Have you heard much about the Columbia River Gorge? Have you heard how beautiful it is, how ridiculously cool of a drive it is along Interstate 84 it can be? Have you heard about the wind, and the windsurfing opportunities? Yes it’s all totally true.
Leaving Pendleton on the final day of my drive, I had two objectives, to enjoy the gorge, and to avoid going through Portland during rush hour. Those two things proved to be somewhat incongruous., as hurrying to get to, and through, Portland made me unable to really stop and enjoy the views as much as they were demanding I do.
Still, I managed to find a few places right off the freeway to stop, such as this park where someone hauling a horse in a trailer decided to stop as well, and let the horse wander around for a bit.
I even managed to head off the freeway for a bit, taking the alternate route, US30, aka the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Byway. That took me away from driving right along the river, but offered some pretty cool views itself!
Ultimately though, maybe the best views of the river and the gorge came from the scenic byway though, as it wound it’s way up to a place called Vista House.
I can see where they got the name, can’t you?
For all of the photos from the trip in one place, check the RoadTrip2014 Flickr album! Thanks for following along on this adventure! Next up I’ll be sharing some photos of the area where we now live!