Spring Break Falls

Spring Break has been here and is gone for another year. I had to work a couple of days, but Wednesday seemed to have the least threatening weather, so we went out and explored a National Scenic Area.

We took a scenic drive to Timberline Lodge up on Mt. Hood for lunch. The sun disappeared behind dark clouds and the 55 degree temperatures turned to 28 degrees with light swirling snow by the time we arrived there.

Naturally, the first thing to look for was the restrooms. Will led us into the ski lodge and disappeared. I spotted a big "Restrooms" sign and thought I was walking down a hallway toward them but suddenly found myself in the men's room. Yikes! As I whirled around to leave, a kind man asked me if I was looking for someone. Really?! Good grief! They need to label these things better!

The brunch buffet in the lodge was very delicious and enjoyable. One unlucky waitress kept dropping things and breaking glass, but fortunately we weren't in her area. Our charming waiter happened to be a long time friend of Craig’s, so that was fun too. (He beat me at texting Craig the news. Darn younger generation!)

Brrr. We left the cold and blowing snowflakes behind us eventually as we took the “Mt. Hood Scenic Loop” (Hwy 35 to Hood River) then back along the Columbia Gorge. We took the Historic Columbia River Highway and enjoyed all the waterfalls along the way. Five of them, with only one that wasn’t visible from the road!

The first one was Horsetail Falls. Will drove past it and then asked if I wanted to stop. Thus we were immediately able to establish that I ALWAYS want to stop at waterfalls! Though our four-door long bed pickup wasn’t really made to do u-turns with ease, Will managed to make a quick turn around!

Next was Multnomah Falls, where of course we have been before. We got good coffees and Will found a place to sit and enjoy the view. While I was taking a picture, a sweet lady came along, mentioned that it looked like he found the best seat in the area and joined him. Yep, he is just irresistible to women over 60 and under 6!

I left him with his new friend and hiked on up to the bridge. I thought the little waterfall along the way was beautiful too!

A little further down the road was Bridal Veil Falls. Just a quick glimpse was visible along the road, so we parked and took a little walk to see it. Zeek got to come along.

Next came Shepperds Dell, which I was unable to satisfactorily photograph because of its height.

Latourell Falls was the final one. We ran out of time to walk closer because darkness was coming soon.

Last but not least, we stopped at the Crown Point Vista House, with panoramic views of the Gorge and mountains…but the clouds limited the view that day.

We felt very fortunate that the rain didn’t fall until we were almost done viewing the last waterfall! I can’t believe we haven’t done a little more exploring in the area. I look forward to another trip on a sunny day when the wildflowers are blooming and we have time to hike a little more to get closer to the various falls. Also there are a couple more that we didn’t see because you have to hike a little to get to them.

I LOVE living in the Pacific Northwest!

Oh, one more thing...at 8:03 pm as we were driving down I-5, I realized I was missing American Idol. Will was able to walk me through the DVR app on his phone. We actually got it programmed to record and it worked!! So I got to watch it when we got home. I LOVE modern technology!!