Driving and Dining: Three Week Road Trip - Fourth Leg at Columbia River Gorge/Mt. Hood, OR, September 26, 2013

What a dam good trip! No, it was not misspelled. We have visited two dams this week! I hadn't been to a dam in 20 years, and now I've been to two within 72 hours!

A partly sunny day in Troutdale! Imagine that! In the car after breakfast and on the road (again) to the Columbia River Gorge. How nice that Troutdale is at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge so we didn't have long to drive. Our first view...breathtaking!

The magnificent Columbia River Gorge.

View after view, waterfall after waterfall, this Scenic Drive is without a doubt one of the highlights of my traveling life. Considering that the roads and bridges were originally built over 100 years ago makes it that much more incredible, and an incredible story as well. A few of the waterfalls we encountered on our drive today.

Horsetail Falls

Multnomah Falls

We had originally planned to drive through the Gorge and then go around the backside of Mt Hood and have lunch at a lodge over there. But by the time we arrived at Multnomah Falls, it was already after noon, what with all the stops and gawking at beautiful waterfalls and lush, thick moss-laden trees, ferns and other foliage. Luckily, there was a lodge right there, and we climbed up the stairs for lunch. Multnomah Falls Lodge


The Lodge at Multnomah Falls.

Northwest Smoked Salmon appetizer

French Onion Soup

Moroccan Stew with Lamb Sausage

We had a delicious starter of smoked salmon with apple-huckleberry compote, tropical fruits, whipped cream cheese, cheddar and swiss. Not terribly fancy, but pretty good. Stan loved his french onion soup, and we shared and both very much enjoyed the Moroccan stew which was loaded with couscous, tasty vegetables, raisins and a yummy lamb sausage. After lunch, I had to stroll through the gift shop. If there's a gift shop around, I must see what's there. I don't buy much, but every once in a while, I see something that may help me remember the trip.

The Bonneville Dam was our next stop, a fascinating project, started during the Great Depression to create jobs in the Pacific Northwest which was hit particularly hard by the Depression. At that time, Oregon was sparsely populated, and the project was not particularly popular amongst all the populace, but Roosevelt pushed it ahead and proved to be very beneficial during WWII, when they needed the electricity to product the aluminum and other products needed for the war. Also incredibly interesting is the fact that there is an underwater viewing station of the fish ladder which salmon and other species of fish use to go upstream to spawn.

Around a very big bend in the road sits huge, towering, magnificent Mt Hood, shrouded in snow and, usually, clouds. No clouds today, lucky for us. Traveling along the "Fruit Loop" where you can buy apples and pears, now in season (yes, we did, and the Concord Pear I ate was super good). I saw pears and apples I had never heard of before, including the one I devoured in the car.

Mt Hood

The drive back to Troutdale was longer than we had anticipated, but it was very pretty. So many, many trees - Oregon truly is a green state. Instead of going straight to the hotel, we decided to go to dinner since it was already after 6 pm when we got back. Stan had read about a place called McMenamin's Edgefield that had two par-3 golf courses, several restaurants and bars. We decided to check it out. McMenamin's McMenamin's is the most whimsical, amazing place I've ever seen. It is a 74 acre parcel that used to house the poor back at the turn of the 20th century. There is art everywhere, not just framed, but painted murals on every wall. They brew their own beer, have their own winery, glass blowing studio, pottery studio, herb and vegetable garden (all organic), hotel, spa, etc etc. There are rumors that the hotel is haunted. We ate at the Black Rabbit restaurant, which was the more upscale venue there. Stan was entranced by the look of the Caesar salad, so that was all it took. Brent, our server, was absolutely terrific, and made our experience so much better. After I ordered the wine sampler (for lack of a better word - OK, I'm super tired and can't think straight) and Stan got a Moscow Mule (called a New Zealand Mule there), I ordered the Pacific Northwest Salmon over warm cucumber, creme fraiche and salmon roe. Just delicious! Stan ordered the Caesar, of course, and a salmon tartar over a bed of avocado. He was a very happy man.