Joan and I headed out again on our first tour together since Savannah. We took a group to the town of Hood River on the Columbia river in Oregon. It made for a fun challenge because most of the guests were life-long Oregonians, so we tried our best to find things that would be new to them.

Crown Point Vista House

Surprisingly, the guest who’d done the most tours with Oregon West Excursions had never been inside the Crown Point Vista House. Sometimes referred to as the hundred thousand dollar outhouse because of its price tag in 1918, it is little more than a rest stop along the historic Columbia Gorge Highway. It was a welcome addition for the women however who, prior that time, had to find a secluded place on the treeless out cropping to relieve themselves.

Samuel Lancaster, the highway’s engineer, wanted everything along the highway to pay respect to the grandeur of the Gorge. The Vista house blends in well with its gray sandstone walls and green tile roof to blend with the evergreen trees in the distance. The bathrooms have floor to ceiling marble walls separating the stalls, and there is a gift shop and coffee shop in its basement.

Since it was fall, I continued along the historic highway so that we could weave along the leaf strewn roadway. One of the things I enjoy about the Gorge is that about half of the trees are deciduous and half are evergreen. In the fall, that creates a beautiful contrast between the giant yellow maple leaves and the delicate dark green needles of the Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar trees.

Starvation Creek

The exit for the Multnomah was closed, since the parking lot was already full, so we continued down I-84 to my next secret. The damage to the facilities from the Gorge fire of 2017 prevented tour companies from offering visits to Multnomah falls, so that meant finding new waterfalls to take people to. With more than 80 waterfalls, the Gorge has the highest concentration of waterfalls in the world. One that is rarely visited is the falls at Starvation Creek.

Named for the ordeal in which a train load of people were trapped by an avalanche on their way from Hood River to Portland, no one actually starved to death as rescue supplies were delivered from Hood River before they were eventually dug out. While some people stop for the restrooms, most people miss the waterfall. As you walk up the creek behind the restrooms, your eyes are drawn to the gently cascading water, but you have to look up to see the 220 foot high waterfall just above you. Not one of my Oregonians had seen the falls before.

Hood River

Just an hour east of Portland is the town of Hood River. It began as a shipping hub for fruit grown in the Hood River Valley. As a teen, my father spent summers there earning money by picking fruit from the orchards. Despite his best efforts, he was never able to harvest more than the migrant workers who’d spent their lives perfecting their skills.

Another iteration for Hood River is as a hub for outdoor recreation. In the summer, kite boarders and windsurfers take advantage of the near constant 30 mph winds that come through the Gorge as weather fronts participate in a push of war through the only gap in the Cascade mountain range. When summer ends, the outdoor enthusiasts swap their kite boards for snowboards and head towards the ski slopes of Mount Hood.

Today, Hood River seems primarily focused on tourism. Main street is littered with boutiques, wine tasting rooms, and gift shops. There seems very little reason for the locals to come downtown unless they want to drink at one of the three breweries in town. Fortunately Hood River has 3 different levels to enjoy.

The waterfront is the newest addition with anchors like pFriem Family Brewers and Solstice wood fire pizza. Afterwards imbibing, you can stroll to the waterfront park to watch the windsurfers gliding back and forth across the river.

Wine and cider tasting

We were originally scheduled to have our lunch at the Gorge White house. With the cool temperatures, I thought the outdoor food cart setting and seating wouldn’t have been appropriate for our group. On a sunny summer afternoon, tasting ciders beneath the giant elm trees is delightful, but on a cold windy day, indoor dining seemed a more appropriate choice so I called one of the wineries we had a tasting scheduled with and asked them if they could fit us in for lunch.

Phelps Creek was happy to accommodate us, though we had to spread out at different tables upstairs and downstairs. Since it was a beautiful space, it didn’t matter where we were seated as long as we were inside! Though they only had one chef, he did a pretty good job getting everyone their food, and everything was well presented and delicious.

The benefit of already being at the winery where we had a tasting scheduled is that we could just roll our lunch into a tasting. Since not everyone was tasting, I offered to take the rest into town for an ice cream tasting. Mike’s has been a seasonal landmark in Hood River for over 30 years and serves locally made ice cream to packed summer crowds before shutting for winter. Like me, Mike prefers to spend his winter in a more hospitable climate.

