Saturday, 9/21/2013, Dupont to Seattle

We weren’t up too early since we had to find a post office we could mail our box at.  Talking to the front desk girl, many post offices in the area were closed on Saturdays but, there was a large one in Lakewood, just 10miles up the road, that would be open and we could mail our box from there.  They opened at 0900 so Rosie and I were checked out and on the road by 0930.  We still got to the post office early, no matter, there was a small coffee hut, the ‘Black Star’, right in the parking lot of the post office.  There were tons of small coffee joints everywhere we went in Washington State.  I had a double espresso and Rosie had a ‘wet’ cappuccino – wet meaning more steamed milk instead of steamed foam… that would make the cappuccino a latte, right?  J  Anyway, got our package mailed out back to New Jersey just after 0900 and jumped back in the SUV to continue our drive up to Seattle.

As we approached the city, traffic slowed quite a bit on the I-5 for no real discernable reason.  Rosie and I had decided to head straight for the Space Needle on Broad Street so, at our first opportunity I exited off the I-5 and drove into the city.  In no time at all, we were parking in a pay per lot very near the base of the Space Needle.  A short hike later and we were buying our tickets, $19/adult, and queuing up for the elevator ride up to the observation deck at around the 500’ level.

Side Note:  The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, a landmark of the Pacific Northwest, and a symbol of Seattle. Built in the Seattle Center for the 1962 World's Fair, which drew over 2.3 million visitors, nearly 20,000 people a day used its elevators.  Once the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River, it is 605 ft (184 m) high, 138 ft (42 m) wide, and weighs 9,550 tons.  It is built to withstand winds of up to 200 miles per hour (89 m/s) and earthquakes of up to 9.1 magnitude, as strong as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake.  It also has 25 lightning rods.  It has an observation deck at 520 ft (160 m) and a gift shop with the rotating Sky City restaurant at 500 ft (150 m).  From the top of the Needle, one can see not only the downtown Seattle skyline but also the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Elliott Bay, and surrounding islands.  Photographs of the Seattle skyline often show the Space Needle prominently, above the rest of the skyscrapers and Mount Rainier.  Visitors can reach the top of the Space Needle by elevators that travel at 10 miles per hour (4.5 m/s).  The trip takes 41 seconds, and some tourists wait in hour-long lines. On windy days, the elevators slow to 5 miles per hour (2.2 m/s). On April 19, 1999, the city's Landmarks Preservation Board designated it a historic landmark.

The elevator ride didn’t take long.  On this day the weather was overcast but, starting to clear.  Visibility was unlimited and Rosie and I made a couple of circuits around the deck.  I spent time at each cardinal direction and 4 other positions to take photos of the view.  We only spent about 30mins on the observation deck.  Enough time to place an order for a posed photo taken by the Space Needle’s photographer.  When we got back down to the gift shop at the base of the Needle, we made some souvenir purchases and left to go take a ride on the nearby city monorail to the Pike’s Place area on the water. 

The monorail was nothing extraordinary, just another means of getting around the city.  Once we debarked near Pike’s Place and started to walk around some – I actually stopped into the Seattle Mariners store and bought a mini-bat – we realized that it would be much better if we’d driven here, parked and then walked down to Pike’s Place.  So, we jumped back on the train to the Space Needle, picked up the SUV and drove down and found parking near Pike’s Place Market.

Side Note:  Pike Place Market is a public market overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, United States.  The Market opened August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States.  It is a place of business for many small farmers, craftspeople and merchants.  Named after the central street, Pike Place runs northwest from Pike Street to Virginia Street, and remains one of Seattle's most popular tourist destinations.  The Market is built on the edge of a steep hill, and consists of several lower levels located below the main level. Each features a variety of unique shops such as antique dealers, comic book and collectible shops, small family-owned restaurants, and one of the oldest head shops in Seattle. The upper street level contains fishmongers, fresh produce stands and craft stalls operating in the covered arcades. Local farmers and craftspeople sell year-round in the arcades from tables they rent from the Market on a daily basis, in accordance with the Market's mission and founding goal: allowing consumers to "Meet the Producer". Pike Place Market is home to nearly 500 residents who live in 8 different buildings throughout the Market.  Most of these buildings have been low income housing in the past; however, some of them no longer are, such as the Livingston Baker apartments. The Pike Place Market sees 10 million visitors annually.  It is also the home of the first and original Starbucks Coffee shop.

