My Final Boring Post - I Promise!

A highlight of our stay in Boring was a tour of the nearby Guide Dogs for the Blind facility. What a wonderful charity, with all expenses paid for the recipients of the trained guide dog.

A few days later, I went back for a graduation ceremony for the students and their new guide dogs. There were 5 graduate pairs, and they were all tear jerkers. If you ever go to one of these, bring plenty of tissues...

All of the dogs at this graduation were Black Labs and Yellow Labs, but they sometimes also have Golden Retrievers.

We visited a couple of the McMenamins while in the area. McMenamins is a chain of repurposed buildings made into restaurants, breweries, etc.

They had a garden with some of the largest flowers I have ever seen!

Unusual, too.

WOW! This one is gigantic!

This McMenamins even had a spa!

This has been such a great stop, I hate to leave, but on to Astoria and the end of the Lewis and Clark circuit.

Another Boring Post

While at Boring, Oregon, I went on a couple of excursions by myself. I went back to the Columbia River Gorge to see the few other things on the portion of the highway that is open. (Most of it is still closed because of last year's fire.)

My first stop was Vista House. One hundred years old, it was built as a clifftop rest stop, observatory and memorial to Oregon pioneers.

The inside of the octagonal stone structure, which is 700 feet above the Columbia River.

There is a nice view of the river, with Beacon Rock (named by Lewis and Clark) in the background.

Two other waterfalls are viewable down the road. Bridal Veil Falls -

And Latourell Falls.

This is my favorite because of the volcanic columns behind it. Just amazing!

Every time I come to the Portland area, I go to visit my grandparents' grave in the Riverview Mausoleum. It's a gorgeous facility.

But this time, I'm here with Holly Nelson, my 3rd cousin whom I connected with through Ancestry DNA. (My grandmother's maiden name was Nelson.)

Each wing of the mausoleum is done in a different color of marble, and most have stained glass windows at the side.

Holly also took me to see her great-grandparents' graves - Charles and Anna Nelson. Charles was my great-grandfather's brother. But I don't know his name. He died while working the wheat fields in Eastern Washington.

But, I know my great-grandmother's name was Marie Nelson, and that she is buried in Riverview Cemetery, adjacent to the mausoleum. So we went there to find it. They were very helpful, gave us a map, and even had someone take us out to locate the grave.

But WHOOPS, there is no headstone! My father verified that my grandmother told him that there was no headstone. So, I may end up getting one.

Getting to know Holly, and adventuring around Portland was lots of fun. A great day!

First Boring Post

Every year that the WINs go to the Pacific Northwest, we spend time in Boring, Oregon, parked on the property of one of our members. It's certainly one of my favorite spots!

Our first outing was to The End of the Trail museum in Oregon City. It was the end of the Oregon Trail, not the Lewis and Clark Trail, hence the huge "wagons."

Afterwards, we went over to the Willamette River to see Willamette Falls. The view from the tower is a little far away -

So we walked across the bridge to get a better look.

From there, we could also see the locks that boats use to get over the falls.

Some nesting osprey nearby posed nicely for us.

On another day, we went out to see Multnomah Falls. Because of last year's fire, a lot of the Columbia River Gorge is closed. But fortunately, this beauty is still open.

We walked up to the very crowded bridge. I wonder what the weight limit is...

From here, you get a closer look at the upper falls -

And can lean over the bridge to look down on the lower falls.

After the falls, we went out to see Bonneville Lock and Dam.

The best part was viewing the inside of the fish ladder. In addition to fish, there were lots of lamprey eels sucking on the glass. Eeewwwww...

We then went over to the Bonneville Fish Hatchery, were we saw a really cool white sturgeon. He was gigantic!

One day, I got kind of lost, and ended up in Estacada. There are some really neat murals there, so it was definitely worth the detour.

It got really hot (over 100) for several days while we were in Boring. Since I don't have a generator, I moved to Barton Park campground so I could run my a/c. This park is mostly used as a takeoff point for a float down the Clackamus River. I didn't do it, but it is obviously very popular!

More Boring stuff to come!

More Mount Hood Fun!

While in the Mt. Hood area, we stayed at a Snow Park in Government Camp. It was conveniently located, free, and we even got a glimpse of Mt. Hood!

One day, we went on a short hike to Little Zigzag Falls. The trail went through the woods, past some teaser waterfalls.

At the parking area was this old bridge.

We made it!

Right across the street from where we are parked is the road to Trillium Lake.

One day, Elaine, Judy and I walked around the lake. The trail is really bad and closed in one place, but we disobeyed the "Closed" signs and carried on...

It was a weekend day, and the lake is very popular!

But after the weekend, the WINs went back to kayak.

It was a lot calmer and just beautiful!

On another day, Dana and I went back up to Mt. Hood to actually hike a little of the Pacific Crest trail.

And I went back another time to take the chair lift up the Magic Mile chair lift.

I can't believe they are skiing here in the middle of the summer!

They came down right past me.

On the way back down, seeing Timberline Lodge from above.

By the way, my blog has been featured on the website "Hitch Up and Go." Check it our here!

I See Mt Hood - I Must Be Close to the Pacific Ocean!

Yes, we are nearing the end of our Lewis and Clark journey. On the way to our stop at Government Camp, near Mt Hood, I stopped off at Stonehenge.

I thought Stonehenge was in England, but this copy-cat was pretty cool.

But I had seen the original almost 30 years ago, so I wasn't fooled...

There was a nice view of the Columbia River, where Lewis and Clark traveled when they were approaching the Pacific.

Can you imagine their thoughts when they got to this view?

Our first outing was to Timberline Lodge at Mt Hood, where we had a great tour.

It's a beautiful lodge!

This mosaic is my favorite part of the lodge.

President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the lodge on this balcony back in 1937.

From here we have a view of Mt. Jefferson to the south, with the Three Sisters on the left.

Out in back of the lodge, we posed with our tour leader, with Mt Hood in the background.

Zooming in -

You can kind of see the paths the climbers take to the top. But the snow is too soft now for climbing.

We walked up to where the Pacific Crest trail is, so I could say I walked it....

And got a view of the back of the lodge.