Monday, May 15, 2006

Left The Dalles around 8:30-9:00 a.m. and continued west along the Columbia River on Hwy 84. We saw Mt. Hood in the distance. We took Old Historic Columbia Gorge Hwy and soon stopped at Horsetail Falls which was right along the road. We stopped and took pictures and asked someone to take one of the three of us.

We continued on to Multnomah Falls. You could see this falls from the road too but you had to walk in to really appreciate it. You could easily walk up to a certain point where you had an awesome view of the falls. It fell in two separate layers. Becky and I walked up to the next bridge to get a closer view of the top falls. Then we decided to try to walk to the top of the falls - very vertical with a lot of switchbacks. We think we made it halfway before we decided to come back down.

While Mom and I were in the restroom Becky heard them say they needed to rescue someone off the trail. We drove down to the next falls which was the Wahkeena Falls. On the way we met two emergency vehicles speeding by to Multnomah Falls. I'm glad we didn't continue our hike up the trail, that could have been us (mainly me) needing the assistance.

We then headed into Portland, OR to a bookstore that covered an entire block. (Becky had been there before.) Our directions were to take 84 west. It was blocked off - no direction to get around it. We drove around for awhile and finally stopped at a Shilo's for lunch. We asked directions to 84 west. We were told it was open from the other side. We drove over and found out it was closed from that side also and, again, no instructions. Becky talked about going back and hurting the person that told us it was open. We finally decided to just get out of town and head to Yachats and our motel.

Now we are driving along Scenic Highway 88. Beautiful scenery with lots of wineries and flowers. Stopped once for a pit stop and an icecream cone outside of McMinnville. There was an Aviator Museum that we thought Dan might like to see.

We stopped again when we first saw the ocean. We just had to get a picture of that first view and I don't even remember where we were exactly. There is something about water that is so awesome and inspiring. I remember when we first saw Horsetail Falls I felt like I was tripping and falling out of the car with my camera. It was like the falls was going to disappear if I didn't get the picture real fast. Same with that first ocean view!

We got into Yachats around 5:30 p.m. and checked into the Overleaf Lodge. Beautiful place! Right on the ocean! We had a balcony that looked over the ocean and 3 chairs to enjoy the view from! We went right out on the balcony for a wine and cheese "supper." After a sip or two I gave my glass to Becky and opened a diet Pepsi. I keep trying it but I just don't like the taste of wine. Becky then proceeded to "accidentally" knock her empty glass under the balcony railing. It only broke in two pieces but as we stood there giggling and looking down at it she knew she would have to go downstairs and around the building to pick it up. Then I went out for ice. I got all the way down to the lobby to ask where the ice machine was only to find out I should have turned the other way when I came out of our room because it was right there. Finally made it back to our room and made some microwave popcorn. Becky packed so many extra little things along and Mom and I appreciated every one of them.

Then Becky and I took a walk on the pathway in front of the hotel which leads down to the ocean. When we first started talking about this trip I said I wanted (needed) to get my feet wet in the Pacific Ocean. So we did just that. We took pictures of each other standing in the water. Becky ended up with wet pants because she had longer pants on than I did, because she stood out farther than I did and because one of those 'Sneaker Waves' that we were warned about got her. We walked the rest of the way and watched the sun set.