Waterfront accommodations

After our tastings we headed for the hotel. We stayed at the Best Western Plus which is probably my favorite in Hood River because of its waterfront location on the Columbia river. It has a heated pool where you can swim while watching the Columbia flow lazily towards the frigid waters of the Pacific. There’s also a walking path that takes you all the way to the waterfront park.

For dinner, we tried the Celilo Grill. While the food was delicious, it took quite a while for them to serve us. I hate when they put us at different tables and assign us different servers because inevitably, we’re going to get different service. By the time our table was served our meals, the other table was finishing theirs. Ironically, our order had been taken first so we either had a slow server or the other one had a better relationship with the kitchen.

Since the other table was finished early, they asked if they could have dessert, so I acquiesced. By the time we finished our meal, they were still waiting on their desserts. Naturally, I had to let our table order dessert since the other table had, and just as naturally, our table received our desserts before the other one. Three hours later, we headed back to the hotel.

Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAM)

The next morning we got up early and headed for WAAM. The tour had been scheduled around the monthly interactive exhibit where they bring out the cars and take you for a free ride around the premises. One of the rules of the cars in the museum is that they have to be running. Everyone took a ride or two, and four people even went up for a short airplane ride over the Hood River Valley. Had they not filled the cockpit, I would have joined as I’ve always dreamed of taking a glider trip over the valley for the views of Mount Hood.

I did get to ride in something as quiet as a glider. There was an electric car from 1919 that made me wonder why it has taken us so long to improve on the technology. Aside from being a smooth quiet ride, it was so simple compared to the gas cars. Some of them sputtered as their owners attempted to get them started. Others conked out only minutes after starting. The driver of the electric car simply pushed the handle, and off we went, quiet as a mouse.

After the air and auto museum, I took everyone to the Harvest Festival at the waterfront to explore and have lunch. With some time before our next activity, I took everyone to my favorite pie place for dessert: Apple Valley Country Store. Just a couple miles from the WAAM museum along the Hood River Fruit Loop, you can find this old country store which offers all kinds of desserts, but they’re especially known for their pies. One of the guests couldn’t decide on a dessert so she ordered two.

Mount Hood Railroad

Our afternoon activity was a train ride on the Mount Hood railroad. Originally built to deliver fruit from the valley to the river, it is now primarily an excursion train. They have several thematic trips including the Polar Express and a Buds and Blossoms trip. It’s amazing to see the valley as a carpet of pink and white flowers in the spring. Our trip was in the fall so we got to enjoy all the changing leaf colors of those same trees, as well as the apple and pear trees that the valley is famous for.

The train used to go up to the town of Parkdale but now it stops conveniently at the gift store for Ackerman Orchards Inc. Several in our group suggested we enjoy the other prominent fruit of the valley, grapes, so we walked over to the tasting room at the Mt Hood winery.

After the trip, we headed back to the hotel where we had dinner planned, not plans. Despite the fact that we were staying at the hotel, the restaurant refused to take reservations for our party. My only hope was to get there as early as possible and get on the list for dinner. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, I sent Joan in to get us on the list and told the group to meet back at the restaurant in 30 minutes as I really had no idea when we could get in.

Fortunately the staff was flexible and was able to seat us at a couple of tables in the bar. This turned out to be extremely fortunate as the waiting list for dinner in the restaurant was 2 hours! Traveling with a group is always a challenge, especially when you pair it with a festival, but we are a flexible group and don’t mind being divided into smaller, more manageable tables. I honestly prefer that to one long table where you can only talk to the people sitting right next to you.

Rowena Crest

The next morning we headed out to the Dalles. I was excited because for the first time I’d secured one of my favorite lunch spots for our group. They wanted to charge us an extra $50 for the group, but I still thought it would be worth the experience.

Along the way, I drove the old highway again to take people to Rowena Crest. This is similar to Crown Point in that it’s an overlook of the Columbia Gorge, but the views couldn’t be more different. The west end of the Gorge receives all the rainfall from the fronts coming off the Pacific. By the time those clouds reach the other side of the Cascades, they’ve been depleted of their moisture. As a result, the eastern two thirds of Oregon is a rolling desert of ranches and grasslands. People are astounded that just 20 minutes before we were surrounded by evergreens and now the only thing standing above the landscape are the hundreds of windmills that make up the White Creek Wind Project.