We parked up by the intersection of 2^nd Avenue and Stewart St, for $30/10hrs, which meant we had a 2 block walk, mostly downhill, to Pike’s Place.  On our way down we followed a young, tattooed couple happily sharing a joint…  we were quite surprised.  I was so surprised by this that I called my West Region colleague, Mike, and asked him about the legality of ‘pot smoking’ – he confirmed it.  Wow!  We would see evidence throughout the day of people of all shapes, sizes and ages, buying and enjoying lighting up.  Just not for me.

Rosie and I really enjoyed the smells, people, stalls, vendors, activity and, energy of Pike’s Place!  It’s not a tremendously large area, probably about 2 to 3 city blocks long and only as wide as the vendors and merchants lining both sides of the street.  We made several passes through the market area before we ever bought anything.  Since it was coming up on mid-day, Rosie and I looked for and found an interesting looking place to buy lunch:  Piroshky Piroshky’s, Russian Bakery.  There were quite a few people queued up to buy their offerings but, the line was moving very quickly.  We bought our pastries and strolled over to the northwest end of Pike’s Place to a small grassy area, Victor Steinbrueck Park, and took a seat under a tree for shade and enjoyed our tasty repast while people watching.  There was a couple directly across from us selling trinkets and Mary Jane to anyone wanting some… they were doing brisk business.

Spent about 20mins enjoying our meals and just being in Seattle before we got up and headed back into Pike’s Place proper.  We decided it was time to get in line for Starbucks, not necessarily for coffee but, for the experience and to buy some gradu from the very first Starbucks Coffee shop.  We ended up buying not only, drinks, but also a couple of mugs and t-shirts.  While we were in line we struck up a conversation with a nice lady from Pennsylvania who told us about some ‘locks’ nearby that were worth the visit.  After doing a bit more research, we found out that the locks were the Chittenden Locks, Northwest 54^th Street, in a suburb of Seattle known as Ballard about a 6mile drive from where we were.  Decided we’d go visit after we’d done a bit more shopping inside the market place.

On our first pass through the market place, we saw several leather goods makers that were of some interest, initially to me J before Rosie cottoned on, and we decided to go back and make a few purchases.  Of the 2 vendors we saw, our favorite was Stickman Leather and the owner/artisan, Shawn.  After some light negotiation, I bought a gorgeous leather bag to use for my new GPS and Rosie bought a slightly larger black leather over the shoulder hand bag.  We were quite pleased with our purchases.  Rosie also bought some all natural, handmade lotions before we departed the market place for our SUV and the Chittenden Locks.

Side Note:  The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks is a complex of locks that sits at the west end of Salmon Bay, part of Seattle, Washington's Lake Washington Ship Canal.  They are known locally as the Ballard Locks after the neighborhood to the north. (Magnolia lies to the south.)  The locks and associated facilities serve three purposes:

• To maintain the water level of the fresh water Lake Washington and Lake Union at 20–22 feet (6.1–6.7 m) above sea level (Puget Sound's mean low tide).
• To prevent the mixing of sea water from Puget Sound with the fresh water of the lakes (saltwater intrusion).
• To move boats from the water level of the lakes to the water level of Puget Sound, and vice versa.

The complex includes two locks, 30 × 150 ft (9.1 × 46 m) (small) and 80 × 825 ft (24 × 251 m) (large).   The complex also includes a 235 ft (72 m) spillway with six 32 × 12 ft (9.8 × 3.7 m) gates to assist in water-level control.  A fish ladder is integrated into the locks for migration of anadromous fish, notably salmon.  The grounds feature a visitor’s center, as well as the Carl S. English, Jr., Botanical Gardens.  Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the locks were formally opened on July 4, 1917, although the first ship passed on August 3, 1916.  They were named after U.S. Army Major Hiram Martin Chittenden, the Seattle District Engineer for the Corps of Engineers from April 1906 to September 1908.  They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The locks proper:

As noted above, the complex includes two locks.  Using the small lock when boat traffic is low conserves fresh water during summer, when the lakes receive less inflow.  Having two locks also allows one of the locks to be drained for maintenance without blocking all boat traffic.  The large lock is drained for approximately 2-weeks, usually in November, and the small lock is drained for about the same period, usually in March.  The locks can elevate a 760-by-80-foot (230 × 24 m) vessel 26 ft (7.9 m), from the level of Puget Sound at a very low tide to the level of freshwater Salmon Bay, in 10–15 minutes.  The locks handle both pleasure boats and commercial vessels, ranging from kayaks to fishing boats returning from the Bering Sea to cargo ships.  Over 1 million tons of cargo, fuel, building materials, and seafood products pass through the locks each year.

