfall.


This is Multnomah Falls, which is the crown jewel of the Columbia Gorge. This was the first time we were there, and Krys was so impressed that we got our wedding photos taken there. It's quite spectacular, and it's fun to hike up toward the top. We never made it all the way. We suck.


The gorge is a wonderful place to drive through. We would return there a lot in the eight years we lived in Oregon. If you're in the area, it's certainly a neat place to go.