{"id":1247,"date":"2020-06-06T02:43:59","date_gmt":"2020-06-06T02:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/?p=1247"},"modified":"2020-06-06T02:43:59","modified_gmt":"2020-06-06T02:43:59","slug":"mountains-and-more-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/06\/mountains-and-more-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountains, and More Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I will start by saying that we super mega appreciate the Cousin (and her Husband) for letting us stay with them for years<\/s> months (although I’m sure at times it felt like years to them). But, we decided that we needed a few days off exploring somewhere new! Yes, in the middle of the pandemic. The county we were in had very few cases, so we thought about where else wasn’t as deeply affected, and was not too far away. Neither of us has ever been to the Hood River area (although I was closer to being there than I had realized…in my defense, I was 9 years old), so Hood River it was! We have often heard about the beauty of the area – it was all true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drive through the Yakima area was…less than thrilling. Scenic in its own stark way, I guess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Seriously. It went on for miles like this. There was the occasional oasis when water was on the surface,but otherwise brown, rolling hills.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we got closer to the Columbia River there definitely more trees. Just outside the town of Goldendale (which happened to be the main town for this county…and the town is not much!) we came across a Greek Orthodox Monastery! I had heard that there was one (and had a bakery – magic words to me) but I didn’t know exactly where it was. I mean, seriously, out in the middle of nowhere. We stopped there on the way back to Ellensbug, so I’ll talk about it a little more later. Not too far past Goldendale the highway turns to run along side the Columbia. Now, I know the Mississippi River is impressive, and in some places it’s probably beautiful. The places I have seen it weren’t so beautiful (St. Louis comes to mind). And as it nears the Gulf I’m sure it’s really something – but I will put the utter majesty and stunning beauty of the Columbia up against it anytime. What must Lewis and Clark have thought when they saw this incredible site? I should read the account of their travels. Hmmm, add that to the reading list. Really, the river itself is incredible but how it is situated is rather jaw dropping. I don’t know my prehistoric stuff very well but I do know that the gorge that cut out the Columbia was created by the Great Missoula Flood. A Flood all the way from Missoula? Dude. Anyway, this great, crushing torrent of water came through, tearing apart the landscape, and carving a vast riverbed. All along the river you can see how mega massive it one was, and it’s still massive now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking from the north side (Washington) to the south side (Oregon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I have to confess that this was taken a little later in the week, not on our drive down. This is looking from the south side to the north side. The topography is notably different on the two sides.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A little closer look at the striations on the north side. Imagine the massive amounts of water that carved this!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our destination was a little town on the Washington side called White Salmon. Cute place. Probably a lot more happening when there is not a pandemic going on! We had a house rented for the week that sat up on the hill, looking towards Mount Hood. The mountain chose to remain behind thick clouds most of the week. Of course. We knew the house was good sized but it turned out to be huge! Hot tub on one of the decks and a kitchen that made me want to cook\ud83e\udd17 However, for such a small town, there was an amazing array of restaurant choice (take away only of course). Honestly, one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had was at Pioneer Pizza in White Salmon. Everbody’s Brewing was right up there too -they make a berry crumble that makes me emotional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just across the river is the vacation town of Hood River. I’ve always heard of the place, but this was the first either of us had been there. To get there from the Washington side obviously involves a bridge. Bridges are not my favorite thing. I’ve never been super fond of them – and to re-enforce this feeling, on May 23, 2013 a large truck clipped the upper structure of the Skagit River bridge while carrying a load taller than what should have been on the bridge (yes, this is a super simplified explanation. If you want all the details go to https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/I-5_Skagit_River_Bridge_collapse<\/a> ) and caused it to collapse into the Skagit River. I had driven across that bridge about an half hour earlier. It was maybe a mile and a half from our house (…my house \ud83d\ude2d). Bridges are not supposed to fall down, so I have minimal faith in bridges. The one to Hood River was about 18 inches wide – okay, not really, but it was super narrow and had this nasty grooved metal bridge deck <shudder>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking towards Hood River with Mount Hood just visible on the left<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The other side<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The only day we were able to see Mount Hood from our balcony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The town of Hood River is adorable. Again, I’m sure it’s a much more lively place when we aren’t in the midst of a pandemic. Some shops were just beginning to open, but not all of the wine tasting rooms\ud83d\ude10 We did get a few bottles of amazing wine anyway. And hard cider. Oh man, there are soooo many choices on hard cider there! It’s a huge fruit growing area and they certainly make use of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bookshop in Hood River. I loved the sign about the post apocalyptic books.