Dam!

Dam! Actually, that's not simply a misspelling - it's a fact of life! I headed across Oregon today, driving east on I-84 thru the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, along the mighty Columbia River. Lovely drive, even though the weather was what I'm learning is pretty much normal around here - rainy, drizzly, blowy, blah!


And there are a bunch of dams along the road! I'd been hearing a lot about "The Dalles" - I had the impression is was a destination resort - wrong! Appears to me to be more an industrial town with the big old The Dalles Dam as it's focal point. Has several nice looking resortish facilities along the river, but after all the lush greenery on the ocean side of the Cascade Range and Mt Hood (the highest point in Oregon, since you asked, at 11,239 ft), the bare hills here seem extra bare! Dramatic but bare!


Took a couple little side trips onto the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway - past several waterfalls and onto roads barely big enough for my coach. Road crews gave me strange looks when I passed them! Sure was pretty though!


And the trains - all the rumors about how much more business trains are getting are obviously true - lots and lots of long, double-decker trains, everywhere you look!


Hoping for more sun tomorrow!