Sightseeing Stops – Columbia River Gorge

posted in: Landscape, Travel 1

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.

Lovely Blue Water

Columbia River Reflections with train

View of Columbia River

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.

Horse Enjoying the Shade

Bridge

Memaloose Island

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!

Horsetail Falls

Wahkeena Falls

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.

Looking Down the River from 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!

Falls Park

posted in: Landscape 7

Falls with Liberty Bridge

Yup, right smack in the middle of downtown Greenville is Falls Park, home of the Falls of the Reedy River.

Seriously, this is right smack in the middle of downtown, you can sit at a restaurant or coffee shop and watch the waterfall.

Falls of the Reedy River

Oh and there’s also a path that takes you from Falls Park over about a mile to Cleveland Park, where the Greenville Zoo is located. It is part of the longer Swamp Rabbit Trail. So, we would occasionally make a day of it. Spend the morning at the zoo, then hike over to the Falls for some lunch at Fords Oyster House, Nosedive, or some other cool place downtown, maybe ice cream at Kilwyn’s or a cupcake from the Chocolate Moose, then hike on back to the car. This I will definitely miss!

Shelter along the Reedy

Above the Falls