Day 2: Columbia Gorge & Pendelton
We left cMenamins in Troutdale and drove east along the Columbia Gorge today. Highway 84/30 east goes past many farms and little towns in the country. We made our first stop at Oxbow Regional Park which had nice picnic facilities, a play area and there were also some people camping just outside the park's entrance. To stay at this park you have to pay an entrance fee at the ranger's station. The ranger on duty was a a woman who had recently moved here from Kentucky. She tried to answer our questions the best she could, but admitted that she was not very knowledge about the area. She didn't charge us anything, as we were just driving through the park. The drive through this park was quite wooded and very peaceful.
From there we took the Old
Historic Columbia River Highway that was built in 1913. This road provides
access to the waterfalls and views of the Columbia River and runs parallel
to Highway 84, it is also the more scenic of the two highways. We stopped
at the Portland Women's Forum State Park, which has a view overlooking the
Columbia River. It was a nice view but no trails or anything else to do but
take pictures. The Crown Point Vista House was just a little farther east
from the first sight. This octagon-shaped building was closed as they were
remodeling, but we did take a couple pictures. For the next eleven miles there
is a waterfall every mile. The first one is Latourell Falls, which has a long
drop of 249 feet. It did not have a lot of water but the heighth of it was
impressive. We also stopped at Sheppard's Dell Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.
These were both a couple of the smaller falls that fell to one level and would
then continue down a second fall to the bottom of the stream. We then went
to Wakeena Falls which has a two-tiered falls.
We went on to Multnomah Falls which is the one that everybody talks about
because of the height and the double drop with a bridge going over the water
at the second falls. It is the fourth highest waterfall in the United States.
We walked up the windy paved trail which takes you across the bridge that
you see in the picture of these falls. Ther Upper falls drop is 542 feet while
the lower drop is 69 feet. Ther falls is named after the Multnomah Indian
Tribe. There is an interpretive center, snack bar and gift shop, all of which
were open at the base of Multnomah Falls. We were there early enough in the
morning so it wasn't that busy yet. I had never seen so many easily accessible
views of falls in such a small area. There have been recent slides along one
side of the falls and they have trees and dirt that have recently feel to
the base of the falls. This waterfall is also impressive in the winter as
it will begin to freeze over and make for nice pictures. The last falls we
stopped at were the Horsetail Falls. which is a couple miles east of Multinomah
Falls. There are many more falls along the Gorge if one wants to hike the
trails
After looking at waterfalls for the last couple hours we started
driving along the Columbia River. 
That would get tiring fast but we did go to Rowen's Crest for a nice picture
of the gorge. We also stopped at the Bonneville Dam so Jacob could look around.
This dam has a free walking tour, which includes a movie, a fish ladder you
can view outside as well as down below where you can see the fish through
a glass window (we didn't see any fish) and a powerhouse with some of the
old equipment no longer in use on display. The grounds around the dam are
beautifully landscaped. We also stopped at a couple campsites. We drove through
Ainsworth State Park which looked like it would be ok although busy. The other
campground we stopped at was Viento State Park which had picnic grounds, a
small lake and campgrounds. Windsurfers use this park to gain access to the
river. . We continued on and stopped at the The Dalles to get some KFC for
lunch.
We next crossed the Columbia at Biggs so we could stop at Stonehedge and Maryhill
Museum. These were both built by Sam Hill, who also built the Historic
Columbia River Highway and the Peace Arch of the US-Canadian Border. This
Stonehenge was built in the 20's and resembles the one in Europe. The museum
was a house that he built for his daughter. After their death is was made
into a museum that has art, native indian craft, many chess sets, personal
belonging from Kings in the European area. The Stonehenge was interesting
and the museum was well put together and worth seeing if in the area.
We came back into Oregon and continued along the Columbia
until I finally decided to turn off at Arlington and go south. I was curious
about what was over the ridge as I had been looking at the river all morning.
What we found was a large area of farmland that went for hundreds of miles
with small towns about every 30 miles.We stopped at Iona which was a small
town that we remember for being state track & basketball champs and also having
a horseshoe court in the middle of the town. 
It seemed like a nice small town that belonged to an earlier decade, maybe
the 1950's or 60's. As we were driving through the farmland I took a picture
of an old house that had been deserted and actually had all of the ground
around it turned over and have the house surrounded by plowed dirt. We also
stopped in Hepner which was a little larger than Iona.
We let the kids get out and play at a park in the middle of town which had
some playground equipment. At the end of town there was a small reservoir
and park, where people could drop their boats and fish, known as Willow Creek
Lake. We continued east, finally arriving in Pendleton
around 9:00. This is a larger town of about 15,000. We stayed at the Tapadera
Inn for $47 and walked about four blocks to a Chinese restaurant. The food
was ok but the service was slow and we finally had to get their attention
so we could pay and leave.
After putting the kids to sleep around 10:00 we went across the street to the Outback Tavern and talked to the locals for a little while. They were friendly and helpful as we were looking for something to do tomorrow. They suggested that we take the Underground Tour. This was where the Chinese lived in the early 1900's because of racial problems. They actually had their own town below ground. They also mentioned that there was the Umatilla Native museum and county museum that would be worth going to. We tried a beer called Black Butte that we had never had before. It was a dark beer, brewed in Oregon. We liked it because it was smooth and didn't have an aftertaste. We talked to a local person who used to drive trucks in Seattle and we told him how much Seattle had grown in the last ten years. He didn't miss Seattle and enjoys the slower life that Eeastern Oregon has to offer.
We drove 400 miles today and 600 total.