Street sign, in Chinook means understanding, imagination, cooperation, artistic talent, tact and patience.
We woke up this morning and took our time getting going, since we had reservations for the Columbia Gorge cruise, from Portland Spirit in Cascade Locks, at 11am, boarding at 10:45am. We had booked the cruise last night on the Portland Spirit website. The cost per person was $38, and the website said the trip went one way down the Columbia River, then the next trip would go the other way up the river, but we could stay onboard for both trips at no extra charge. Since we had some time to kill, we decided to travel west from the KOA to see what kind of view we could get of Mount Hood, one of the tallest mountains around. When we got off the interstate and headed down highway 35 South. We frequently spotted Mount Hood along the way, but the views were either not good or blocked by trees. Finally, we topped a hill and had a great view, so we pulled over part way down and took some photos. By the time wed reached this point, we were getting close to time for the cruise, so we headed back, arriving at the docks just before 10:30am for the
We parked, got our $5 parking permit (they apologized, telling us the town/country had the rights to the parking lot, so...), and spent a little time browsing their gift shop. I found another pin for my collection, then we boarded the ship. The Columbia Gorge is a like in olden times, with three decks. Wed already figured it would be a bit cold and had brought our sweaters. Good thing we did, since not only was it pretty cold, but VERY windy the whole first trip. Upon boarding I bought a hot coffee at their snack bar (for $5!), and we started enjoying the trip. The first cruise was towards the East, then they turned around and headed back to the docks. The views were great of both coastlines, plus there were a number of sailboats and windsurfers. It was amazing to see the windsurfers go along, with all but the bottom rudder of their boards out of the water, flying along.
When we returned to the docks, the captain verified that we could stay on board for the next trip, towards the East, under the Bridge of Gods and down to Bonneville Dam.
Once we got underway again, I went back to the snack shop, prepared to pay another $5 for another coffee, so I threw my empty cup into the trash can. While waiting in line, I was looking at the menu and realized that in very fine print next to the coffee, it said refillable! I mentioned this to the waitress and she promptly told me no problem, and gave me a new cup of coffee, for free! This trip was even more interesting than the first one, except for the lack of windsurfers. We passed under the Bridge of the Gods, then kept going downstream until we reached the Bonneville Dam, where we turned around. The dam was quite a sight by itself. We returned to the docks the second time, and decided to cross the bridge to see where we could find to eat lunch on the Washington side of the river.
When we reached the small but busy town of Stevenson, we parked our car and started walking. We ended up eating lunch at the La Casa de Sabor, a Mexican restaurant nearby. I had one of the Pork bowls (like a burrito without the tortilla) and
Manoli had a salad bowl. My bowl was very tasty, but a bit on the spicy side, but the pork was quite tender. Manoli said hers was the best meal so far. After lunch, we decided to continue on down the river to see if we could get some good photos of Mount Saint Helens. We drove down highway 14, then Wind River Road for quite a ways without even a glimpse of Mount Saint Helens, so we turned around and came back to the KOA.
Tomorrow we pack up again and head to our next KOA, the Bandon / Port Orford KOA Journey, right on the Oregon coast.