The drive through Seattle to the locks in Ballard didn’t take long.  We found parking right outside the entrance and went in.  Turns out there’s a visitor’s center and botanical garden within the boundaries of the locks and we stopped into the visitor center first to do a little souvenir shopping and to watch the short movie that played on the hour about the locks before going to the locks.  Rosie and I spent a very nice hour or so wandering around the locks, watching them in action and, visiting the salmon ladder on the southern side of the locks where visitors can watch salmon, this time of year, Coho, negotiate the steps back up into the lakes from the Pacific.  You could spend most of the day just watching salmon through the thick glass.  We did a high speed pass through the botanical gardens before departing the locks to go back to Pike’s Place for dinner.

We parked in the same place as earlier in the day and walked down to the market place and just wandered around until we found an interesting place for dinner at the north end of Pikes Place, Seatown Seabar & Rotisserie.  We didn’t have reservations so couldn’t negotiate a seat outside but, the wait staff very quickly seated us on the inside which was just fine.  Our last dinner in Seattle was relaxing and a good opportunity for Rosie and me to reminisce about our fantastic road trip.  We would do it again by ourselves or with friends in a heartbeat!  As with every trip, we’re not looking forward to going back East.

After dinner we made it back to our SUV and drove the 15miles or so down I-5 to our newest favorite hotel chain, the Hampton Inns & Suites.  Rosie had found this one very close to SeaTac International Airport.  By the time we had checked in, got a complimentary upgrade to room 306, dropped off the SUV at the rental return and got picked up by the hotel shuttle, it was ~1930.  We didn’t have a whole lot of time to enjoy our accommodation on this evening.  We packed, relaxed and hit the rack when we got tired.  Had to be up at 0330 for a short ride to the airport and our United Airlines flight, which should take off just after 0600, direct for Newark.

Well, time to bring an end to this blog…  it’s taken me a while, post-trip, to complete.  I’m sure I haven’t captured everything we saw or how we were feeling about the sights and sounds of our trip but, at least we’ll have something down on paper to reflect back on down the road.

Total miles traveled on this road trip:  1550miles 


Until our next adventure….

Friday, 9/20/2013, Hood River, OR, to Dupont, WA, via Mt. St. Helens

Good morning!  We have another long day of driving in order to get to Mt. St. Helens and position ourselves for a short drive into Seattle on Saturday, 9/21.  Today’s route will end up putting about 275miles on the SUV today.  The weather looks great but, was forecast to degrade as the day when on.

Checked out of the hotel and was on the road by 0730.  Our first waypoint would be Camas, Washington, on the Washington state side of the Columbia River.  GPS routed us back along the I-84 and took us back across the ‘Bridge of the Gods’ at Cascade Locks.  This time instead of turning right onto Hwy 14, we went left.  Hwy 14, much like Rt. 30 in Oregon, hugs the Columbia River all the way over to Vancouver, WA.  Camas was about 50miles from Hood River.  We did make a photo stop along the way when we came abeam of the Vista House on the Oregon side before continuing on into Camas.  We lingered in Camas to get some cash out of a BoA ATM followed by a pit stop at a McDonald’s for a restroom break and breakfast.  Left Camas via Hwy 14 headed for our next waypoint, Kelso, WA, until it intercepted I-205 which we merged onto northbound.  Another 50miles or so from Camas to Kelso.  I-205 intercepts the I-5 just north of Vancouver.  Coming out of Portland the I-5 follows the Columbia River northwards until Kelso where it bends back westward towards the Pacific.  Castle Rock was 10 miles beyond Kelso.  All of the online planning we’d done re: getting to Mt. St. Helens, recommended getting up to Castle Rock and taking Spirit Lake Highway, Rt. 504, east to the Johnston Ridge Observatory facing the blown out north face of Mt. St. Helens.  So, that’s what we did.  The ~55miles to the Observatory felt a lot farther than we’d expected, particularly with some of the very slow speed areas once drives through.

