Travels - Bingen, WA

August 4-7, 2009

Most people have never heard of Bingen, Washington. This is not surprising because it is less than 100 people. It is a small community nestles in the Columbia River gorge about 50 miles upstream from Portland, Oregon. It is directly across the river from Hood River, Oregon. I know all of this because I went there to teach a class. Wait – I taught a class in a community that has less than 1000 people. Yep – Insitsu, a division of Boeing is located in Bingen. It was a good class – only 4 people and it went very well.

The Columbia River Gorge is beautiful. Not really a canyon, but deep and rugged. The primary industry is lumber, tourism, and if you go up out of the gorge, fruit orchards.

Oh, did I happen to mention that I had to cross a mile long bridge to get from where I was staying in Hood River over to Bingen. And not a fun bridge. It was one of those metal grate base bridges (so the wind doesn't grab it so hard), and it wasn't even as wide as my driveway, and that was two way traffic.

I stayed across the river in Hood River, which happens to be one of the Windsurfing/Kite Boarding Meccas of the world. During the summer months, the wind always blows so the afficiados of these sports congregate to do their sport. It is really cool to go down to the river and watch. I was surprised to see that so many of them were older – I mean about my age.

If you leave Hood River and drive south out of the gorge, you get into the Mount Hood area. It is a spectacular area.
I drove back down the gorge one evening to see the Bonneville Damn. Alas, like so many other things, the facility closed at 5:00. I did go to the fish hatchery there and see sturgeons – big, ugly, prehistoric fish.

All in all, I liked this area. Could I live there? Well, the weather was good, but it is Oregon. They do have their share of not sunny days. I think I still like Colorado – but this could be on a list of possibilities.