Travels with Mar and Lar

September 21-27

Hood River, OR/Bingen, WA

If you are a careful follower of my life in this blog, you would know that about a month ago I went on a teaching trip to Bingen, WA. It is a little town on the Washington side of the Columbia River, just across a bridge from Hood River, OR, which is still a small town, but a monstrous metropolis compared to Bingen. Anyway, I got sent back to Bingen for another training event, so this time mar went with me. I had told her how beautiful it was so she decided she had to see it for herself.

We flew in to Portland on Monday afternoon and then drove out to Hood River. That first day we did nothing memorable, except find a very nice restaurant. It was so nice in fact that we went back another evening.

Tuesday morning I had to start class, so we got up, and I got ready and mar drove me across the bridge to Bingen. After the first trip, I told her how scary that bridge was. She just thought it was my bridgeophobia, but she found out that – no – really – it is a scary bridge – because it is narrower than my driveway. She decided she didn’t like that bridge either.

She dropped me off and then she went vacationing. First she drove to panorama Point which has a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood. (She took me there in the evening.) Then she started driving towards Mt. Hood. She drove all the way to the base and just loved the drive. We got back to the motel about noon. Then she made an appointment at the beauty school in The Dalles about 20 miles up river to get her – don’t faint – to get her toe nails done. So she drove to The Dalles and had a lot of time so she went to a museum there and just enjoyed herself learning about the history and wildlife of the area. The it was time to go pick me up so she crossed the bridge in The Dalles and drove back on the Washington side of the river. The net result of her wonderful day for me was that I had to fill the car with gas cause she used a whole tank in one day.

On Wednesday she relaxed a little bit more, but still looked around Hood River. When she picked me up, we drove west on the Washington side of the river down to the Bonneville Dam and just enjoyed the scenery. At the dam, we took a historic walk through the woods as Fort Cascade. Then we drove home by crossing the Bridge of the Gods back to the Oregon side.

Thursday – well I had to work again – but before work we went to the Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery. It is the time of the year when the salmon are running. We saw them going up a fish ladder into the hatchery, and then we saw how they get the eggs out for the hatchery. NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH. The truth is that the salmon die right after they spawn, so at the fish hatchery they just aid in that process. Extracting the eggs is just a quick unsutured Caesarian. In reality it was cool to see. Each year they get fewer and fewer salmon returning. We did see something cool – they had a “wild fish” – in other words a non-salmon. They grabbed him and ran him back to the mighty Columbia.

Margaret spent some of that day relaxing by the Columbia River and watching the wind surfers and kite sailers. Hood river is the wind surfing capital of the world, but the first three days we were there, no wind.

Friday I didn’t have to work. We got up and relaxed and checked out of the motel and then went on the Mt. Hood Historic Railroad. It is a train ride towards Mt. Hood through the Hood River area. About 20 miles. We really liked it. It went by the river, then up to the orchard areas, then through woods and volcanic outcroppings and finally arrived in the little town of Parkdale. There we had lunch and then we came back to Hood River. It was fun and very relaxing.

Then we drove back to Portland by way of the old Columbia Gorge Historical Highway. We stopped at all of the waterfalls and ended up at Vista Point. It was a truly beautiful drive.

That evening we went down to Beaverton and had dinner with my brother, Terry, and his wife, Hallie. Friday was a truly enjoyable day.

Saturday, we went to see Erin and John in Aloha. They spent six months living in our basement, so they are much like family – well, they are – niece and nephew. Erin is expecting next week. We drove to downtown Portland just to look around and then had dinner with them.

Sunday – well I had to go home. I had to go to work on Monday. But Mar stayed around to help with the upcoming birth. Plans were for Wednesday – but that is a whole other story.