Side Note:  Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake was completed in December 1986 at Silver Lake, about 30 miles (48 km) west of Mount St. Helens and five miles (8 km) east of Interstate Highway 5. By the end of 1989, the Center had hosted more than 1.5 million visitors.  The Visitor Center at Silver Lake opened in 1987, and is now operated by the Washington State Park System. Exhibits include the area's culture and history, and the natural history and geology of the volcano and the eruption, including the recovery of the area's vegetation and animal life.  The Center includes a theater, a gift shop and outdoor trails. A small admission fee is charged.  The Center was formerly operated by the U.S. Forest Service, and due to its location near Seaquest State Park, it is also known as Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Seaquest State Park.

Our first brief stop came ~5miles along when we pulled into the Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake.  Didn’t stay long because of the distances we needed to make and places we wanted to stop so, on we went.  About 10miles along the 504, you reach the small town of Toutle, which was decimated by the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens.  Was just a pass through for us.  The ride out to Johnston Ridge is very scenic and amazing.  The entire valley back in 1980 was trashed leaving a new valley floor the level of which was up 50-200feet due to the volume of debris and earth moved by the eruption.  The Weyerhaeuser Company owns much of the replanted timber in the area… they’ve literally replanted millions of trees throughout the area.

Arrived at Johnston Ridge Observatory just before noon and found ample parking.  Was a bit chilly due primarily to the stiff breeze this close to the north face of Mt. St. Helens.  The view to the destroyed north face of the volcano was overwhelming… it was really difficult to comprehend the size of the remaining volcano even though we were 5 miles from the crater.  One feels very small in the presence of Mother Nature. 

Side Note:  The Johnston Ridge Observatory is located 52 miles (84 km) east of Castle Rock, Washington, at the end of Washington State Route 504.  Exhibits focus on the geologic history of the volcano, eyewitness accounts of the explosion, and the science of monitoring volcanic activity.  A movie is available and a bookstore. A half-mile trail provides views of the lava dome, crater, pumice plain, and landslide deposit. The observatory is located by the site of volcanologist David A. Johnston's camp on the morning of May 18, 1980, and opened in 1997.  Johnston was the duty scientist that day and died.  The Observatory is run by the U.S. Forest Service.

On this particular day, there weren’t too many visitors.  There were a couple of busloads of school kids on a field trip and they were being hosted by a couple of park Rangers.  Rosie and I went inside and whiled away the time before the theatre movie by visiting and reading about the events and reasons behind the 1980 eruption.  The movie on the day ran for about 20mins and when it finished, the widescreen lifts and the curtains part to show you a spectacular view of Mt. St. Helens gaping north face.  We exited the building and hiked up a nearby trail for better views to the volcano.  There are a handful of other trails much longer than we hiked but, there just wasn’t enough time in our day for an extended nature hike. 

We took quite a few photos of the volcano and its crater.  While we were on our short hike, noticed a man that appeared to work for the Observatory and struck up a conversation with him, Russ.  Turns out he did work as a Docent for the Observatory and was full of interesting facts about the volcano including the fact that a glacier was reforming within the crater, we could see it, and that nearby Spirit Lake was 200’ higher than before the eruption!  Amazing.

Side Note:  Mount St. Helens (known as Lawetlat'la to the indigenous Cowlitz people, and Loowit to the Klickitat) is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.  It is 96 miles (154 km) south of Seattle, Washington, and 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon.  Mount St. Helens takes its English name from the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver who made a survey of the area in the late 18th century.   The volcano is located in the Cascade Range and is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes.  This volcano is well known for its ash explosions and pyroclastic flows. Mount St. Helens is most notorious for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 a.m. PDT, the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States.  Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. A massive debris avalanche triggered by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale caused an eruption that reduced the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 ft (2,950 m) to 8,365 ft (2,550 m), replacing it with a 1 mile (1.6 km) wide horseshoe-shaped crater.   The debris avalanche was up to 0.7 cubic miles (2.9 km3) in volume.  The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was created to preserve the volcano and allow for its aftermath to be scientifically studied.  As with most other volcanoes in the Cascade Range, Mount St. Helens is a large eruptive cone consisting of lava rock interlayered with ash, pumice, and other deposits.  The mountain includes layers of basalt and andesite through which several domes of dacite lava have erupted.  The largest of the dacite domes formed the previous summit, and off its northern flank sat the smaller Goat Rocks dome.  Both were destroyed in the 1980 eruption.

