Exploring The Gorge

On Sunday after the Mother's Day Brunch we went back to Troutdale and planned a drive east on Old Hwy 30, a winding road with beautiful vistas of the Columbia River, waterfalls, and interesting edifices.  We scouted out several places that we wanted to try for dinner on our way to Vista House at Crown Point State Scenic Viewpoint.

What a view, both inside as well as outside.


 We then drove down to Multnomah Falls and along the Historic Columbia River Hwy.  We spent more than 2 hours stopping at the many of the falls, taking lots of pictures before heading back on I-84. We made the trip back to Troutdale in only 25 minutes.


We had spotted Tad's Chicken and Dumplin's on our way up Old Hwy 30, but it was packed. Probably a Mother's Day tradition in Oregon.

We drove a little further to Tippy Canoe Bar & Grill. We had a delicious dinner with a great view. We had a great Mother's Day. 

Monday we got up late after such a busy Mother's day.  We ate a very late breakfast at Shari's then  drove to the Post Office to mail a letter to SpecialQuest; remember I work for diesel. We then decided it was time to do some caching. It had been a long time since we had followed our GPS'r to GZ (that's Ground Zero in caching terms).  We located a cache in a cute park in downtown Troutdale. There were a couple of real nice sculptures in the park and a historical marker telling the story of how Troutdale was founded. This is why we love this hobby; we  find so many interesting places while traveling in towns we have never seen before.  We went back to the RV to work on the Golden Spike newsletter.  We finished the day at the a local Chinese restaurant.

Tuesday we decided to go back to McMinamin's for lunch. I had been thinking about that vanilla milkshake since Saturday. I have to say it was worth it. We went to the Co-op ATM in Fairview. and noticed a Target right around the corner.  It had been a long time since we had gone shopping too. We needed milk and creamer.  After spending over an hour and over $70, we checked the GPS for nearby caches and saw there was one only 500 feet away.  You can't turn your back on a cache just 500 feet away!  It was near a cute little city park that had sculptures of animals carved into the trees.  We walked about a quarter of a mile along a path in a wetlands  area.  We found the cache easily and while walking back I looked at the GPS and found ANOTHER cache about 300 feet away. You can't turn your back on a cache just 300 feet away! So off we went down another trail that led towards the back of an elementary school, and off the trail through the wetlands to the GZ.  We looked and looked and spotted the cache. I don't want to give the cache away so I won't mention the name of the cache. It was 20 feet in the air suspended by a fishing line through an eye-screw. The line went tree to tree then down another tree about 60 feet away. Tom lowered the line, I grabbed the cache, signed it, and Tom pulled it back in place. We have heard from the cacher that placed it and he has suggested some others in Astoria. We love this hobby!  We then went back to put the finishing touches on the newsletter. We printed the snail-mail copies and emailed all the rest.
Today I drove back to the Post Office and mailed the newsletters. We packed up and drove to Astoria. We only took one wrong turn, actually a missed turn, which was my fault, but Tom negotiated the tight neighborhood streets like a pro and was a good sport and didn't get too upset at me. Whew!
Tomorrow - we cache!
Blessings to everyone, especially our friends, the McFalls, who just suddenly and expectantly lost their son. Please join us in praying for them in this impossibly difficult time.