The highlight of Rowena Crest are the Rowena curves. Built between 1912 and 1915, the historic highway originally hosted model T fords which couldn’t manage a grade any greater than 5%. The engineer of the highway designed the curves as a way to provide a gradual descent of 700 feet over the course of one mile, somewhat like a switchback on a hiking trail. The idea came from visiting mountain roads of Italy and Switzerland. In fact, many of the road workers were brought from Europe for their experience in this kind of road building.

Fort Dalles Museum

Arriving at the Fort Dalles Museum and Anderson Homestead museum marked an appropriate end to the historic highway. The museum was the first in Oregon, opening in 1905, and today it houses a collection of items that the first Oregon pioneers brought to the area. We enjoyed the challenge of trying to guess the purpose of many of the artifacts.

Sunshine Mill Winery

After our visit to the museum, we headed to Sunshine Mill Winery. It is a former wheat mill that has been converted to a wine tasting room and event space. The only hint the outside gives to the inside is that the space is going to be grand. It unfolds unexpectedly as you enter into a small reception room. The bare hanging lights draw you to the next room, but it’s hard to move quickly as there’s so much to take in, from the festive decor to the original belts and wheels that were used in processing the grain. As you continue, the space changes from the processing area to the storage area. Sunshine has converted this to an event space, and it looks like it could easily hold a hundred people.

There was only one server working, but she managed to get us all poured and prepared all of our lunches while we worked through our wine tastings. While we waited, some people walked around to explore the space more or chatted in one of the many different seating areas. When we were finished, our server told me she wasn’t going to charge the extra $50 because it was intended to be used to hire an additional server, and they obviously hadn’t done that.

Washington wine tasting

Our itinerary called for one more wine tasting so I took those still game to the COR cellars winery. It had grown since my first visit from a small shed with a couple concrete casks and tastings poured by the winemaker to a modern tasting room with snobby wait staff. It made for a nice place to look at but had the comfort of your grandparents’ plastic covered living room chairs.

I took a couple people who didn’t want to do wine tasting on a search for ice cream. Unfortunately, the place listed on Google maps had not served ice cream in a very long time. With a little more time to spare, I took them up to the narrow canyon that the Klickitat river flows through before emptying into the Columbia River. From the pedestrian bridge, you can watch native Americans practicing their traditional net fishing as the fish are forced to navigate a narrow 8 foot wide channel.

Skamania Lodge

After we finished watching the salmon work their way upstream, I picked up the rest of the group and we headed downstream to our final accommodation. While I’d picked up and dropped off guests several times at the Skamania Lodge, I’d never actually stayed there so it was quite a treat. Unless you’re in one of the treehouse accommodations, every room faces the Gorge and provides a relaxing environment for taking in the beauty of this 4000 foot deep canyon carved by massive glacial floods through the middle of the Cascade mountain range.

Joan and I strolled the grounds on one of the three hiking trails that traverse the property. What was expected to be a short stroll before dinner turned out to be an hour and a half hike over rocks and tree stumps. I was impressed that a place that billed itself as a resort offered such challenging trails.

Thankfully, we enjoyed the best meal of the trip in the Cascade Dining Room. Everyone had fun, and they all love when I say the magic words, “alcohol is included in your meal”. One of the funniest things to observe is that so few people seem to be drinkers when they’re paying for it themselves, but once I’m picking up the tab, it seems they’ve all got a favorite cocktail they’ve been keeping a secret until now!

In the morning, I made sure to get down to the spa the minute the doors opened, and I had the outdoor hot tub to myself for the entire time. It was a treat to have finally gotten to see why people enjoyed this place so much. In fact, several people said they would have liked two nights at the lodge.

Unfortunately, we’d only booked one, so after a late morning checkout, we headed back to Portland. On our way, we had one last surprise for the group and stopped at Sugarpine drive in for ice cream. This was another place that had been around forever, but no one in the group knew about it. It was a nice last stop along our way home, and after dropping off the last of the guests, Joan and I returned the van to headquarters and headed home. The next day, I would hop a train to Seattle for my next work assignment.