Left the Observatory and backtracked our way on the Rt. 504 approximately 7miles to the Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center.  We were quite peckish and decided to have lunch there – we also bought some minor souvenirs while we were there and contemplated buying a helicopter tour of the volcano.  Rosie wasn’t up for it on this day so, we passed on the opportunity.  While we were having lunch we got to see the Bell Ranger helicopter takeoff with passengers and return… maybe next time!

Left the Visitor Center… destination unknown.  We knew we wanted to stay at a hotel someplace south of Seattle on this Friday to make the Saturday commute into the city a breeze so, we plugged Seattle in to the GPS and headed west on the 504.  Thirteen (13) miles later we turned right on State Road 505 north and continued on.  A little over 10miles later we jumped back on to the I-5 North at exit 63 and continued driving towards Seattle.  By this time, mid-afternoon, the clouds had closed in and it had started to rain.  As we drove on, Rosie broke out her iPhone and ‘yelped’ hotels based on the towns and cities we were approaching.  As we approached DuPont and the Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), she found a Hampton Inns Suites in DuPont and gave them a call.  They had room and she reserved a room for $109.  We arrived sometime after 1600.  The only slight downside to this choice of locations was that we were still 50miles south of Seattle.

This Hampton Inn was very new and modern and most likely supported defense service members and contractors doing work for or with JBLM.  Right across from the hotel, there was a Starbucks and a Japanese restaurant, Happy Teriyaki.  We knew where we’d be having dinner on this night. J  Checked in, got settled and made the quick stroll in light rain over to the Japanese restaurant and enjoyed a good supper.  After dinner we made an early evening of it in order to box up some items we’d accumulated along the way for mailing and prep for our day in Seattle.  

Thursday, 9/19/2013, Astoria to Hood River, OR, via Historic Columbia River Highway, Rt. 30

As usual we were up early.  I did take a look at some of my work e-mail.  My Team Lead, Deo, has had some week… the Canadian Account Team has been giving him fits.  I’ll follow my own rules and, ignore the back and forth – it’ll still be there when I get back.

Rosie and I decided that we’d head towards Hood River on the Columbia River via as many back roads as could be managed and see what we would find.  No real, concrete objective here on this day.  Decided on Hood River based on what I’d recalled from the Discovery Channel’s early 2000s show, Road Trip, hosted by Steven Lee and Tina Maddigan.  The road trip they did went from Seattle to Portland with a detour to Hood River for some watersports.  Looked interesting and since we were in the area, why not?

Checked out of and departed the Comfort Suites by 0800.  Decided to take state highway 30 out of Astoria towards Portland.  Hwy 30 basically hugs the top of Oregon and keeps you very near streams and rivers all the way to Hood River.  We’d driven for about 45mins and were getting a bit hungry.  As we were passing through the small town of Westport, saw a couple of buildings called the Berry Patch which included a restaurant so, we pulled in for breakfast.  Although we were very close to Westport, the Berry Patch appeared to be part of the town of Clatskanie, the center of which was still ~8miles to our east.  Very cute diner type of restaurant which was attached to a small jam/jelly making company called the Berry Patch and they had quite a bit of their homemade preserves and jams for display and sale.  Had a very tasty breakfast of biscuits and gravy before hitting the road again.

We did end up making a quick stop in Clatskanie to purchase some mailing tape from a department store and mailing box from the local post office in order to box up some souvenirs to mail home that might have taken up more luggage poundage than we wanted once we made it up to Seattle.  Continued on our way along Hwy 30. 

Side Note:  One thing about Oregon that became abundantly clear to us was that Oregon has a huge forestry/logging industry.  Maybe because we were always near water, we saw plenty of lumber yards, saw mills, huge piles of cut, stacked felled trees and, logging ports throughout the state.  Very different than what we were accustomed to being around and very cool!

Just outside of Rainier, Oregon, our GPS had us cut across the Lewis and Clark Bridge over into Longview, Washington.  This whole area on the Columbia River is a huge confluence of wood, wood industry and wood transportation.  Five miles later we had merged onto the I-5 south towards Portland with no intent of doing anything more than skirting the city to the north while continuing east to Hood River.

