Columbia Gorge
The Sea Lion docked in The Dalles, a quiet community in the east Columbia Gorge. Though today is Friday the Thirteenth, for us it is a good luck day. The skies are watercolor blue, the air is brisk, and the maple leaves are a blaze of gold. Our first visit by motor coach was the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. It is a magnificent museum showing the virtues of the National Scenic Area, through which we will travel today.
We continued on, traveling the Historic Highway, constructed between 1913-22. It was a step into a former age. Narrow winding tree-lined miles as we climbed the heights of Rowena Crest for a superb view up and down the gorge. Few vistas are comparable to what we saw from the vantage point some eight hundred feet above the river.
Traveling on, we came to the east entrance of the portion of the highway no longer accessible to cars, but available for bicycles, wheelchairs, and foot traffic. It extends from Mosier to Hood River, a distance of five miles of bright autumn foliage. Numerous overlook sites line the edges of the road. Most of us walked a portion of this distance, a few did the entire length, and some rode bicycles along the route.
After regaining the comforts of the Sea Lion, and a hearty lunch, we continued to cruise down the Columbia Gorge for the afternoon, viewing the fall colors and the waterfalls.As if needing a final exclamation point, the sunset downriver was outstanding.
The Sea Lion docked in The Dalles, a quiet community in the east Columbia Gorge. Though today is Friday the Thirteenth, for us it is a good luck day. The skies are watercolor blue, the air is brisk, and the maple leaves are a blaze of gold. Our first visit by motor coach was the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. It is a magnificent museum showing the virtues of the National Scenic Area, through which we will travel today.
We continued on, traveling the Historic Highway, constructed between 1913-22. It was a step into a former age. Narrow winding tree-lined miles as we climbed the heights of Rowena Crest for a superb view up and down the gorge. Few vistas are comparable to what we saw from the vantage point some eight hundred feet above the river.
Traveling on, we came to the east entrance of the portion of the highway no longer accessible to cars, but available for bicycles, wheelchairs, and foot traffic. It extends from Mosier to Hood River, a distance of five miles of bright autumn foliage. Numerous overlook sites line the edges of the road. Most of us walked a portion of this distance, a few did the entire length, and some rode bicycles along the route.
After regaining the comforts of the Sea Lion, and a hearty lunch, we continued to cruise down the Columbia Gorge for the afternoon, viewing the fall colors and the waterfalls.As if needing a final exclamation point, the sunset downriver was outstanding.
