We said goodbye to Seattle and traveled south to Portland, Oregon. We left around 9:40 and arrived about 1:30. We are staying at Jantzen Beach RV Park. It is on the island of Jantzen Beach and is kind of touristy with outlets across the street. Our ride was rather uneventful except as we drove there were parts that looked a lot like 11/15 going to Williamsport. There were tall rock faces on the left and a big river on the right. The only difference was the license plates said Washington and Oregon. It was a quick ride (compared to other ones), so we set up the camper and decided to do some site seeing.
Dan had found a place on the web back when we were researching called the Vista House in Corbett,Oregon. It looked pretty cool, so we decided to check it out. It was about a 30 minute drive and was more than cool. It was historic and built on a high point along the Columbia River where Washington State and Oregon State meet. You could see the vistas all around, hence the name. The pictures don't do it justice, but we posted them anyway:) The roads all around the area were built by a man named Lancaster. He wanted to "preserve what God gave us for the our future generations", so painstakingly dug the road from the mountain side in such a way as to preserve as much as possible. As a result, there were some narrow roads with switchbacks and 8 waterfalls along the journey, but awesome scenery.
After our jaunt around the historic highway, we went up Larch Mountain Road. Both this road and the one to Corbett had a 10% grade - so it felt like a 45 degree angle up the mountain. We made it to Larch through beautiful wooded roads and entered the Mount Hood National Forest. When we got to the top of the mountain, we had another 1/4 mile up hill to the lookout on Larch Mountain. It was chilly and steep, but we were thankful because a year ago Dan wouldn't have been able to do such a hike. At the pinnacle, we could see Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount Jefferson and looked towards Mount St. Helens, but couldn't make it out due to the clouds. The mountains ranged from 8000 to 14350 feet high. These height was incomparable to the mountains we see in the east. Mt. Hood was especially amazing to view, as it was the closest and appeared quite large through the clouds.
We made our way back to the campground - as Caris made rice pudding in the crockpot and we were afraid it would burn. Dan and Mitch made steaks on the grill with seasoned potatoes and salad. Caris and Carolyn made a quick run to Home Depot for supplies. We had a tasty meal before a walk around the park and heading to bed. We're off to Grant's Pass tomorrow and hope to get the camper washed.
Our Journey today
Welcome to Oregon
View at the Vista House
At the Vista House Upper Deck
View from the upper deck
Looking across to Washington State
Inside the Vista House - built in 1915
Hiking around the waterfalls
Multnomah Falls
The scenery on Larch Mountain
The Lookout at Larch Mt
Is at Multnomah Falls
Off the bridge at Multnomah
The Vista House
Beautiful pictures...so glad Dan was able to experience this trip in such a beautiful way with his tribe
ReplyDeleteEnjoy reading your posts. I check it every day. Of course, it isn't like actually being there. But, it's as close as we're going to get.
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