Fifteen miles north of Portland’s city center, the I-5 has a bypass, the I-205, that skirts Vancouver, Washington, the sister city to Portland, Oregon, and takes you to the I-84/Rt. 30… we went this way.  Approximately 12miles later, we had merged onto the I-84/new Rt. 30 east.  About 10 mile further along, we saw signs for Historic Columbia River Highway, Rt. 30, and eagerly took exit 17 through the small town of Troutdale on to old Rt. 30, also known as Crown Point Highway.  I-84 hugs the Columbia River for approximately 200miles from Portland to Hermiston where the river heads more northwards while the Interstate continues southerly through the rest of Oregon before turning back east.

The views along Historic Rt. 30 overlooking I-84 and the gorge formed by the Columbia River were breathtaking and expansive.  The highway winds its way right along the top and edge of the gorge.  In some areas there were posted speed limits of 55mph but, no way any one in their right mind were doing more than 35mph.   During the 15 or so miles we spent on the highway, we stopped and visited at quite a few locations including:  the lookout by the Portland Women’s forum; the Vista House (where we parked and toured the gallery, small museum and gift shop); Latourell Falls; Bridal Veil Falls, and finally; Multnomah Lodge and Falls where we spent the bulk of our time.

The weather was on the cool side but the skies were blue and there were quite a sizeable number of visitors to Multnomah Lodge and fall on this particular day.  Parking was at a premium and we ended up parking a reasonable hike away.  Time was around 1300 and Rosie and I were looking for lunch so, we queued up to get seated and served in the Lodge’s Restaurant.  There was a 20min wait during which we spent touring the Lodge containing the area’s history and artifacts and the large gift shop.  The restaurant was on the second level of the lodge with wrap around windows so all patrons could enjoy the view to the fall.  We took our time with lunch, I had a sandwich and French Onion soup, and enjoyed the atmosphere with folks from all around the world based on the accents and languages in play. 

Side Note:  Multnomah Falls is a waterfall on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, located east of Troutdale, between Corbett and Dodson, along the Historic Columbia River Highway. The falls drops in two major steps, split into an upper falls of 542 feet (165 m) and a lower falls of 69 feet (21 m), with a gradual 9 foot (3 m) drop in elevation between the two, so the total height of the waterfall is conventionally given as 620 feet (189 m). Multnomah Falls is the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon. It is credited by a sign at the site of the falls, and by the United States Forest Service, as the second tallest year-round waterfall in the United States.  However, there is some skepticism surrounding this distinction, as Multnomah Falls is listed as the 137th tallest waterfall in the United States by the World Waterfall Database (this site does not distinguish between seasonal and year-round waterfalls).  Underground springs from Larch Mountain are the year-round source of water for the waterfall, augmented by spring runoff from the mountain's snowpack and rainwater during the other seasons.  A foot trail leads to Benson Footbridge, a 45-foot (14 m)-long footbridge that allows visitors to cross 105 feet (32 m) above the lower cascade.  The trail continues to a platform at the top of the upper falls where visitors get a bird's-eye view of the Columbia Gorge and also of "Little Multnomah", a small cascade slightly upstream from the "upper" falls, which is not visible from ground level. The Mark O. Hatfield Memorial Trail starts at the falls and continues through the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge to Starvation Creek. The footbridge is named for Simon Benson, who financed the bridge's construction in 1914 by Italian stonemasons.

After lunch we headed out to enjoy the Falls, hiking up to the architecturally gorgeous Benson Footbridge which spans the lower cascade of the falls about 100’ up.  The views are iconic and have been used and seen in TV commercials.  Not surprisingly, we took a lot of photos while we were onsite.  We would have liked to have lingered longer but, wanted to see what we would find in Hood River, 30 or so miles away.  Jumped back onto old Rt. 30 for another ~3miles and merged back on to I-84 at exit 35.

En route to Hood River we saw signs for the ‘Bridge of the Gods’!  Not sure why it’s called that but, knew we wanted to go see/cross it.  So, took exit 44 off of I-84 into Cascade Locks and almost immediately eased onto a gentle, right hand loop leading to a toll house taking $1 tolls to cross the bridge over into Washington State.  We weren’t quite sure where this would take us but decided to go right off the bridge on to Rt. 14.  We didn’t have a map at us so once we reached Stevenson ~3miles down the road, stopped in for some gas and then backtracked to the bridge and crossed back over to Cascade Locks and the I-84 to continue the final 20miles to Hood River.  It turns out that we could have gotten to Hood River via Washington’s Rt. 14 but, didn’t figure that out until after we got settled in Hood River.