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Due to circumstances outside of our control, the Husband had to be in Kirkland first thing Monday morning (we arrived in White Salmon on Saturday). So, we packed overnight bags and set out on the 4 hour drive up the west side of Washington. One place I have wanted to see for a long time is Multnomah Falls. The waterfall is about half an hour west of the town of Hood River on the Oregon side – the highway on the Oregon side is much nicer than the road on the Washington side. Unfortunately, the pandemic reared its ugly head again – we couldn’t even get off the highway there! I could see the falls through the car window at 70 mph. That’s it. We’re going to have to go back!! As we drove north we realized this was one of those times where we really grateful for the lighter traffic. The drive through Tacoma can be hellish on a Sunday afternoon. And the aroma of Tacoma (a leftover of the days when the Tacoma waterfront was full of paper mills. It’s a special smell) was in full force. Yuck. Eventually we made our way to Kirkland, had a quiet evening in – had dinner from one of our favorite places in the area – and sent the Husband off to work (now, there was something different!!) in the morning. When I was done working I decided to go for a walk at a really nice park along Lake Washington which certainly helped to stretch out the kinks from the two long car rides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My view of Multnomah Falls. This frequently ranked as one of the prettiest places in the US. Aren’t you impressed?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Juanita Beach Park. So pretty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I realized as we were driving back south that Monday afternoon that it was the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens and we were going to go right near it! Cool! Was it at all visible? Hahahaha…no. Not a peep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is it. The best photo of Mount St Helens that I was able to get. Sigh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once back in White Salmon we just enjoyed being in the area. We both worked during the day, and explored in the afternoon. There is so much to see there! White Salmon and Hood River are considered to be towns in the Cascade Mountains, even though they are pretty much at sea level. This is also the point where the west side of the two states transitions to the east side – the two sides have drastically different topography and weather. There were several drives we did not have an opportunity to do, in particular, one called the Fruit Loop. Love it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of our evenings out and about I got this photo of Mount Adams. It’s on the Washington side somewhat directly across from Mount Hood.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On one of the last days we were in the area we drove out towards Mount Hood, to a beautiful winery, Grateful Vineyard, for dinner. That very day restaurants in the county were finally open for eating in! We got there early, after an amazingly scenic drive, which was a good thing, as the restaurant filled up by the time we left. They had lots of outside tables, but it was still chilly! I have never had a pizza with pear on it before…WOW. Fabulous crust, bacon, pear and gorgonzola, with a little mozzarella. It was amazing. And the view was jaw dropping. If you’re in the area, check out this place!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Driving out to the winery I was able to get this shot of Mount Hood. I might point out that this was taken while driving (okay, the Husband was driving), with the window open, holding onto my phone for dear life!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Okay, so this one was taken through the windscreen…hence the visible bug guts. But, that mountain!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Unfortunately, by the time we got to the winery it was beginning to cloud over…that’s the restaurant, and this is their view. Not too shabby.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After dinner, and wandering around for a bit we drove to a nearby park that had a waterfall. I love waterfalls and I was still grumbling about not getting to see Multnomah Falls, so off we went. The place we went to was called Punchbowl Falls. It’s an easy walk from the parking lot to the falls. The park itself it so pretty and the falls were created by what might have been a really old dam of some kind. There was this crazy staircase down the side of the hill…definitely not something you would want to try walking on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Very old staircase down the side of the hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Where the staircase comes in at the top of the waterfall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The very pretty gorge just past the waterfall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The week was over much too soon. On our drive back to Ellensburg I wanted to stop at a couple of points. About half an hour east of White Salmon, along the river there is a World War I memorial that I remember seeing as a kid. This place had made quite an impression on me then! Why? Because it’s a replica of Stonehenge. But more of how Stonehenge might have looked when it was new – at least the way Sam Hill (the man who built it) thought it should look! It is on this amazing bluff above the river with vineyards below it. I’m so glad we stopped!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The view from Stonehenge. Vineyards down below and Mount Hood off in the distance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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World War I memorial, built to replicate Stonehenge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Interior of Stonehenge replica.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our final stop on the road home did not get photos. St John’s Monastery in Goldendale, WA. Out in the middle of nowhere is this beautiful place. Tours of the church were not available when we stopped, which was really too bad. Their little shop was open though! Best hummus I’ve ever had. They are known for their baklava, which I did resist, instead getting a tub of their lentil soup. So, so good! I did my part to help support their organization, closed my eyes for a moment and wished I was in Greece\ud83d\ude01<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are so glad we took this little trip and definitely hope to return again in not too long. Besides….there was this great shop in Hood River called the Ruddy Duck…kicking myself for not getting that cardigan!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I will start by saying that we super mega appreciate the Cousin (and her Husband) for letting us stay with them for years months (although I’m sure at times it felt like years to them). But, we decided that we needed a few days off exploring somewhere new! Yes, in the middle of the pandemic. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Mountains, and More Mountains”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1247"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1277,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions\/1277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}