Gorge is Gorgeous!

The Columbia River Gorge which borders Oregon and Washington is beautiful. It is less than an hours drive to the first picture which is a vista point that overlooks the Gorge called Portland Womens Forum. If you look closely at the first picture you see a structure which is called the Vista House - construction began in 1916. The structure itself is 3 storys with a balcony for 360 degree viewing. It has a copper ceiling and fabulous glasswork for windows. From the inside with the sun shining through the windows they look milky but on the outside they are dark and opaque. We drove historic columbia river highway which is a loop that follows highway 84. The historic highway has trails for hiking and many spectacular waterfalls. We walked a short distance to Latourell Falls where you could walk down a small path and see an excellent small fall with rocks and rubble below. There was a foot bridge that crossed the stream. Our second stop was Horsetail falls (pic above). There was also a .5 mile climb straight up to what they called upperfalls wich was spectacular with a cave cut out so you could literally stand under the falls. About 20 miles ahead is the town of Hood River, where the hood river meets up with the columbia. This is the windsurfing capital of the world and now kite-boarding. It is quite interesting to see surfers of anysort on a river instead of the ocean. After a beer/wine we headed home to have dinner at our favorite pasta house - justa pasta!