Arrived in Hood River, renowned for its windsurfing among other water activities, and really had no idea where we were or what we could or wanted to do!  So, found Oak St, aka: Main St, and parked right by a coffee shop.  We hadn’t strolled far when Rosie saw an interesting jewelry store, Silverado’s, and we ducked in.  Wasn’t long before Rosie had struck up a conversation with one of the women in the store, Tovy (Scandinavian name), while shopping for some silver.  She was a wealth of information and recommended a place for us to stay in town and a place to have dinner:  Hood River Hotel right on Oak St., and Nora’s Table for dinner.  Both would end of being excellent recommendations.  After buying a keepsake from Tovy, we left the store looking for a place to slake our thirst with a cocktail.  It was late in the afternoon and we didn’t have to look far.  Catty corner from where we were standing, was a British Flag indicating a pub where a corner gas station used to be.  So, crossed over and spent the next ½ hr sitting at one of the outdoor tables enjoying our beverages:  a Harp for me and a vodka drink for Rosie. 

Finished up and walked back to our SUV.  The hotel was just east of where we’d parked on main street.  Found parking just outside of the hotel, unloaded and went inside to see if they had vacancies, they did, and register.  The Hood River Hotel is really more of a small, 41 room, Inn with a restaurant, Cornerstone Cuisine, inside.  The hotel was originally built back in 1911 and has been through a lot over the course of its 100+ years of existence.  The 1 hotel receptionist was very friendly and checked us into room #103 for all of $99.  There was really no reason for us to use the very old and dated elevator but, we took a ride just to enjoy entering and closing the doors ourselves.  There wasn’t much very extraordinary about our room but, had everything we needed including an old radiator water heater and a large window to open for fresh/cool air.  Rosie and I had some time to chill before heading out, walking, to dinner.

Side Note:  Ever since we left Astoria I had smelled an odor in the SUV that reminded me of accidentally stepping in dog poo… just couldn’t figure out what it was but, kept it to myself for a while.  Eventually after a few stops to look around and see whether I had tracked something into the SUV or hit something, I mentioned it to Rosie.  She, initially, couldn’t smell anything and most likely thought I might be imagining the odor.  However, as the day wore on and we got closer to Hood River, she started noticing the same poopy odor I had been smelling all day long.  Together, we both tried finding where the offending odor was coming from and failed.  Nothing else to do but continue on to Hood River.  Fast forward… as we prepared to go out to dinner in Hood River, Rosie went out to the SUV to get out a different pair of shoes to wear out.  When she opened the back hatch, she found the offending source – our beach shoes!  They reeked of kaka!  Back at Cannon Beach we’d washed them off with water but apparently, not good enough and over the course of 1 short day, had blossomed into a very ripe pair of beach shoes.  She threw them out right then and there!  Mystery solved and my ‘blood hound-like nose, vindicated!’  J

We’d booked dinner at Nora’s Table, recommended by Tovy, for 1800.  The restaurant was just a good stretch of the leg up Main Street and on the same side as the hotel so we walked.  Was nice to just stretch our legs and enjoy the sights of the town.  Nora’s Table felt very retro and Nuevo inside all at the same time.  The wait staff was great!  Ours was an older gentleman from around these parts and very knowledgeable about the area and restaurant history.  The place was full but not crowded and you could see into the kitchen area from where we sat.  We were seated by 2 young moms just out for dinner enjoying each other’s company and we struck up a nice conversation with them during dinner.  Based on our waiter’s recommendation, I ordered a bottle of local Pinot Noir to enjoy over dinner.  Rosie ordered regional King’s Salmon while I went for the more traditional Ribeye steak.  We shared a peach pie for dessert.  Excellent meal!  Left the restaurant pleased with our good fortune and, happy with our decision to enjoy Nora’s Table.  A short walk later we were back at the hotel and turning in for the evening. 

Our days travel was only ~165miles but, as usual, we packed in a ton of adventure and experience!  Our primary objectives for tomorrow, Friday, 9/20, were two-fold:  Visit Mt. St. Helens and position ourselves for a short ride into Seattle for a day’s visit.